For your notes

One can never have too many notebooks! I am a bit of an addict when it comes to journals, notebooks, sketchbooks … anything book-like and bound with nice papers and a beautiful cover really. So it was clear that I had to jump on the new Minted challenge about stationary gifts (personalizable notebooks, calendars and wrapping paper): the "Wrap it Up" Holiday Quickfire Gifting Challenge.

I had way too many ideas. And not enough time. I could easily have come up with more, but I finally ended up with 15 notebooks and 4 wrapping paper designs. Only ;-)
I will share my faves here with you. Like always with Minted comps, votes are very welcome – thank you!! Voting is open until September 23. (To vote, please just click on the image, that'll lead you directly to my submission on the Minted page.) To look at/ vote for ALL of my submissions, feel free to hop over here to my "Voting Now" page.

Ok, here's some of my ideas! Starting with a pretty "everyday" notebook inspired by Eastern European folklore:

"Folkbird"

What about journaling all these precious moments, practising a bit of mindfulness? This notebook featuring a watercolour painting could be the right fit for that.

"Floral Moments"

Recipes journals are an essential too. My design features a root pattern made with handdrawn and papercut elements – good food for your soul!

"Soul Food Journal"

 For all travellers! This actually is one notebook out of a series of four, all featuring my watercolours and a rather classic design inspired by old travel journals and maps. You can find the other 3 on my "Voting now" page.

"Wanderlust Notes – Distant Horizons"

Certainly, pirates need to take notes as well! For that, this playful journal for kids and the young at heart is best!

"Pirate Clouds"

Finally, here's two wrapping paper designs for the holidays.

"Little Forest"

"Winternight Lace"

Hoping that you'll like my submissions! Thank you so much for looking and voting :-)

My personal fairytale route

There is an official german fairytale route that is visited by many tourists, but this here is my personal one! I live in a river valley with lots of castles, and there's plenty of stories, folktales and history woven around them. So when Minted announced the Spaces and Places Art Challenge – for artwork and photography that was inspired by a location – I knew that I wanted to show "my valley" and some of it's castles.
The Lahn River Valley is a tributary valley of the Rhine and in many parts it looks a bit like a mini version of the big stream. More quiet and secluded and with canoes inspite of the big container ships, but definitely beautiful and worth a visit too.
So here's four fairytale castles in watercolour! The blue colour scheme was initially inspired by the region's blue dyeing tradition. But I as well found that it helped me to come up with a more special interpretation, without loosing the original features of the buildings and their recognizability.

"Fairytale Route Count's Castle Germany"

Starting right at my doorstep this is Count's Castle, perched on a high rock above the river, my daily view out of my studio window. This medieval castle has a rich history and was used as residence for several counts, as dower residences for two dutch countesses, as administrative seat, as prison and almost unbelievable, as stonemason workshop. Nowadays it houses a youth hostel, a café and the local museum.

"Fairytale Route Oranienstein Castle Germany"

Just a short distance up the hill you'll find this serene baroque castle with a beautiful park – Oranienstein Castle. It was built by one of the said dutch countesses that longed for more comfort than the old Count's Castle could provide. It is one of the four ancestral castles of the Dutch Royal Family. Nowadays it belongs to the German Army, but can be visited with guided tours and often houses classical concerts.

"Fairytale Route Nassau Castle Germany"

Nassau Castle is another medieval hilltop castle overlooking Nassau town and hills. It had been in ruins but has partly been restored. The view from it's high keep is magical and you can as well get married there in a beautiful wedding chamber. Historically it is the home of the Counts of Nassau who again are closely related to the Dutch Royal Family. It is as well the source for the name of the capital city of the Bahamas: Nassau in the Bahamas was named in honour of Wilhelm III. from Oranien-Nassau, Regent of the Netherlands and King of England in the 17th century, and a descendant of the Counts of Nassau.

