Mad Tea Party Pattern

This week I join the Spoonflower competition again. Subject is tables and chairs.
I wouldn't think of such a theme, but it inspired me to make this 'mad tea party' pattern.
I like it to give them characters, as if they have their own party :-))

If you like it, you can vote for it here,  Last time I joined I reached the top 10 with your help. It would be great to reach that goal again! Thank you very much in advance.

Since last week you can order some fabrics and wrapping papers designed by me in
my Spoonflower shop. You are welcome!

#WordEenWebVedette

Marketing specialists MamaMarketing gonna change their name after 4 years. They have asked people to tweet their favorite quotes and share them on twitter etc. with the hashtag WordEenWebVedette. My most favorite quote at the moment is:

I follow them for a while now. They have an inspiring blog (in Dutch) Full with all kind of tips. But I always felt a bit strange about the name, because I am no Mama (Mom). So it was as if it was not for me. But to be honest I can certainly use tips about marketing. It's not my strongest point. So now they gonna change their name into WebVedettes. I like the new name :-)

When I saw their request to share your favorite quote(s) I began to draw:

It is a competition, so you can win a prize: A two hours marketing session about your webshop. Well who knows, I followed the advice of my quotes. Hope it works ;-)

My Parade in the Spoonflower Top 10!

Jippieeeeeee!
My Red Cheeks Factory parade made it to the top 10 of the Spoonflower contest :-)

Thank you all very much for your votes and support. You can find the whole top 10 here

hello, this is me!

Some people were asking lately if I had a photo of me. I always avoid to post it.
I prefer to show my work and I'm not such a 'selfie' person. But I also read a lot
about people wanna see the face behind the company...

This morning I went with my brother to the Kralingse Bos in Rotterdam
and he shot some pictures of me in the early morning light.

So, here I am Nelleke Verhoeff, owner of Red Cheeks Factory
Hello :-)

Spoonflower contest - marching band

This week's theme of the Spoonflower contest was marching band.
It's a subject which I love :-)

 

When I was a theatre performer, we had an act called: 'de bakfietsfanfare'. My partner and I were riding together on a carrier cycle. He played the drums and I played the accordeon. So we had our own little marching (riding) band.

And in Holland we also have special 'marching band days'. I've been there a few times to take photographs. I love the synchronicity, the costumes, and the music. I always become happy, when I see one, that started already when I was a little girl (a looong time ago ;-))

Now I want to ask you a favour again: If you like my design, I can use your vote.

Click this link and scroll to find my Parade Thanks in advance!!!

kunstfestival Schiebroek

Coming Saturday the 13th of September I will show and sell my work
on the Art-Market Schiebroek.

Last year I was there too, but then it rained and there was a lot of wind.
Now they promise sun, so that sounds good!

The Market is on the Rhododenderonplein and the Peppelweg in Schiebroek near Rotterdam  It's from 10.00 till 16.00 hour. There will also be street theatre.

You are very welcome to visit the festival and if you do, come and say hello to me. :-))

Muscle Man Paper Doll now also in English!

I have a house full of Muscle Man Paper Dolls! He was sold out, but...
I've  ordered a whole bunch of new ones :-)

I've chaged two little things: the text is handwritten. And I'm happy to say he's now also available in English:  'be strong':  And ofcourse also 'with the Dutch word: 'sterkte!

You can find the renewed Muscle Man Paper Doll in the Red Cheeks Factory shop
and also on Etsy.

World Wide Artist Blog Hop

I was asked by Kelly Angelovic and Janna Krupinski to join the World Wide Artist Blog Hop. I'm flattered they both chose me as one of the artists who inspire them :-)

In this Blog Hop Post I will share some of Kelly's and Janna's gorgeous works, answer some questions about my own creative process, and I will introduce you to some artists friends who inspire me: Claudi Kessels and Sophie Dufresne.


Kelly Angelovic
Kelly Angelovic is a Colorado based illustrator which I know from Lilla Rogers Bootcamp. Her work is quirky, playful and I love her combinations of shapes, linework and nice color palettes.

 'Let's Play' is a Journal Cover Design for last years Global Talent Search, where she ended up as one of the 50 semi-finalists.

Below a Wall Art piece she created inspired by her favorite beverage.
It's one of a series of three and you can purchase them here

Kelly has written a Blog Hop Post last week, where she also features my work.
You can find her on Facebook and on Pinterest

Tabula Rosi
is the Alter Ego of Janna Krupinski, She lives in Germany, where she creates  beautiful, colorful and happy Art. I also met Janna online during Bootcamp (such an inspiring community:-))

I love all those nice little details and engaging textures in her work. Her handlettering is beautiful too. Look at this funny character she created with the little bird on his toes :-)

With 'a jar full of joy' she won the Hallmark competition. So well deserved!

You can find Tabula Rosi also on Facebook, on Pinterest and on Spoonflower
Janna will write her Blog Hop Post next week.
You can find it on her Tabula Rosi blog


Some questions about my work and creative process
Kelly and Janna passed me some questions:

1. What am I working on?
2. How does my work differ from other work in its genre?
3. Why do I create what I do?
4. How does my creative process work?

1.  What am I working on?
Since I took part in Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells course, I made my first pattern, which I loved.

During this summer I joined the 'Make It In Design Summerschool' which ended yesterday. So I made lots of patterns, I've added a whole new category to my portfolio: surface pattern design.

