Bye bye Blog

Dear blog, thank you for 7 years of loyal service. 💛 Now it's time for something new: my very own website!

I've been ready for this switch for a while now... On the one hand because I really like the way I can now display my portfolio on my website. On the other hand because of the simplicity: my website includes only my portfolio, about and a contact form. Too often I neglected to write blogs. I guess mainly cause I just prefer to draw instead of writing about my drawings. Surprising eh? 😏
But THANK YOU dear Blog, I learned a lot from you and it was fun hanging out!

I'll still look you up from time to time... And in case you miss me, you can always find me here: www.miekesmakes.nl

x, Annemieke

New stuff...

Nowadays it seems like almost every illustrator I follow on Instagram is hooked on the iPad pro using Procreate. I felt curious and tempted for quite a while… For years I've been drawing by hand, and using Photoshop to edit my illustrations. Which I still love doing by the way!
But December 2018 I gifted myself an iPad pro and apple pencil. I downloaded Procreate and since then I'm discovering all possibilities... and there are A LOT of them.

Sometimes I feel terribly clumsy and slow when drawing digitally. Then I sigh and think: This illustration would've been finished hours ago, if I had made it by hand. But of course that's part of the learning process, and I gotta practise my patience too. ;-)
Besides I can also mix familiar ways of creating with new ways. Such as drawing illustrations by hand first, and edit them in Procreate later on. Or draw something in Procreate, and edit the layered psd-file in Photoshop. This makes so much more possible. Yup, you probably noticed: I'm enthusiastic! :-D

Here a few of my latest drawing experiments…

So this will keep me busy for a while… In the famous words of Pippi Longstocking:
"I have never tried this before, so I think I should definitely be able to do this"

Right? ;-) 

All you need is love...

One evening earlier this year I was sketching at my desk. By chance I tuned in to the lovely @gem_aliye on her Periscope channel. She played her piano and sang beautifully... I was hooked from the first minute. 🙂 Meanwhile her boyfriend @peteremusic came home; I heared him singing and cooking in the background... It felt like I suddenly was a guest in their livingroom, quietly enjoying their music. Soon after we started following each other on Instagram, Gem asked if I could illustrate their wedding announcement... I was happily surprised! 😍

Here's how it turned out. Full of roses, peonies, gold foil and a mini Gem & Peter playing their instruments. Or in fact: playing each others instrument... Gem on Peters guitar, and Peter on Gems (imaginary 😉) grand piano. Music is a huge part of Gem & Peter's lives, and it brought these two lovebirds together.

It's a little wait for their wedding day still, but I wish them a lifetime of love, music and happiness together! 💞

She took the leap

My dear online friend Nienke and I met years ago on Flickr, before Instagram was even a thing... ;-) She makes beautiful photos and I love how she blogs passionately about the many things she's interested in... Such as the art of living, philosophy, motherhood, her adorable DIY projects (crochet and toys for her little girl Amber), minimalism, traveling and making the world a better place... :)

Recently she changed to a new platform (WordPress) and asked if I could make her a logo to give her blog a fresh new look. Such a fun and personal commission! Nienke wanted her logo to be nature themed.

I started painting watercolor leaves and berries. For the brush lettering I used black ink..

With a little Photoshop-magic the logo design finally turned out like this...

For her social media icons I made this smaller version...

In case this made you curious, please take a look at her lovely online space: www.shetooktheleap.nl !

Welcome little Mila

Sweet baby Mila is born! And Amy turned into a big sister... I loved designing the winter themed birth announcements for these girls. Congratulations to the proud parents!

My monthly favourites...

Last year I started a new practice and project... I've been drawing my favourite things of the month! More than just a fun way of documenting things that have happened, this turns out to be a very mindful and valuable activity.

At the end of each month I sit down and look back at every day that has passed. I write down a list of things that made me smile, were meaningful and gave me a warm, happy feeling. This list often tends to be so much longer than I would expect! From this list I pick about 6 events and turn them into an illustration. I number them, and write down a brief memory to go along with them.

Here a little overview of my year so far: 

If you like to see them more up-close, please check my instagram account.

Oh and: yup, August is missing. It was our summer holiday month and I made an on-the-road sketchbook... Which is why I haven't got round to drawing my favourites as well. 

Anyhow: I'm glad I started doing this practice. It feels like celebrating life. Something I hope to do every day of the month :).

Making monograms...

It's been aaaages since I last posted on my blog. 🙈 I'm still here though!

