Pattern Parade

Designing patterns is my latest obsession. It's just so much fun, that I can't seem to stop! I would love to turn my repeatable patterns into fabric, gift wrap, wallpaper and other paper goodies in the future... Oh, the possibilities!!! :-D

Ja! Oui! Yes!

Dear friends of mine will be getting married soon! They asked me to illustrate their wedding announcement in a nature / woods-theme. Such a fun commission! Today I received the final card in the mail. I'm happy it turned out the way they wanted... :-)

Couldn't resist fooling around with all those little painted twigs, leaves and flowers...

Arty mail

Recently I started a little creative project with my friend Hoi-Yin. We will be sending each other illustrated and handlettered pages in handmade envelopes. The plan is to eventually bind the pages into a little book. Here's what I send to her so far...

Time flies!

Next Saturday the Dutch pop choir Madame Jeanette will be performing their yearly concert for friends, family and other groupies. The singing ladies will make a musical journey through time. And I've been asked to design the flyers & admission tickets. How fun :-). Here's what I came up with...

P.S. In case you were wondering: Madame Jeanettes are really hot peppers. Not nearly as hot as the ladies in the choir though ;-).

Things we rarely see...

Judith Herzberg, a Dutch poet and play writer, writes beautiful poems. Here's an illustration I made of one of her writings... Freely translated it says:

You rarely see a bird in the sky change its flight, turn, return.

This blue bird is now flying off to Esther, for whom I especially made this... I'm sure his flight will be safe and without any hesitation.

Pizza time!

Recently I've been asked to illustrate a flyer for a pizza session (workshop) for primary school teachers, organized by http://www.scohkenniscentrum.nl/. It was a fun commission! Of course it did make me crave a slice of pizza...

Spontaneity

Usually I work quite structured. I'm the list-making-type (including working with categories, an overview on priorities and steps to make to reach a certain goal). I like to make a plan. To put things on paper that are otherwise floating around in my brain. As if, when writing thoughts down, they become manageable. Not that it always helps me out though... But still.

Sometimes however I like doing the complete opposite. I enjoy having no plan at all. I like to just do something and wait and see what happens. It's a bit out of character, and scary too, I think. But that's part of the deal. It's a little adventure on itself...

I notice it often works that way when being creative. You can have something in mind to make (maybe just a vague idea at first). And then gradually while making it, a new idea comes to mind, and the original idea changes. Things are being added, that I probably couldn't have thought of on forehand. It just pops into my mind spontaneously while being in the process... and surprises me.

It happened with this little piece as well. I was only doodling a poppy. No plan. Just a sketch. And then suddenly it felt so alone on the page, and I added the words. And then the words seemed a bit incomplete, and I added green to it. And then there was this space between the flower and the word LIFE. And I added a honeybee. And then this is what came out of it...

I think I should doodle freely more often. It's almost therapeutical for me ;-)