I recently joined the Global Talent Search, which was quite a journey.
I'm working on some new products for my Red Cheeks Factory shop and my Etsy shop,
which I'm gonna tell more about later. I'm also busy with updating my portfolio

Here are some examples of my work in progress of an Animal Alphabet, I'm working on at the moment:

2. How does my work differ from other work in its genre?
Not an easy question. I hear often: "your work is so you".  But what is that 'so you'? I love to create characters. Draw often people, faces and animals. If I can I also give faces to inanimated objects. They almost all have red cheeks, 

People often smile and become happy when they see my work, they say it's whymsical, quirky and characteristic. I use a lot of handpainted textures. Maybe a combination of all these things make my 'Red Cheeks Factory' style...


3. Why do I create what I do?
Because I looooooove it! It gives me red cheeks. I love the creative process. To invent new things and to surprse myself. I like to tell little stories with my work.


4. How does my creative process work?
It depends on what the assignment is and how much time I have. But mostly I get inspired by seeing lots of images. I gather material  (Google and Pinterest are great sources), Make sketches on paper or directly on my drawing tablet. When the idea is clear I choose a color palette I work on it in Photoshop till I'm satisfied.


inspiration
Enough about me, now I like to introduce to you the work of two artists, who inspire me:

Claudi Kessels
An illustrator based  in Amsterdam is  Claudi Kessels  I met  her online this spring during the Make Art That Sells course and I immediatly fell in love with her work. It is unique, inventive, clever, beautiful and poëtic. Not only her work speaks to me, I met Claudi in Amsterdam and she is also a very kind person in real life, with her long curly hair and beautiful positive, supportive attitude.

Below her interpretation of the vintage kitchen / tropical fruit bolt fabric assignment. It was immediately one of my favorites:

She also made a lot of nautical drawings. Here's one of them, so inventive! Claudi also uses real materials as shells and feathers in her work, see more here

Below: an editorial piece about meditation. So poëtical! I love those little details as the birds on the girls  swimsuit which go over into the birds in the sky. Very nice and inspiring how she creates her own imaginative world, as it were a dream.

'Sea you' is a little drawing Claudi sends with her e-mails. I love it!
Yes Claudi, I will certainly 'Sea you' :-)

You can find Claudi also on Facebook and on Pinterest


Sophie Dufresne
The second artist I want to introduce to you is: Sophie Dufresne. She is originally from Montreal, but now based in Los Angeles. I also met Sophie this spring. We were in the same class with Claudi.

I love to see Sophies work. It's nice, appealing, clean, bright and clear, I love her shapes and subtile use of textures. During the MATS class, I was always looking forward to Sophies blogposts, where she described her creative process in a very detailed way. An inspiration to follow.

Below: In the land of no coffee, a nice illustration for Bootcamp about beverages, read more here

I also love her animal fables. She makes up a little poem and illustrate it. Such a nice idea! Very poëtical too:

Below another playful animal illustration:

Her nautical band, which she made for Bootcamp, you can almost hear them play...
You can purchase this one on several products here

You can find Sophie also on Facebook and on Pinterest

This was my longest blogpost ever. I hope you've enjoyed reading it. It was fun to write it.
I'm happy with all these inspirations and like to share it with you.

Next week you can read a Blog Hop Post on the blogs of Sophie, Janna and Claudi.
I'm already looking forward to it!
Happy weekend!

Summerschool - Make It In Design - part 3

My designs for part three of the summerschool

Beginners brief theme jewels.

Jewels was not an easy theme for me, because I'm not a jewels type at all. I googled the theme and saw lots of earring ornaments. It inspred me to the pattern beneath.

I like it as a pattern, but for me it didn't fit the theme enough, so I did continue and made this pattern below, inspired by necklaces and a kind of flower jewels. (More flowers than jewels...) 

Still not yet satisfied So I did continue my jewels pattern journey. The next day I suddenly got this idea to draw ladies with necklaces and earrings. So I combined my favorite subject: faces with the jewels theme. Briljant idea, because now I became happy while making this jewels pattern :-) I also made up a title during the process, which I like very much: 'girls with pearls'

The theme for the intermediate brief was feathers. In part two I made already a feather pattern, so I added some birds to the theme. They also have feathers...

And I came up with my 'birds and feathers' pattern and made this illustration:

The advanced theme was also far from easy. Intricate chaos! Never made something like that. I played with shapes and made first this pattern with squares and circles.

It also had to be nice as a wallpaper. Well, would you put this on your wall? Me not!

So I continued, but the deadline was coming closer and I didn't had much time for such a complcated pattern. So I thought to skip it. But I also had the wish to complete the whole series of  nine assignments of this summerschool. So I did another attempt:

And I like this one more. Not that I want to put it on my wall, but I like the shapes and structures. With such a pattern I find it diificult to know when to stop. There are soooo many possibilities, I could have go on for a while. but there was the deadline, so I've submitted my last pattern too. I'm happy :-)

And now we came to the end of this inspiring summerschool I wasn't expecting anything. It was a free course, but it was great! It challenged me to dive into for me brand new themes  it broadened my horizon and I've made a lot of patterns. Good practice! Thanks to the Summerschool I even made a whole new category on my website: surface pattern design I'm really grateful for this opprtunity. Thank youuuuuuuu!

If you wanna see the whole gallery of patterns made by the others, click here.