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.

Very Excited

Hello Everyone!

Well today I'm quite excited for three reasons:

1. Tomorrow is my last full day in Cartagena and I'll be celebrating with the colleagues of the uni and the project at a mexican restaurant, which is always great! :D I have also almost finished packing and my bag is not overweight! Yay!

2. In May I'll be going back to Mexico with my boyfriend, we'll be there for 4 months and we were looking for a house, and we found an AMAZING place! its beautiful! So I'm sure I'll also be very inspired to draw more there :)

3. One of the most important reasons I'm excited is the drawings I want to show you today!

First the Crab-House!!! The inspiration came because Sorada was one night telling me about my horoscope sign (which is obviously cancer) and she knows many fun details! One of them is the fact that Cancerians tend to be very "housey" so i decided to portray that as a crab taking his home everywhere, because I guess she is right. I do love to make people feel welcome at my house and I can stay a whole day at home being happy haha.

The second is a sketch and the final piece of a Night-Creature. I have been toying around with the idea of a star as hat and then when buying a children's book i found one about mexican legends and the deer is a very important being. So hence the idea. I might have overdone it with the spirals leaving her hand.. but it had to be a bit magic!  (and it was looking a bit mononoke princess again- yeah love that movie)

 

Finally I was able to make my cat related drawing for my friend Sorada. She has two cats Bruce and Bibi and Sorada herself is a very strong woman and very intelligent researcher. So I wanted her to look cool and like queen of the world haha. The poem on the dress is about a a kitten from E. Farjeon.

Last Days in Cartagena

Saturday I will be leaving Cartagena, after 2 months of working here, I think its a good moment. I really miss Amsterdam! And of course the thought of seeing my boyfriend again and my friends :D

I'm working on a really nice drawing, but i don't want to post it until it is finished!!
So I'm posting some little sketches I've been doing. The first is of course a good-bye for my iphone and the cat sketch is a little study for a larger work I want to do for a friend (she adores cats). But since its a very simple sketch I thought about the idea of a print for clothes hahaha. Well just did some color poster on photoshop ;)

Hope you enjoy it while I finish other drawings and find out the best way to take pictures of them.. iphone was quite good at it. Maybe I'll be able to make the scanner work back at home.
I've been thinking that maybe I should stick to just one style of drawing? But I don't know haha, I guess it depends on how I feel. I will see how it all develops once I get back home! :)

Small Dark Moment in Spring

Hello Everyone!

I'm sorry it took again some time to update, but there is a very good reason for this.. two days ago my iphone was stolen :( it was partially my stupidity by having it on the table while I paid the bill at the tapas bar but yeah... I tried everything i could think of, but i guess the people who stole it really knew what they were doing, so I can't track it. I guess this means an update to 4S with my Cartagena salary :P

Since iphone is gone, i now have to take pictures with my camera. And of course i lost the ones i had taken from previous sketches i wanted to post.
BUT thankfully my good friend Sorada kept the 2 sketches I send to her :D

I made this "Spring" themed sketch and decided, why not pencil colour it?
I've been following this blog Andrea-Joseph since i joined EDM, and i just love it! So i got inspired, even though i know my coloured pencil skills aren't that great ;)
Personally I'm very very happy about the bird, i really thought they were very hard and was never very fond of them, but i guess i might change my mind..

Oh and thanks everyone for commenting!
I do wish there was a "like" button at the comment section ;) i try to reply, but if i don't please do imagine i'm smiling at you!

London Sketches

Its been a while since I've posted something, but mainly because I left for a weekend to London, but i missed my flight on the way back, so had 2 extra days there :P (oh the sacrifice) and then this weekend we drove to Granada.. Busy busy!

Back to serious talk, the sketches i'm posting are what happens when you visit museums and get inspired!
At London we went to the Tate museum for the Picasso expo and then I went tuesday to the Natural History Museum (which is THE BEST) and i was completely taken in by the species-collection the have at the Darwin Centre!!!! I even saw one of the largest squid ever found! And cow eyes, and bats that looked liked dragons and and.. i could go on forever! Everything in a jar of alcohol. Brilliant!

I also took the opportunity to study some insects and try to draw a bird from a picture.
If you ever go to London don't miss this museum! The best part: Its free! haha