Toh Bird

Hello dear visitors!

First of all, THANK YOU to all your kind comments on last post. It has motivated me to keep on working on the new journal! :)
I seriously think that Blogger should have an easier way to reply to comments. I also notice that if you get a reply you never know.. you have to go back to check it. Or is it just me?

But anyway, today I just have one drawing I want to show you, still part of the old sketchbook (don't want to leave it 1/4 blank) and it's a typical bird from this Maya region and they call it Toh. Its quite beautiful bird, and I was lucky enough to see it casually at some forest ruins.

And now I also want to you some small hand craft proyect I decided to take upon myself. I really want to learn to do Batik, but since its been hard to find the wax i decided to first just play around with some materials and see what I could come up with. I made a small foto series to show you the process. The end product is a funny bean bag, i guess to decorate you table or umm to stop papers flowing away on a windy day... hahaha yeah still have to decide its use.

NEW JOURNAL!

Thanks to the encouraging comments on last post, i decided to pull up my trousers and begin my new sketch journal!

So here i present to you my 1st Moleskine journal! I still have to finish my recycled paper one, but I think i'll be working happily on both.

OK so i know the foto is not very sharp, but it is still a WIP ;) I decided to decorate it with the two countries I feel most at home and where I've been traveling back and forth for almost my whole life.
Since sometimes I do get a drawing block, i decided to use the EDM list of drawings! So in every 8-10 pages i decided to put a challenge:

Next the first 2 skecthes! Yay!

Many journals i have seen have inspired me allot and since I love food I decided to follow the food-journals for now. I might want to add some real stories on my pictures, but i just don't know if my handwritting would ruin everything.. well that's just me rambling about. 

Lets move on! The first drawing is of my breakfast at my local market here in Merida :) and the second one was made at my favourite lunch place: Cafe Creme (calle 41) its just amazing place! The owner is a very nice french man called Eric and he makes the most delicious salads! (its strange how with so many vegetables and ingredients, you can never find decent salads in Mexico)

Below are the coloured versions. I used water colours and maybe for the quiche drawing i will add some more things. That's what happens with colours.. suddendly white is really WHITE haha. I don't know if colour is my thing, but i guess it does give more life to these food entries ;)

Trying to get inspiration

Hello hello!

Today I'm not totally thrilled with my drawings. I thought I would be doing much more, but there seems to be so many different things going on. Even if I do stay a whole day at home.

So the first part of this post is to show you a working in progress of a project for my friend Star who asked me to design a tree which its branches form birds... quite a challenge, since I'm not that good with trees or birds hahaha! So here is my first sketch, of course, its just a study to see where I'm heading to.

Next i my favourite of last week, I did it while enjoying the breeze at the English Language Library here in Merida. Apparently the house we're living in does not have the best positioning (East to West instead of North to South) and that's why even the garden is quite warm. We have a Nopal, or cactus, in teh garden between all the tropical plants. So I decided to use my old characters of other drawings- owl kid and wild cat kid- The detail on the nopal leaves was quite time consuming as well, hence why it took long to update.

Finally, one day I did go outside to draw and cover myself in sweat. I did some plants but didn't like them, so I turned the page and started a face. This is a bit of the result.
I have found art classes, but I haven't really decided if I want to go because I might be working with a ecotourism project at the local university.. I feel I have to take a quick decision but then I try to relax and think that we've been here just for 2 weeks and not everything has to be resolved.

And umm yeah, still working on the old sketch book.. haven't found the courage to start a the new one with fears it will be ruined haha. But I know I should get over it!

Thank you guys for commenting! I hope you enjoy the drawings!

Heat wave

Hello guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated anything for almost 2 weeks now! (shock) but being back home with family parties and then road trip to our temporary home have taken allot of my time ;)

But we made it to Merida and the house we are renting is truly beautiful and inspiring! Lots of plants and thing to draw!!!

Although the problem is the heat... I have to get used to it in order to sit down and take some time to draw. Hence the quick sketches of today. The lizard is supposed to be an endemic species to Yucatan (fun info for Bas) and the other is just for fun.

I have already a few ideas for drawings and also a project for my friend Star. Will see how it all goes! But surely nex week I will be able to relax into the art!

The beginning of an exciting journey

As I have hinted in previous posts, I will now be living in Mexico for the following 4 months with my boyfriend. So now we're in Mexico city! At my parents house. Many flowers as inspiration which I will use!

But now I'm just posting 2 drawings. The first is a funny one regarding the mice that sometimes visit our home (yea Amsterdam is full with them). I wonder if they can ever reach the table... This was Joost idea.

The other picture is the welcome to Mexico I made for myself haha. Hope you enjoy them!

And thank you to all who commented on the last post, you are very sweet :)

There used to be some dark days

The days seem to be ticking away before we leave!
In the process of selecting books and sketchbooks to take, I found a small moleskine book that I have not used for a while. I had it constantly with me to write quotes, notes and to draw. For example the windmill was draw from boat at sailing weekend in northern Holland, or the turtles from the anthropological museum in Mexico city.

In the end I didn't not use it too much for drawing, although in the summer of 2010 I had to spend allot of time in the hospital with my mom. The sketches I'm showing today are quite personal, but I think it is good to let go. After many years of sickness she passed away in november 2011.

Drawing has always been very therapeutic for me, and even though sometimes they can be dark drawings. Most of the drawing I make are ideas that cheer me up, and are also the ones I prefer to post. But I guess we are all human, and sometimes we also need to grief.

Back in Amsterdam (took long enough)

Yes I'm back at home-base! Amsterdam! Oh I missed you so much!

Sadly coming back home means less time for drawing :S since we're leaving in a few weeks for our long trip to Mexico, there are allot of friends to see! Also my dad came to visit after almost a year, so we've been doing a tour through Holland visiting family.

I did buy a new Moleskine! Which will be my Merida sketch book :) I've been looking around at other blogs for inspiration to decorate. I feel that I am ready for the challenge of a journal-sketchbook-recipe book? Hahaha a bit too much? Well we'll see how that goes ;) My current sketchbook will of course travel with me as well.

Enough talking!
2 drawings today: 1st inspired on these rainy days in the Netherlands, typical of early spring. We went to visit my cousin and his son, who is SO cute. He went to save his football from the rain, but basically just ran from one side of the garden to the other.. hehe.

2nd is more in the general theme of family. When my dad's aunt died she gave me her collections of spoons, and then my grandmother did the same. Spoons you ask?? Yes, little silver spoons which have a typical monument of a town, or a very nice decoration on top. I think they used to be collectable (gotta have them all!). I don't know how many I have, but I really like to use them and think they complement a good tea or coffee cup :P

I wanted to show you the size of the spoon, just so you can appreciate the amount of details in the tiny "city hall".

Thanks again everyone for the loyal comments! Let me know if you have any ideas for a good project.