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In my previous life I  was an embroiderer. I was particularly interested in folk art embroidery. Each country in the world has its own style, colors, patterns, materials ... This painting in one of my sketchbooks is inspired by some beautiful Swedish wool embroidery. I added some interesting info about this kind of needlework. For the text block I used my essential superfine pigment liner (I've used countless of them) and for the illustration I used gouache because of it's velvety effect. I notice that I'm not using watercolor a lot, only on occasional basis. 

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Here are 12  spreads in my Moleskine book. All very different besides maybe the patterns. I still do a lot of lettering but calligraphy pens are not in the picture anymore. Nowadays, I mostly use fine pigment liners, gouache, watercolor, colored pencils and Posca pens.
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The last few days, I 've been very busy drawing houses. This will be my next concertina book so I still need to add a few more. All the houses are from the Netherlands, in their typical architectural style. Maybe I will make some more books with houses from other countries. Anyone have an idea which countries that  could be? Suggestions are welcome!

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My latest concertina book is the prime example of achieving a satisfying outcome despite of having little or no inspiration. I started with the vintage safety match box - found on the net - because of the sunflower. The writing and painting tools followed. And in the end I added the calendar where I filled in everyday temperature, measured promptly at noon. The whole book forms a unity because of the color yellow. The more wintertime approaches, the more I feel the urge to use warm color schemes because it makes me forget cold and mist and rain and the early dark of winter's evening.

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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.
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Recent painting of our 'granny' who turns 20 next year but still looks young! I painted her, as well as the background, with gouache and added some pattern using different cheerful Posca colors. 

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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!
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With the floral explosion of an extraordinary spring, our garden is like paradise. I had the irresistible urge to  make a painting of this abundant amount of greens and bright colors. So here is the final print! I'm very happy with the colors.  I was inspired by our own garden but also by old Indian embroideries. These prints are available through my Etsy shop. Click on 'sale' to see more!

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Not my own work this time, but from my talented daughter. For her Master's project she worked on this children's book about jazz and jazz musicians. Since the target audience are children, she used animals alternating with musicians and charming short stories about their lives. There was also a CD included with songs from the book. Below some spreads of JAZZZOO!

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Joke Boudens

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Copyright Joke Boudens 2015. All images and content are the property of Joke Boudens  unless otherwise noted.