sunny twins

we can use some sunshine...

sunny twins for my twins-project

my mom's geranium

Today it's 3 years ago my mom passed away...

The day she died, there was a geranium on her table in her garden.
I took this plant with me, to take care of it.

The year after we took slips from it and now we have a whole bunch of geraniums.

Some of my brothers and sisters also have some slips,
and they are making new ones too...

So my mom is still alive in our memories and in her geranium(s)...

Here you can see my mom when she was young. It's the girl on the right side
I love this photo. Her and her friend's enthusiasm, their clothes and their attitude. :-)

Last year I wrote another blogpost about her: far away, but still near

And the year before I posted this one: to honour my mom

moon serenade for SMART exhibition

I made 'moon serenade' for the SMART exhibition
at Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA).
The exhibition is from Friday May 17th until June 7th.

'The SMART exhibition is a collection of clever, thoughtful,
and whimsical artwork' (yes, that's what they say ;-))
made by 35 international artists.
Curated by Amy Ng, founder of pikaland.

If you like, you can order moon serenade here

moustache twins

Because twins and moustaches inspire me,
I've made these moustache twins

Now available as postcard in the Red Cheeks Factory shop

print of the week: red nose brigade

The new 'print of the week' is: red nose brigade
Have a very nice week :-)

IF: tribute

A tribute to Penelope Dullaghan.

About ten years ago Penelope started illustration friday:
a weekly illustration challenge around a theme.

At first only a few illustrators were joining,
but in these ten years it grew out to a huge illustration community.
An inspiring blog, artist interviews and ofcourse the weekly challenge.
I have submitted many illustrations, the themes are often inspring.

Now Penelope has decided to focus on other things
She will leave Illustration Friday, but the I.F will continue
Thank you Penelope for all the inspiration and good luck in the future!

This dancing elephant is now available as postcard in my shop

inspiration: Annie M.G.Schmidt & Fiep Westendorp

I just read this book: Tow-Truck Pluck.
Originally it is written in Dutch with the title: Pluk van de Petteflet
It's funny to see how they translate it :-)

Written by Annie M.G Schmidt and Fiep Westendorp made the illustrations

This was a very famous and successful duo here in Holland.
They have worked together for a very long time.
Lots of books have come from their hand and are translated in many languages

Annie's writing style and Fiep's illustrations are funny with a lot of fantasy
It was a golden duo and I'm a big fan of them.

even wuiven misschien....

Today we celebrate we have a new king in Holland
The whole day there are several festivities.
One of the highlights is the famous balcony scene:

This morning the family appeared on the balcony:
First the old Queen and then the new King and his wife
after them three little princesses, with yellow dresses and a yellow flower in their hair
And they waved, minutes long to please the orange crowd and press.

print of the week: on a journey

The coming weeks on monday I choose a giclée art print
in my shop as 'print of the week' You will get a discount on the chosen print

This week it's the poetic giclée art print: on a journey
Remember to follow your dreams...

it also fits in this weeks topic of illustration friday: farewell

If you have suggestions for the 'print of the week',
you can always let me know!

I wish you a very nice and inspiring week!

inspiration: The Big Change

Yesterday I went to the exhibition The Big Change:
Revolutions in Russian Painting 1895-1917

This fascinating period is not well known here in the West.
They exhibit more than 80 paintings from Russian painters
and the only painters I knew were Malevich and Kandinsky

At the entrance there is a series self portraits of all painters of this exhibition
It's great to discover so many new (old) works

The exhibition is part of Russia Year 2013.
It takes place in the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht
It was the first time I visited this Museum, it's in the south of Holland
Not nearby, but worthwile to visit (till 11th of August)

orange dream

Next tuesday we will get a new King.
There's a lot going on around this day.
People prepare themselves for a big celebration

I had so much fun, when I went to the supermarket today.
There was a high heeled blond lady with drawn eye-brows.
She stood in front of me in the queue for the cash desk

She bought all kind of orange props. It was for her and her friend, she told me:
an orange crown, a pair of braces, orange hawaiian necklaces, an orange cowboy hat
and real Dutch treacle-waffles in orange wrapping

I saw this couple in my fantasy celebrating this party together
It made my day :-)

birthday twins

birthday twins for my twins-project

moustaches, moustaches and moustaches...

Last week I took some time to play around with new materials.
I cut out some old paintings and used them in these little characters.

I'm always fascinated by moustaches, they are a big inspiration to me
So I used them as a subject to play with.
I don't know why, but they keep coming back in my work.

What I liked about making these characters was to play with the actual shape
and the shape that remains. It can bring you nice surprises.
I like that!

For more of my moustache illustrations click here and here
Have a nice weekend!

Little big books: Illustrations for children's picture books

This book was already for a while on my wishlist.
little big books illustrations for children's picture books.

This afternoon I saw it in the bookstore and I couldn't resist to buy it.
It's beautiful, full with inspiring illustrations and illustrators.
Some of them I knew already, but there are also lots of new names.
I made a quick selection, but I assure you there's much much more!

Ana Ventura

Blex Bolex

Juanjo G. Oller

Violeta Lopiz

100 days yoga challenge

I have something to share with you
Something I am really proud of and which makes me happy.
I wanna shout it out loud:

Maybe some of you know it already, but for some time I go often
to the Bikram yoga class in Rotterdam, preferably in the morning.

On the second of January I started a challenge: doing 100 days yoga-classes in a row.
First I didn't tell anybody about it, because I wanted to see for myself how far I would come. This morning I just had my 100th lesson.
So, I DIT IT!!

To celebrate this I will give a discount on this original yoga postcard set,
untill Thursday next week (the 18th of April)
The cards are inspired by my yoga lessons.

Have a look, they can be inspiring, also when you are not practising yoga ;-)

FREE shipping on ALL art prints!

It's time for some 'red cheeks' shop news :-)

From now on you'll get FREE shipping
on ALL giclée art prints from Red Cheeks Factory

You are welcome in the shop.