This is a small herbal book from the time long before my current concertina books. I remember writing it with a quill after I learned how to cut one. Since that time, I hardly ever wrote italic again. I realized that it wasn't my thing. Uncial, however, and capital letters, feel much better to me. And I still had to discover the beautiful rounded shapes of Carolingian minuscule! Most of my books now are written or drawn in some kind of Carolingian script.

Today is World Pet Day! I remember, when I was a child, my dream was to have a dog hotel. I was crazy about dogs, trusted all of them and  was petting every dog I came across in the street. I was lucky, never been bitten. The whippet in this concertina book is so decorative, he was literally begging to be painted!

I love butterflies and I never get tired of painting them. Here's two details of a concertinabook I made in 2009.

Since 2001 I'm making these oblong concertina books. The term 'concertina' refers to a method of parallel folding with the folds alternating between front. This picture shows a detailed view of two of these books. Mustn't read too much into it: the top one is just a compilation of different paintings and text blocks without any cohesion. The only consistency would be color. The bottom one is about an long adventurous  trip I made from Belgium to Iran. 

Detail uit een accordeonboekje uit 2012. Zoals je kan zien was mijn inspiratiebron de zee, de golven zijn geborduurd met zijden garen en ik maakte ook een illustratie van een romantische vuurtoren, mijn favoriete bouwwerk.

Detail of a concertinabook I made back in 2012. As you can see, source of inspiration was the sea, waves are embroidered with silk yarn and I also added an illustration of a romantic lighthouse, my favorite building.

Enkele boekjes uit de oude doos. Wat vliegt de tijd snel: alweer 10 jaar geleden schilderde ik deze Whippet-hond in gouache. Tegenwoordig gebruik ik meer en meer aquarel omdat het veel makkelijker is om in laagjes te werken en kleurnuances op te bouwen. Toch oogt plakkaatverf in sommige gevallen heel mooi, zoals hier. Je krijgt dan een fluweelachtig effect dat je niet kan bekomen met aquarel.

Some oldies. How time flies: 10 years ago I painted this Whippet dog, using gouache. Nowadays I more and more use watercolor because it is much easier to work in layers and build up shades. Still, in some cases, gouache looks very well, as it does here. You get a velvety effect that you can't achieve with watercolor.

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In deze sombere dagen denk ik met heimwee terug aan onze reis van twee jaar geleden naar het zonnige Zuid-Frankrijk.

In these gloomy days I think back with nostalgia to our trip to the sunny South of France, two years ago.