Overview of my creative year

Since two years I've been making an overview in December of things I've done creative-wise during that year. It's quite an eye-opener sometimes, because I always have the feeling I did less than it turns out I did. And it's also just plain fun to look back that way :-)

So here's my overview for 2017!

In January I decided to finally do something with some old trays I had laying around. This one I dotted on, and the other one I doodled on. We're still using these today, and they still look new :-)

In February I finished my first painting of the year: "Heal the world"

In March I was quite obsessed with finding images in my old roadmap-book, and looking for fitting quotes for them. This for me was a way to deal with all that was happening in the world:

In April I finally doodled again :-) Seems like I can hardly find the time to sit down with this nowadays, although every time I make one I feel how relaxing it is ....

In May I finished another of my very large paintings on canvas: "Feeling Blue"

In June I tried my hand at some digital journaling. I would love to do this more often, but it's a steep learning curve and somehow, yes, well, the old song .... I can't seem to find time for it....

July was filled with a new obsession of mine: keeping an art diary. I kept it up for about 2 months, but then I got more and more behind until in the end I gave up... I'm still looking for a way to fit art into my every day life. If someone has a tip: please share!

August was a very slow month art-wise. We went to Portugal for a few weeks, and I did a few ink drawings there... 

In September I participated in an art market, and finally finished a mosaic figurine that I had started when we were still living in Australia! Sometimes it takes a long time, but in the end things usually get finished :-)

In October I participated in my first online auction. To help Puerto Rico after the devastating tornadoes. Both of my pieces sold for more than 100 dollars! Wow, I'd never expected that! This is one of them:

November is always my calendar-month. I made 3 calendars for 2018, one with Dutch quotes and 2 English ones. In case you haven't got a calendar for 2018 yet: the links are in the sidebar!

December was and still is taken up by a workshop I'm doing with Fonda Clark Haight: The Down Deep. Very interesting workshop, I'm still working through all the assignments. Here's one of them:

And that's it! I love looking back and remembering things I had forgotten already. The new year looks promising with a new workshop I signed up for: Paint your heart and soul 2018. A course with 24 teachers, can't wait to dive into that!

This'll be my last post for 2017. I'll be linking up to Paint Party Friday and visiting all artists there in the coming days :-)

Just one more thing to do now: end with some funnies :-D

hahaha! LOVE this one!

And also some more serious ones:

Laura Adel Johnson

To all of you who have come here this year to visit my blog, to leave heart-warming comments, to show your support: THANK YOU! It means a lot to me and keeps me showing up as often as I can to share what I've been doing, to express doubts and ideas, to ask your opinions, to just be in the presence of people who "get" me. I want to wish you all the best for the holidays: warmth, joy, kindness and laughter. Here's to you and to 2018 ♥

See you in the new year ♥ ♥ ♥

Having fun

Didn't get the chance to blog last week, but I've been caught up in Fonda Clark Haight's workshop "The Down Deep". So much fun that is, I'm learning a lot.

One of the techniques we learned is making prints with deli paper, and then searching for creatures in there. Well, that of course is one of my favorite pass-times :-)

Here's the first one I did.

Starting from this background:

and ending up with this:

The weird thing is: I saw these figures so clearly when I started, but when I looked a the picture of the background the next day I couldn't find them anymore. It could've been a completely different scene if I had waited a day :-)

Here's another spread I did, which started of with a childhood memory and some collage:

I had no idea what to do with it so I just scribbled and painted and collaged a bit more all over it:

Bit of a mess, but at least I could find some figures now:

way too busy, so I calmed down the background with gesso:

and finished it:

The last one is another deli paper print (that might just become my new favorite technique ...)

Starting from this mess:

finding a few heads:

bringing them out:

cleaning them up ....

and finishing it (kept finding more figures):

My painting is standing neglected on its easel .... And it might stay like that for a while longer :-D.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody has been doing on Paint Party Friday. Thanks for your visit! Here are some funnies to end with a smile :-)

 winter has well and truly started here .... yuk!

Some to think about ....

That's it for this week! I'll be back next week for the last time this year. Hope you're having a really nice day! Take care, and enjoy the weekend! ♥ ♥ ♥