Birthday Queen

Today is the 75th birthday of Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands
Last monday she announced her abdication, remember?

Little Red Ridinghood

My submission for the self portrait competition
from Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
There are already almost 1000 participants...

Find my Little Red Ridinghood here

The portrait is a drawing / collage after an old youth photo of me.
It's one of the faces for my face a day project.

I heard about this competition from Celine schroeder
She joins too with one of her very strong Pippi paintings.
Thanks Celine!

swing twins

swing twins for my twins-project
It feels almost as if the swing twins have wings:
see: illustration friday

bye bye Beatrix!

Yesterday, Monday 28 Januari, our Queen Beatrix announced abdication
and will hand over reign to her son Prince Willem-Alexander on 30 April.

Half the country's inhabitants (about 7 miljon people) saw her abdication speech.
She was a popular Queen and inspiring to illustrate, because of her hairdress and hats.
Here's a drawing I published last September

Over two days she will be 75 years old. I have made a special birthday illustration,
which I will post on her birthday, the 31th :-)

about Nelleke

I made a little story about Nelleke in the Red Cheeks Factory shop.
This selfportrait in the series selfportraits illustrate the page.

If you wanna know a tiny little bit more about me, click here

hugging twins

hugging twins for my twins-project

Say it with hearts...

This weekend I was already in Valentine atmospheres.
And I must say: it was pure fun :-)

The postman brought the new ordered love postcards.
I am happy with them, they look beautiful.

You can find them in the Red Cheeks Factory shop.
Be sure to check out the metamorphosis of the shop.
I promise, it's fun :-)

..... and the winner is......

Remember Muscle Man?

I blogged about the Wolf T-shirt design competition before

Today they anounced the winner on their blog

And guess what? It's Muscle Man :-)
Also my other design: Little Red Cat was part of the selection.

Happy weekend!

hula twins

hula twins for my twins-project

my favorite hat :-)

It's winter in Holland. It's freezing and the world is white.
I am really happy with my hat, it's my friend nowadays :-)

I started with a self portrait series on the 1th of January.
Just for fun, to practice my drawing skills and maybe see some progress.
I try to make a portrait each day.

It's different from my face a day project
Because I don't publish them, only once in a while.
That feels relaxed, no pressure, only for fun :-)

Illustration tips

Look what the postman brought:.
This illustrated calender/diary with work from 52 various illustrators!

These photo's I borrowed from Ofra Amit, the upper left illustration is hers.
The goat illustration is from Laura Luenenbuerger. The horses are from
Pia Eisentraeger, unfortunately I can't find a good link to her work.

Tip 2: Watch this inspiring blog Felicidário
365 practical definitions of happiness illustrated.
Each day an illustration, they started the 1st of January.

Have a nice weekend :-)

free desktop wallpaper - just go...

To welcome new subscribers to the Red Cheeks Factory newsletter
I especially made this desktop wallpaper in various sizes
for your screen, tablet or smartphone. Yes, it's free!

If you are interested click here for subscription.

It fits also in this weeks theme of illustration friday: ocean

happy birthday Carll Cneut!

Today it's the birthday of one of my most favorite illustrators Carll Cneut
I've made a blogpost about him before
and it was still in my planning to make another one.
So what could be a better day for this, then on his birthday :-)

On the photo you can see four of the many books he illustrated
These are in Dutch and from my collection,
but his work is published in many countries.

He also has a facebookpage
Wouldn't it be a nice birthday present if you go there and click the like button?
(if you like it ofcourse, but I almost can't imagine someone not liking his work
yes, here's a real fan speaking :-))
Happy birthday, Carll!

Red Cheeks Factory copyright

Maybe you have noticed it:
I put a Red Cheeks Factory copyright sign over my drawings.
I never wanted it, because I don't like it, but...

Lately I see my work more often shared on the web,
without even mentioning my name or company...
Therefore I decided to mark them.

I'm always a bit shocked and surprised when I see people displaying
my work without any reference. I really don't understand...

Maybe a lot of people honestly do not know,
it is appropriate to respect the artist and make a link to their work.

Of course I like it when people enjoy and share my work.
but it would be honest to get the credits for it.

So that's why I decided to put a clear Red Cheeks Factory mark over my work.
I felt the need to share this with you. Thanks for your attention :-)

(special thanks to Diana Toledano for sharing the link to LINKwithlove)
The more we talk about how to make the internet a safer place to share -
the better it will become. Then we'll keep it joyful, because that's what it is :-))

happy new year :-)

It's always a bit special: a whole new year in front of us.
blank, as a thick pack of snow,
where nobody has put their footstep in yet...

Where will these footsteps bring us?
Obama said: "the best is yet to come"
I like this positivity. It's one of my resolutions:
face everything the positive way :-)

I wish you all a healthy, lucky, lovely and inspiring new year!
May all your wishes come true (and mine too ;-))

my submission for illustration friday.