Window art: Sherlock Holmes & Hercule Poirot

Last week I was asked to decorate the storewindow at the American Book Center Amsterdam. The month of June is Classic Crime Month at the ABC. They asked me to paint two classic crime fighters, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot (and a dead body). Here’s the result.

Dear Diary (5)

Money, always a difficult subject. As an artist I don’t make a lot of money. I wish I could make a living from my art and I’m really working hard to reach my goals but for the time being this is how it is.

To make art you need to have time. One needs time to put up a business etc. that’s why I always had part-time jobs. I would work 2 to 3 days a week to have time to do my art.

From friends who are not in the art-business I sometimes hear how lucky I am that I have all this freedom to do what I want and that I’m doing my dream job.

When I say it’s all about choices I sometimes get an angry glare. How dare I say such a thing, don’t I know they are stuck with all these responsibilities and I’m the lucky one?!

The thing is that doing your dream job doesn’t mean you’re in a dreamy situation. My income doesn’t leave much room for frivolities like new furniture (almost everything I own I inherited from grandparents and such), going shopping, going out for dinner, owning a car, replacing home appliances or even vacation.

My boyfriend wants me to join him on a little getaway somewhere in the Netherlands, nothing fancy but I’m totally panicking about the fact that my income has become even less since I lost my job and I’m not used to spending money on big things that are not even a material thing that will last for 15 years or so! I know, I’m a tight ass when it comes to spending money…

Like I said, it’s a choice and I’m happy with mine. I tried the other thing and it didn’t work for me. After food and sleep comes swooshing my brush or pencil on a piece of paper, that’s it!

Come and visit!

Just a short entry this week. This Sunday, 31^st of May my colleagues and I at Studio Grafisch Collectief Thoets open up our doors to the public.

We do this every year so friends, family and anyone who might be interested can have a look at what we’ve been doing all year.

As a collective we also have a loyal group of donors that get a print made especially for them and just them. This year the print was made by Jan Baas and Steven Toes. On the pic below you can see them both working on the print.

Jan and Steven were inspired by the exhibition ‘the Oasis of Matisse’ that is now showing at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, because to us our studio is also like an oasis.

So everyone who is in the neighbourhood please feel welcome to stop by this Sunday!!

Unlocking doors

A few months ago I felt like drawing my mom, she died two years ago and I wanted to do a little portrait of her. When it was finished I put it on Facebook and got some really nice comments. My friend Sanneke Griepink, who is an artist too, replied: ‘Hey you can do portraits too!’ And somehow that little remark made me think. Yes, I can do portraits too, in fact it was my favourite thing to do as a teenager, draw my family, actors, popstars… When did I quit again? Oh right, right after I finished art academy.

Somehow doing portraits became a bad thing.

In the years after that I did one portrait I really liked doing and then right after one I really hated and never finished. I ended up passing on the commission to a befriended artist and never doing a portrait again.

As it turns out I don’t hate doing portraits, I just need to stay close to a way of working that fits me. Right now I’m working on a portrait of my brother and very much enjoying the process. It’s not quite ready yet but still having fun and already looking forward to the next portraitproject.

Another door I’m pondering to unlock is teaching, giving small courses from my home…

Dear Diary (4)

Starting this blog I intended to share all my highs & lows that I would encounter in my art adventures but as it turned out I didn’t. For the last 7 months it has been nothing but tumbleweed here.

For me art or the act of making is very personal. When I don’t function properly, the making doesn’t work properly. For some mysterious reason I didn’t have the energy to do anything. As it turned out I was having a burn-out. The making had slowed down and for a short period it even stopped. After the diagnose I continued working at my paid job but 2 months later I also needed to press pause on that front and I ended up losing that job. 
 

I’m doing better now but a lot has changed. No job (yet) and I had to give up my shared studio at Retort.

Having a burn-out, losing my job and studio have inspired me to really take a good look at myself and made me think and realise what I really want. What I want is to continue being an artist, make money with my art and art related activities!

This April I rearranged my home so I can use that as my studio and maybe even as a space to teach. Who needs a proper livingroom when most of your living consists of drawing?!
See you next week!


Something I'm working on (sorry, not a great pic)

Back in the blogging game!!

After a hiatus of almost 7 months I’m back in the blogging game!
Long story but I want to start out on a positive note. Last year I participated in the Lemniscaat illustration contest and I’m planning to do so again this year so here is a detailed sketch of one of the images I’m working on :)

Love Derwent Pencils!!