"Fairytale Route Lahneck Castle Germany"

Lahneck Castle is located at the estuary of the River Lahn into the Rhine and is often called the "Guardian of the Valley". It as well has a long history dating back into the 13th century, including being the last refuge for the Order of the Templars when they were hunted and finally destroyed in the 14th century. It as well has a resident ghost, the soul of a young english girl who visited the castle to sketch the view on the river, got trapped on the tower and sadly died there.
Lahneck Castle can be visited with guided tours and there's special candelit tours as well.

I hope you liked my little history tour along the Lahn River!

Please feel free to visit my Voting Page to have a look at all my submissions to this challenge and to vote for them if you like them. Thank you so much :-)

Reverting back to winter … and loving it!

Firstly I'd like to share a new (wintery) win:

Pretty chuffed that my little winter birdie made it into the top 30 winners of the Minted & Pottery Barn contest for kid's wallart! ! (Only just … on the 27th… but in nevertheless!) It will soon be available as art print – and hopefully will sell well in the next holiday season!
And I only learned later on that this was the biggest contest Minted ever did with over 600,000 votes!!! and more than 7300 submission :-o Good that I didn't know before entering … prob wouldn't have dared. So double happy over here now! You can see the gallery of all top 30 winners here.

And secondly here's more Christmas cards coming up! I have entered these designs into the current stationary challenge for holiday cards on Minted, so votes are very welcome, as always :-) Thank you so much!
(Just click on the title of the image, that'll lead you to my submission on the Minted site).

"Starlight Angel" (foil pressed)

"Watercolour Prayers" (non foil)

"The Journey" (foil pressed)

I hope you like them! Motifs and lettering were all done in brush and ink, which develops into one of my fave techniques at the moment.
Please feel free to have a look at all of my submissions here. Thank you!
And you can have a look at the foil pressed version of the Holiday card challenge here and at the non foil version here). 

Spring sunshine mixed with Christmas carols

It's kind of weird to work on Christmas designs when Spring is finally here! But that's what I did last week.
There is a new challenge on at Minted, for Christmas cards. In fact, there are more holiday challenges coming up, so this blog might look a lot like Christmas in the next weeks …

This first holiday contest, the “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful” Religious Christmas Photo Card Challenge is for designs with religious or spiritual themes and greetings. The cards will be personalizable with the customer's name and own photography. There is a foil pressed and a non-foil version of the challenge.

I felt this was not an easy brief but an interesting one. While I am not overly religious I liked the idea of working with a spiritual text. Back to the basics, so to say!
I had to whipe off the dust of my calligraphy brushes – it's been a while that I worked on handlettering and calligraphy – but after some trials I really got into it. I aimed for cards that have a fresh, spontanious, expressive and uplifting look. Here's my three faves! (All photos are courtesy of Minted.)

"Bold Brush Hallelujah"

"5 Blessings"

"Bold Night Divine"

I hope you'll like them!

Votes are very welcome :-) You can vote for the designs in this blogpost just by clicking on the title of the image – the link will lead you directly onto my submission on the Minted page. You as well can have a look and vote for all my designs (6 of them) here on my voting page. Voting is open until Tuesday, April 19. Thank you so much!!!

Happy Easter! … and an early Easter present

Just popping in to wish you a good one! (Quickly, before it's already over again …)

And to show you my early Easter present …
Last week, the results of the Minted Drawing and Sketching Challenge from January were reveiled. Finally!
And I had a fab double surprise:
My aquatint etching "The Melancholy of Stones" won! It came up 7th within the top 20 winners.
And my watercolour "Lush Coast Kenmare Ireland" received an Editor's Pick!
Thank you so much everybody who might have voted for me! And thank you, Minted editors!

Both works will be for sale as art prints on Minted soon. My Minted Wall Art collection is growing :-)
You can find out more about the challenge and see the gallery of all winners here.

Now off to have a very lazy second Easter day tomorrow :-)
Wishing you all a nice bit of sunshine and some time to relax and be together with family and friends!

Revisiting an old love

This week I've done my first two stationary designs since 16 years! It was a lot of fun! Have to do this more often.

