Happy Halloween everybody!

Just a quick note to share my last #Inktober drawing! Challenge completed and I didn't miss a day :-) Will show you my whole inky week 4 on Monday. Right now I am too busy giving out treats and preparing stuffed pumpkins, and generally being spooky :-) Happy Halloween everybody!

#Inktober, week 3

Hello, here' s week 3 of my inky october! I love how my sketchbook is filling up. I'll be calling this one my "book of ideas" :-)

Seeing lots of Christmas decorations in the shops (already!!!) made me think of Christmas carols. I could just stop myself giving wings to the singing girl … no way! It's only mid October.

No idea why I love painting horses? They come up every now and again. Probably I am drawn to their movement and the feeling of travel and freedom they evoke …

On Tuesday I doodled some folksy flowers … and that kind of set the theme for the rest of the week. Once hooked, one idea led to another. I will certainly work on further with some of these …

Now onwards to week 4 …Halloween week! I bet there will be some spooky stuff coming up …

More inky stuff for Inktober 2015 …

… yes, I am still at it! It is fun mostly and I really manage to stick to my plan: to be spontanious, no planning beforehand, no gathering references. I just sit down and do whatever flows out of the paintbrush. Sometimes I don't know what to draw, and some drawings don't turn out sooo very good and then it feels a bit stupid to post them on Facebook … but on the other hand I've surprised myself quite a few times with what appeared on my sketchbook pages!

Here's my inky week:

My sketch from above is a little hommage to my childhood home as I had been visiting there. I come from a mountain region called "Vogelsberg" which would be "Bird's Mountain" in english. And no, there was no snow yet, but it was freezing cold …

And finally I ended up in the forest again … let's see where next week will lead me too!

October is inktober!

This October I decided to take part in an online art project called "inktober". You basically sketch something with ink for every day in October and post it online. For quite a while already I had  dreamed of getting into a daily sketch routine – so I thought this is my chance to try out if I can manage to stick to it everyday? Loving it so far … but ok it does take up time … let's see what I'll say at the end of this month!
For now here's my Inktober drawings 1-8. I am really amazed about what comes up on my sketchpad when I sit down and just start without a plan. Today I ended up deep in the forest :-) … wondering where this project will lead me to!

I post my drawings every day on my Facebook page. If you'd like to see them come here and follow me! And all kinds of artists from everywhere around the world are taking part in this project. If you search Facebook with the search term #inktober you'll find a lot of different styles and subjects, so fun! And you can find #inktober on Instagram and Pinterest as well.
More to come here on the blog at the end of next week! I'll then do a round-up again … hopefully! …  if I manage to stick to the project …

Stargazing :-) and some happy news!

Ok, this post was meant to be about my second playfabric collection but now I just have to share these good news first! Two times success in the Minted + Domino contest, wohoo!!! Thank you so much everybody who voted for me! Here's my winning watercolour painting "The Willow Twins" that came 23th place in the top 30 winners! Out of 4841 submissions, so pretty chuffed here :-) 

And one of my fave figure studies "Seated in Blue" won an editor's pick! Both works will be licensed as wall art for the Minted collection and will be available for sale soon. You can find the gallery of all top 30 winners here: http://www.minted.com/winners

And now, without further ado, here's part 2 of my submissions to the "Child's Play Fabric Challenge" on Minted, my "Space Adventure Collection".





No special inspiration here, except maybe a little bit of stargazing ;-) It's just one of the classic storybook themes for little boys' designs that I have always loved. All handdrawn and vector again.

"Milky Way Stroll" - please vote for it here

"Spaceship Parade" - please vote for it here

"Little Space Critters" - please vote for it here

I especially enjoyed creating those little critters from outer space and the way the play with stars and planets :-)

If you'd like to see part 1 of my submissions, just scroll down, you'll find them in my last blogpost.
And again, if you like my designs, I would be gratefull for your vote! Thank you so much!!!