Really didn’t want to do any of the chores I planned for today. So I went out to give myself a treat! I went to Van Beek Art Supplies and bought myself some new Derwent pencils, which I love since Karisma was taken out of the shops in the Netherlands. I already have some Derwent Coloursoft to replace the Karisma ones and later I bought some Derwent Inktence. But now I thought I was in need of some pastel pencils and next to that I found the Derwent Graphitint of which I bought five.
To finish everything nicely I bought a nice pencil wrap to put them in and I'm ready to go :)

Into the Woods

Estate Heidestein, Bornia, Driebergen-Rijsenburg, The Netherlands

Books I'm Reading (4)

‘Another book?!’ my boyfriend exclaimed when I stopped by at the ABC, the bookstore where he works, and I bought Art Inc. - The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist by Lisa Congdon. ‘You should be drawing instead of reading!’
And he’s right, I should be drawing more than I am now but this book was a really good read!

Lisa Congdon is known for her art, illustrations and hand lettering. She exhibits. She has multiple big clients, a popular blog called Today is Going to be Awesome and written 3 books including this one. So I thought she might have something useful to say about the matter.

Congdon covers lots of things artists may struggle with. The first chapter is called You Are an Artist, where she tells you to embrace being an artist. Then follow things like building your vision and goals, branding your business, organizing time, all the different ways to promote your work, making digital prints, how and where to sell your art,  having exhibitions, how to deal with galleries etc. All this is illustrated by her own experience and 14 interviews with people who are working in the art business, either as artists or differently.
What it comes down to, making it in this business, is really hard work and investing lots of time and energy and not to forget the occasional money.
Some issues like law-related things you should check with the country you live in but apart from that I think that if you’re not quite where you want to be as an artist this book could be of great help.
Read this book!


Art Inc. The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist - Lisa Congdon - Chronicle Books

New work

The beginning of a new brainchild. About the beauty of the night, colours and sounds, rustling treetops and flying critters.

Rorschach for Doodlers

About a month ago I stumbled upon the article ‘Rorschach Test for Doodlers’ on the website ‘Doodlers Anonymous’. The idea is simple, just spatter some ink or paint between your sketchbook pages, close it, rub it a bit and open to admire the spatter result. Most of the time your mind will turn these spots into bats, butterflies etc. The challenge is take it a step further.
So I tried and I liked doing these pages so much that for the last couple of weeks I start all my drawing days like this! Not having any control on what will happen on the pages suits me perfectly.

Here's one I did recently:

 

 

Books I'm reading (3)

A few months ago I bought Creative Block by Danielle Krysa a.k.a. The Jealous Curator and I’m very glad I did! First I had my doubts. Again and again I would go to the American Book Center, stare at the book and wonder: ’Was this just another self-help book or…’ I was flipping through the book once more when my eye caught a sentence that made the buy a sure thing:

‘Do you ever equate your self-worth with your artistic successes?’

Guilty! My self-worth has been entwined with my art since a very early age. Not a smart thing to do but hey, what do you do?

Danielle Krysa interviewed 50 successful artists and asked them about the way they work, why they make art, where they find inspiration but also:

- Which artist’s work / life/ career are you most jealous of and why?

- Does your inner critic ever get to you?

- What do you do when you’re feeling blocked?

Every interview consists of more or less the same questions with very different answers. At times recognisable and at times not at all. Funny and good to know there are so many ways to look at this art-thing. All 50 interviews end with a creative unblock project by the interviewee.

 

Another word that stuck was ‘process’. Different artists would say process is what drives them to continue making art, not the end-product or the success. This made me re-think my own process and I concluded that I skip some very important steps.
This book is a fun read, good questions, funny and helpful answers. Next to that it’s filled with really beautiful pictures of the artists artwork. Buy this book!

 

Please don’t forget to check www.thejealouscurator.com and learn why Danielle Krysa calls herself that.


Creative Block by Danielle Krysa. Chronicle Books. Pentel Aquash Water Brush with Talens ecoline.

Dear diary (3)

Okay, I haven’t been doing things like I promised or set out to do. For one I haven’t written in 2,5 months and I planned to write at least once a week!
What upsets me most is that I wasn’t able to continue writing when things (artwise) sort of fell apart.
I meant to share these things on my blog but when things got rough I couldn’t.
The last few months I had some really important insights but alas, they didn’t come with a handy how to-guide. Two words that had great impact were ‘process’ and ‘ego’.
My process is, or hopefully was, almost non-existing, probably the reason why I lose interest and fun in a subject so quickly. It’s been a rough period and I hope that’s finished now.
Upcoming weeks I will let you know more about my findings from the past months and my start of a new chapter in art.