Guess what I did it for? Yes … they are for a new Minted challenge: the "Sweet Celebrations Quickfire Kids' Birthday Party Invitation Challenge". This blog is becoming a kind of Minted blog lately ;-) I am still pretty happy that I started working with them and I love how the challenges make my creative muscles stretch!

The brief is for all kind of kid's party invitations really. But it mentions some special interests:
photo card designs (as well as having personalizable text areas they are as well customizable with people's own photos) and designs for autumn birthdays. I love all things spooky! So here are my invitation designs:

"Spooktacular Wreath"

"Spooky Gallery"

I hope you'll like them! And like always, votes are very welcome! (Please just click on the title of the images, that'll lead you to my submissions on the Minted site.)
I am curious really if I can manage to get into the Minted Stationary Collection as well …???
Voting is open from now until Tuesday, March 29. Thank you so much :-)

P.s.: And now you wonder why stationary is an "old love" of mine? I used to do a lot of stationary designs when I was living in London around the year 2000. I was freelancing for Camden Graphics (which is now a part of UK Greetings). It was a fab time and I loved to work in their Islington studio. Oh sweet memories :-)

Contest No.3: The Minted & Pottery Barn Kids + Teen Wall Art Challenge!

Wall art contests seem to come in threes as all good things do! The Minted & Pottery Barn Kids + Teen Wall Art Challenge is the third one on Minted since 2016 has started. Not sure if it is a good thing though … we are still waiting on the results of the previous two contest …
In this contest Minted + Pottery Barn are looking for art prints for boys and girls and for the whole age range starting with baby up to teenagers.
I am a bit exhausted contestwise but I just couldn't miss this one! Wall art for kids really is one of my fave subjects. It would be nice to build up a kid's collection on Minted. And to have a print been sold by Pottery Barn would be totally awesome! Well a girl can dream ;-)

So ok, I went ahead and submitted 16 pieces. Like always I will be showing you my faves here and I would be delighted to get your votes! Please just click on the title of the images, that'll lead you directly to my submissions on the Minted website. Thank you so much!

"Roaming Free"

I really love the playfulness and freedom vibe of this painting! It's a beautiful print for horse lovers of all ages. And it fits well to the brief as two of the themes asked for are animal prints and hobby themed prints.

"How to catch a Winter Star"

Two little winter bunnies in sweaters make a soft and tender nursery print for the holiday season – which is another theme asked for in the brief.


And here now are two fun prints for boys:

"Counting Crocodiles"

"Submarines Ahoi"

"The Craftsman" is originally an illustration done for a German fairytale. Works for both genders I think. I love the European and old times vibe of this one.

"The Craftsman"

Finally two romantic prints for girls and young ladies:

"Framed in Petals"

The inspiration for the watercolour print above came from Art Nouveau cameo brooches.

"Wake up in Flowers"

And this mixed media painting was inspired by our rooftop garden, that literally grows into our  bedroom windows in the summer …

I hope you like my submissions!

Want to see more? I have posted all my submissions on the "Voting now" page, so please just hop over there to take a look! Thank you again!

The Minted & West Elm Challenge

And now here's already a new contest: the Minted & West Elm Challenge!
Both Minted and West Elm are looking for all kinds of new art (including photography) to add to their wall art collections. I have submitted mainly photography this time, so I'll focus on this for today.
Minted has announced a special "Around the World" award – a good chance to show off some of my travel photography …
Please vote for my entries if you like them! Thank you! Just click on the title of the image to go directly to my submission on Minted. Here are my favourites in the challenge:

"Devon Beach Tea"

I loved this café in a wooden beachhut, selling fine teas to the bathers at a beach in Devon. It seemed so quintessentially english to me! Quirky, a bit old fashioned and romantic, a little bit melancholic, but friendly and inviting at the same time … Composing the image I left a lot of space for the sky – lots of blue for a real "seaside image".