A while back I've worked on a little typography project... I've been making a few decorated monograms. On www.clothpaperscissors.com I did a lettering lesson of my dear instagram friend Alexandra Snowdon. Please do check out here lovely feed... She's a big inspiration to me!

First I made pencil sketches, then I inked my illustrated letters... and the last step was watercolor painting it.

 

 

So here's how my project turned out... I like ampersands a lot, but I could’ve left it out, since JA means YES in Dutch. 💪🏼

Little book of connection

My friend Piet Koek and I recently collaborated and made a little zine for our just married friends. We both know the bride for about 20 years now; we met when we were all students Creative Therapy. Music Therapist, writer and storyteller Piet wrote a lovely (Dutch) poem about the bride, our friendship and our wishes for her and her husband. I made illustrations to symbolize our friendship and wishes.

It was both Piet and my first little book project, and we're quite happy how it turned out!
Here's a little video of me flipping through it... Hopefully not to quickly for you to read. Or else just pause it whenever you like. ;-)

 

They said: "Ja!"

Last week my dear friend Frederike married her love Stefan. ❤ It was a beautiful day!

I’m excited I can finally share the wedding invitation I designed for them... At the front I illustrated their pretty wedding location: Castle De Schaffelaar in Spring time, peeking through the fresh green leaves. A little bird is singing them a love song, obviously. ;-)

I enjoyed drawing all the little branches and leaves... And laying the bricks of course.

 

Een bericht gedeeld door Annemieke (@miekesmakes) op 11 Sep 2016 om 4:33 PDT

At the back I painted little symbols to visualize their day program.

Here's how it finally turned out...

It was so fun to see how my illustrations were used during their day. The leaves were printed on the chocolats around their wedding cake. The castle was printed on their wedding favors. And they put real grape hyacinths along with pretty name tags, handlettered by the bride, on the plates during the dinner party. Pictures will follow... ;-)

I'm wishing the newlyweds a lifetime of love and happiness! 💑

Good thoughts...

This year I kept our Christmas card design simple, with only a few branches and berries... and good thoughts of Peace, Love and Joy. Cause that's all we really need, isn't it? ❤

Yi ya yoga!

Ever since Laura from InBloei coaching asked me to make illustrations for her new kids yoga studio Bloesem kinderyoga, I've been learning a thing or two about yoga…

It was a joy for me to draw these kids in different yoga positions, and of course I couldn't fight the impulse to try them all out! That is… the tree, the lotus, the triangle, the bound angle, the bow, warrior II and the cobra pose. Yup, quite a few. ;-) With a pencil behind my ear and a brush between my teeth, obviously.

Oh, and while kids (or adults) are being so busy yogaing, they seriously need some watercolour confetti too, don't they? So there you go…

For all mindful, Dutch moms and their (highly) sensitive kids, please do check out Laura's lovely work as a mindful mommy coach, nutritionist, kids yoga instructor and child coach!

And... she's on social media too :-)
Instagram: Laura In Bloei
Twitter: Bloesem kind
Facebook: In Bloei Coaching

Miekes Baked

The past weeks I've been watching Heel Holland Bakt: the Dutch version of The Great British Bake Off. The bakers were very well matched this year. Last Sunday was the finale and in the end baker Annemarie won. She baked the prettiest things! This also means the Heel Holland Bakt drawing challenge I've participated in has come to an end. Along with other creatives on Instagram I've drawn and painted my weekly favourite bakings... Check HHB Challenge for an overview of all illustrated cakes and pastries.

 

The ones pictured here were "my bakings"... (oh, if only I could test them all out :-P )

 

 

 

The 100 doodles are done!

It's already been a week since I finished my 100 days project on instagram called #100daysofdoodlingthingsilove. It was the first time I did a project like this and I must say it has learned me quite a lot...

