When you've just finished working on a big commission and your mind is empty,  you draw the daily stuff around you. For me these are the tools on my desk. I don't need sophisticated materials, just my fineliners and sketchbook.

I'm halfway through this sketchbook page and below you can see a slide show most of the drawings. I'm learning Spanish and this is a good way for me to remember words. I still have to fill the other side of the page. My intention is to use all these small drawings in a  new piece and to make a print of it.

I love folk art. About three weeks ago I was in New Mexico and I visited the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Textiles from India, figurative wood carving from Poland, U.S. visionary and self-taught art, Japanese woodblock prints, Indonesian shadow puppets and many other objects: more than 130,000 from more than 100 countries. A really fascinating museum! A collection of ex votos immediately caught my attention. Were they made of metal or silver? Were they factory-made  or hand-crafted? I don't know but I could see they were embossed. I've seen collections like this before in other countries. I love all the different shapes of hands and thought it was a good idea to draw a collection of them. I first drew them with my favorite fineliners and then painted them in with a wash of watercolor paint.

 

This is a new lino cut print design with one of my favorite sayings. One of these days I will start the cutting (love that) and the printing and it will turn into a new card. I'm planning a whole series of new lino print cards with quotes that I love!

These "pens" prints are now available in my Etsy shop. To see this print and others, go to 'Sale'. If you want to know the story behind the creation of this drawing, click here. 

Deze "pennen" prints zijn nu verkrijgbaar in mijn Etsy shop. Om deze print te zien en andere klik je op 'Sale'. Als je meer wilt weten over het onstaan van deze tekening, klik dan hier.

Een jaar geleden ging ik op zoek naar de verborgen stukjes van mijn stamboom. Ik heb altijd een liefde gehad voor geschiedenis. Het is fascinerend om de verhalen van mijn voorouders te leren kennen en de dingen die ze hebben meegemaakt. Ik ben de gelukkige bezitter van dozen vol oude foto's, bidprentjes, overlijdensberichten, doodsbrieven, dagboeken en testamenten. Ik ontdekte veel interessante feiten. Sommige voorouders kwamen uit Frankrijk of zijn naar Nederland verhuisd, sommigen waren criminelen en sommigen waren ridders. De meesten waren eenvoudige mensen uit de arbeidersklasse maar ik vond ook enkele burgemeesters terug. Vorige maand ben ik bezig geweest met het maken van een concertinaboekje met mijn voorouders in vrouwelijke lijn. Ik heb uiteindelijk negen generaties op papier gezeten en ik hoop in de komende weken en maanden nog meer generaties te vinden!

​Some year ago, I set out to discover the hidden pieces of my family tree. I have always had a love for history. Learning the stories of my ancestors and the events they lived through is fascinating. I have boxes full of old photos, prayer cards, obituaries, diaries, wills ... I found out a lot of interesting facts. Some ascendants came from France or moved to The Netherlands, some were criminals and some were knights. Most of them were working class people but I also found some mayors. Last month I've been busy making a concertina book, focusing on my maternal ancestry. I ended up with nine generations of my mother’s side of the family. I hope to find more information in the following weeks and months! 

Since the beginning of this year, I've made a lot of patterns, as you can see in the picture below. I love it when they are fully made by hand, with all the irregularities associated with them. I'm looking for an easy way to make a repetitive pattern out of a scanned drawing so it can be used for printing on bedding sets, pillows, notebooks etcetera. Can anyone help me with information about this? Any advice is more than welcome!