"The Evening Bath"

This shot was done on the Isle of White, England, on a beautiful evening after some days of heavy rain. I loved the small hub of energy of this group of bathing children against the quietness of the vast turquoise sea. The water was icecold! They really could only dash in and then right out again. The image makes me think of youth, carelessness, high spirits, and the summers of my own childhood.

"Bird on Stonehenge"

I guess this image of Stonehenge is dear to me partly because it didn't come so easy. When visiting Stonehenge, I was very disappointed at first. With a big motorway in the background, the distant but persisting sound of cars and pretty bad weather on top there was next to no atmosphere … But playing with close ups sparked my interest – these stones really are majestic! I then decided I needed a living accent, but it took a while to convince the bird to fly to the right spot … I like the contrast between huge and small, ancient and living/ moving, and the fact that the image is a bit more unusual than other Stonehenge photographs.

"Approaching the Royal Albert Hall"

Speaking of the unusual: my motivation for the picture above was to find a new view on the famous Royal Albert Hall in London. The allegorical statues of Asia in the foreground are part of the Albert Memorial, and I pictured them in a dynamic composition, as if moving towards the hall. I used another set of spells on the pigeons … and they obeyed ;-)

"Connemara reflections"

Well I simply had to squeeze in a shot from Ireland! One of my favourite destinations ever. This picture shows the amazing reflections on Lough Kylemore, Connemara. Mountain becomes water becomes land again. And oh this little his house … what an amazing place to live! (Have I mentioned yet that I am a romantic soul? Just can't help myself!)

"Old Town Bruges"

This view on Bruges/ Flanders is a calm and modest picture, but I think it captures the essence of this historic city quite well. It quietly speaks of old paintings, the times of the Hanse, of rich merchants, old traditions and hardworking craftspeople. To me, it is a strong image of the "Old Europe".

I hope you'll like this little trip in pictures! I as well have listed ALL my entries on the "Voting now!" page, if you'd like to vote for more … or simply to have a peek :-)
Voting is open until Friday, February 12. Thank you so much!

A busy start into 2016 – a Minted contest and the Heimtex fair

There's a lot happening already in the new year! I wish I could have a bit of a slow January. My instincts tell me it's time for hibernating, but no way ;-)

Ok, first there's a new Minted contest: the "Drawing and Sketching Art Challenge". It is all about drawings and sketches in any medium, but as well about watercolours, printing techniques, mixed media and collage. I loved the brief and submitted quite a lot!
Have thought a bit about how to handle the Minted contests further on. And have decided to add a "voting now!" page to my blog, so that hopefully I won't annoy everybody doing ALL my vote asking in my blogposts. From now on you'll find a full listing of my submissions to the current contests posted on the voting page. Then in my regular posts I will highlight only some of my fave art pieces. I'll be super thankful for everybody who takes the time to look through the voting page and to vote for me!!!

So here's my faves from the Drawing and Sketching challenge. Please click on the title of the image to vote if you like to …

"Lush Coast Kenmare Ireland"

First up a watercolour sketch done in Kenmare at the famous Ring of Kerry. It is one of my fave places ever … so beautiful, green and really lush like a garden.
The next drawing is about County Kerry in Ireland too: The "Lady of the Lakes" is based on my memories of visiting the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and feeling one with nature. It was a bit like a déja vu, like coming home … I'll never forget that moment.

"Lady of the Lakes"

And here's one of my fave fashion drawings, done in pen and ink plus watercolour, concentrating on the elegant silhouette of the woman and the flowing lines of her ball dress.

"The Gown"

My little patterned fox from last year's inktober sketches is in too! I just love the softness and peaceful look of this little guy.

"The patterned Fox"

Finally here's two mixed media pieces. The first one is a collage of: a monotype printed directly from a tree slice, frottaged elements and a drawing in coloured pencil. It is part of two collages about the different qualities of time, this one about free flowing time.

"Rings of Time 1"

 And finally a collage for all sea lovers and adventurers … this is a digital collage of a watercolour ocean, handdrawn waves and clouds and the photographed boats made of sea glass and driftwood.