• About how making daily drawing time slowly but surely turns into a habit. I actually miss it now, even though I obviously enjoy my extra time too ;-).
• About how drawing often doesn't start with inspiration, but just with making time for it. Even, or maybe especially, when I don't feel like it. Somehow I've produced some of my most favourite sketches when I wasn't in the mood to draw. And also: drawing when I wasn't feeling like it (because of tiredness, lack of focus, a tight schedule or whatever), almost always made me feel better and gave me more energy in the end.
• About how my thoughts about a particular drawing (It's nice. It's crap.) are just thoughts... and other people often respond completely different to it. Which in itself is a lesson for me to be less judgemental about my own work, and just dare to put it out there... dispite of my own uncertainty and the flaws I see.
• About how persistently focussing on something happy-making day in day out, sets positive things into motion. It became easier for me to start drawing in the first place, without staring too long at the white piece of paper in front of me. I've started to feel more confident about my drawings (even the silly sketches). I've connected to many kind, creative people during these 100 days. And somehow I've gained over a 1000 new followers! (Huh? Say what??!) I certainly hadn't expect this to happen, but I'm happy and grateful people apparantly like my work enough that they want to tag along. Thanks to all of them! They are a big motivation for me to keep going.
• The topic I choose was quite personal and at first I thought: "Can I even come up with 100 things I love?". But the strangest thing happened: the further I came into the challenge, the easier it got to think up new drawing topics. I knew it already, but this challenge made it extra clear: you get more of what you focus on. So in this case I began to see "things I love" everywhere. This is why my project was also a daily gratitude practise... :)
• Most importantly I think these things I've learned are true in general for all I (or we) would like to focus on more. This gives confidence that whatever I choose to put my energy in on a regular basis, it will bring new insights and good things my way.

While working on mine, I loved following other 100 days projects on instagram as well. And it makes me curious of their, and other peoples, experiences too... Did you ever do a 100 (or other amount of) days project of any sort? How did it turn out? What did you learn from it? And are there any things we have in common? Or maybe you've experienced it completely different?

All in all I'm happy I've commited to this challenge 100 days ago! And I'll probably do it again in the future. Though maybe first a 30 days challenge to warm up a bit. ;-)

Doug & Mary's favourite things...

Recently I've finished a lovely personal commission. Instagram friend Ruth from Northern Ireland asked me to make a favourite things illustration for her parents, who both turn 75 this month. It turned out to be a collection of special moments, things Doug & Mary love to do and their family of course. I loved drawing all the little details...

So here's how the illustration eventually turned out...

And then I received the wonderful picture below. The best Thank You ever :-)

Congratulations dear Doug & Mary! I wish you many more wonderful years together. 💕

Tiny House Magazine

For my 100 days drawing challenge I drew a cute tiny house made by Wind River tiny homes.
Andrew Odom, managing editor of Tiny House Magazine and co-founder of Tiny r(E)volution, noticed my drawing on Instragram. He loved it and asked if he could use my illustration in the July issue of Tiny House Magazine as their “The Last Call”; which is a parting shot of the tiny house world on the last page of their magazine. But of course, and thanks for asking Adrew. I love the magazine you make, and to now be a tiny part of it!

The 100 days challenge...

Since last month I'm taking part in the 100 day project from @elleluna. As a personal theme I chose: #100daysofdoodlingthingsilove Basically it means I make a daily (and often tiny) doodle of something I love. Apart from drawing more often, it's also a daily little gratitude practise...

I love the proces, but it does take up quite some time and needs planning too. Sometimes I have to make a few drawings upfront, when I know I won't be able to draw in the days to come. I'm now NEARLY half-way the challenge... Somewhere in July I must reach my 100 days!

Oh Creative Lady

A little while back the lovely Australian mom, teacher and creative blogger Shannon from
Oh Creative Day asked me if I could make her an image for a new interview series she wanted to start, named: Oh Creative Lady.

In this series she will interview creative friends that she has met through blogging and Instagram. And she wanted to interview me too! Wow. *Blush* I was pretty excited to answer her questions... And now my interview went online too!

By the way... Shannons first interview was with the kind and inspiring Agnes from Hello Wonderful. Very much worth reading!

Brothers

It's raining baby boys lately... Simon is born!

In 2014 I was happy to design big brother Thomas birth announcement. And recently parents Niels and Anneliese asked me to make Simons card too. :-) They also had an illustrated story in mind...

At the front of the card they wanted Simon and his toys to arrive by hot air balloon. We played with the idea to make him arrive by airplane too, but the hot air balloon idea won. 
On the inside you see Simon in his crib, safely at home and cosily asleep.
And at the back of the card the two brothers are out to explore the world together...

Congratulations sweet family! 

 

Hello baby boy!

Yay, Otto is born! Six months ago his then pregnant mother Lisa from Puur Pippa baked our delicious wedding cupcakes. Later she asked me if I could make Otto's birth announcement. It turned out to be a sweet and simple design with watercolour dots.

I've just received a pretty printed version, along with the blue and white confetti... So fun! :-)

Congratulations to dear Lisa, Sjoerd & big sister Filippa!