Kid's pattern once again :-)

"Woodland Home" collection

It's been quite a while that I worked on designs for children – so I loved to design these fabric patterns for the "Child's Play Fabric Challenge" on Minted (fabric for nursery decor). Today I'll share part one of my submissions, my "Woodland Home" collection. As you can see, it is inspired by my surroundings! It's always nice to know where things come from so I am posting my mood board for the collection as well. I thought of the beautiful forests around here and all the stories and fairytales about what is "deep in the forest" – aiming to translate this magical atmosphere into fun and whimsical patterns. All handdrawn, working with vector for a change.
Please vote for my designs if you like them! Thank you so much!

"Woodland Home" inspiration board

"Deep in the Woods" – please vote for it here

"Woodland Stripe" – please vote for it here

"Woodland Foxes" – please vote for it here

"Little Forest Folks" – please vote for it here

I will share part 2 of my submissions soon – the "Space Travel" collection – so please stay tuned!

A BIG thank you those who take the time to vote on my designs! It is truly appreciated! Voting will be open until Tuesday, October 6.

P.s.: As you see this is yet another blogpost about a competition … I am really getting into Minted and because they curate their collection of licensed designs through an ongoing series of competitions it looks like there will be more vote asking in the future. I have to find a way to make this not too annoying, not sure how to do that yet …???
On the other hand it gives me the opportunity to show more of my work – with commissions and designs for outright sale this often is not possible. So in the end there's something good in this voting system too :-)

The Minted x Domino Art Challenge

Here we go with the next contest :-) I am really having a contest summer! This one is for wallart again, and this time round Minted has partnered with the wellknown american interior design and lifestyle magazine Domino. So the chosen works will be sold as art prints on both Minted and Domino, a fab opportunity! Here's a selection of the works I submitted. Votes welcome, like always ;-) Voting is open until 7pm on Tuesday, September 8 (central european time). Thank you so much!

First up here's a woodcut inspired by the poetry of New Zealand writer Keri Hulme and by old Maori myths. It is part of an ongoing series of woodcuts that aim to capture the rough and wild New Zealand coast as well as the poetic narratives. I've got a lot more sketches … waiting for an opportunity to carve and print them soon, hopefully. You can vote for it here.

"The Heart within"

"Rooted in Beauty"

I have paired my woodcut with a botanical study of a piece of root. I love doing these studies from nature … observing and drawing and observing again is almost like a meditation in paint. If you like it, please vote for it here.

Speeking about meditation here's a kind of river meditation. It started as a handpainted watercolour landscape that I later on manipulated digitally to highlight the mysterious atmosphere and the beautiful reflections of the river Lahn. The link to vote for it is here.

"River Reflections, soft sepia"

"Dark Romance 3"

I paired this with a drawing of Whitby Abbey. It seems very different but for me it is related by it's mystery vibe. In fact, Whitby Abbey is one of the settings in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. I do have a dark side! ;-) I am interested in all things Dracula as my diploma project (all these years ago …)  was a series of etchings to illustrate the novel by Bram Stoker. The drawing of Whitby Abbey is part of a series of three drawings and was done while staying in Whitby for some dark autumn days. I really could feel the dark and magic athmosphere creeping up on me there … Please vote for it here.

I love to join model drawing events if I can find them. It is good practice and a lot of fun and a good way to connect with other artists. These two watercolour and wax crayon studies were done in a model drawing club in London, held in a beautiful old mansion in Waterlow Park, Highgate. They are two of my faves and there are a lot of good memories are attached to them too :-) Please vote for them here (Blue Figure) and here (Seated in Blue).

"Blue Figure"

"Seated in Blue"

Finally I'll show you two more classic watercolour paintings:

a peaceful and soft landscape done in Flanders, Belgium. Please vote for it here.

"The Willow Twins"

"Colour Energy"

And finally a colourful and fun painting of summer flowers … that I did simply to admire their beauty. Here's the link to vote for it. Thanks so much!

Hope you like my submissions! If you'd like to see all of them, just hop over on my facebook page, I will post them all there.  

You can find the contest website here. There's an amazing amount of submissions. 4841 in fact! Lots of beautiful and interesting works to see … please wish me luck!