"Beyond Wind and Sea"

I hope you like them! And thank you for voting :-)


Then yesterday I have been visiting Heimtex fair in Frankfurt – one of the biggest fairs there is for home textiles. I met up with some lovely friends and colleagues, some with their own booths, and made some interesting new connections.

Copyright: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jochen Günther

The "Galleria" on the fair. Copyright: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen

It was pretty busy, though not too much. Nice for us visitors but for the designers offering their collections I wished it would have been even more …

The fair basically is divided into a trend section, the designer's hall with all textile + surface designers and studios, and then several manufacturer's halls with all kinds of different textile products for home and for objects like hotels, holiday resorts etc. There's bedding, carpets, pillows, curtains, kitchen textiles, wallpaper and many more, and a lot about the technical side of textile manufacturing too. Naturally, the designer's hall was our first point of interest, but we looked into the trend area too and followed a trend seminar by Milou Ket (recommended! Have a look at her website, it's worth it!) And then finally we had a closer look at the halls for wallpaper and curtains, both really interesting.

Novamur GmbH. Copyright: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Thomas Fedra

Ugépa S.A. Copyright: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Thomas Fedra

Alfred Apelt GmbH. Copyright: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jochen Günther

Elitis SAS. Copyright: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Thomas Fedra

I am hoping to publish a little review of the trend "theme park" at the beginning of next week. Unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures on the fair, but I managed to source some nice pics from the fair company itself, meant for journalists. Oh well in a way blogging is journalism too! More next week, so stay tuned!

Letting go of 2015 … happy new Year!

There's a little program on Facebook that does a review of your last year. Here's what I got … I love the random selection of images that came up. I think they very well represent my year 2015.

New Year pirates (originally done for kid's fashion) and a notebook design from Bootcamp.

Easter hares and my first editor's pick in a Minted comp, the "Lady of the Orchard".

 My "Rooftop Garden" pattern (Fabric 8 Contest semifinalist). Another win on Minted, the "Willow Twins".

One of my Inktober drawings. My bestselling print on Minted, the "Cloud Symphony" from Donegal.

A snapshot in November. And 2 sketchy advent angels.

2015 has been a good year.

I had a nice mix of commissions, graphic design as well as illustration/ surface design, which kept me quite busy throughout the year.

Did MATS Bootcamp and MATS B (again) in winter and spring. I complained a lot about not having enough time for the courses … but still … after MATS B I felt like walking through a door, or up to the next level. I guess I only realized a bit afterwards how much I'd learnt.

Had my first intern in spring, an interesting experience. I must get back into teaching soon!

Let go of a few aspirations that didn't feel right anymore. Maybe this was the reason why some other doors opened up quite unexpectedly?
Found out that taking part in competitions can be quite fun and isn't always a waste of time – if you win :-)

Did my first month-long drawing challenge with Inktober. Had a lot of fun with it and often surprised myself with the subjects/themes I came up with. But it took up way more time than I expected, and I often yearned to "do something more" with my sketches, which then would take up even more time.
So … no "Art Daily" for me in 2016. But I can well imagine to do 1 or 2 monthly drawing/painting challenges per year.

To round up the year, I sold a good number of art prints via Minted in the holiday season. Such a great feeling! Thank you all!

In general my work got more painterly, more free flowing, less cluttered. Which I love! I feel way more confident about my work and my direction than at the beginning of this year.
When it comes to favourite subjects I love painting/illustrating anything with animals. I am a confessing romantic. And my Minted success rekindled my love for landscape painting as well.
I too realized that I now can switch quite effortlessly from illustration to graphic design to surface design and back again. With tasks as varied as coming up with a communication/advertising concept for a local health centre to designing patterns for kid's fabric this is a great gift for me! It opens up so many possibilities :-)

Ok, 2015, and now … there you go …
I'll raise the anchor of my little pirate ship and go looking for new adventures in 2016! Happy New Year everybody!