Winner Worldwide Picturebook Illustration Competition!

Good news! I am one of the three Dutch winners of the Worldwide Picturebook Illustration Competition! I am happily surprised by it! You can read more about this competition here

I've send in three illustrations that goes along with a selfmade story calling: No time!

And they were chosen! In Octiober there will be a travelling exhibition including work of the in total 12 winners; 3 from Germany, 3 from the United Kingdom, 3 from South Africa and 3 from the Netherlands.

The exhibition starts in my hometown Rotterdam the 4th of October and travels then to the Bilderbuch Museum in Troisdorf  in Germany and The Hive in Worcester in the United Kingdom. And maybe even to Shanghai!

They also will print a catalogue, which will be shown on the Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Bologna Childrens's Bookfair.

I have a reason to have red cheeks right now, don't you think? ;-)

Opening exhibition Ilustrarte in Lisbon

Last week we visited the big Ilustrarte exhibition in Lisbon, where also my work is part of. It's a big honour to be one of the 50 selected illustrators of more than 1700 participants from 72 countries

We took a flight on Wednesday the 20th, so we were in time for the opening on Thursday evening the 21st. It was quite an experience! What an inspiring exhibition.

We arrived at the Electricity Museum some time before the exhibition started. So I had the chance to meet some people, like Ingrid Godon, a Flemish illustrator. I knew her work, but never met her in person. And of course one of the enthusiastic organizers Eduardo Filipe.

 

Just as the Ilustrarte 12 exhibition in Ghent, which I visited some years ago, the works are presented in a very original way. On tables / houses with lights especially made for this occasion. Each illustrator has one, two or three tables. It depends on the size of their work.

There's also an inspiring solo exhibition of illustrator Serge Bloch, who is a member of the jury.

There were a lot of people at the opening. The speech was in Portugese, so unfortuately I didn't understand a word of it.

My work 'Fishermen' and 'bird friends' presented together on a table with the book 'Stil verwateren'
It's  nice they also see present the books on this exhibition (if the illustrations are published). A lot of people took the time to look inside the book. It was nice to see their interest ;-)

On the floor the illustrators names are written in big nice orange letters. Looks good, hé? ;-)

Here's the other print I've sent in for the exhibition: Growth.

On Friday morning we visited the exhibition again. So we had more time to see all the illustrations When we came we saw this giant anouncement on a building next to the Museum. In between some palm trees ;-)

It's magical when you enter the hall:

Here another view on the tables with my work in front.

 More photos of the exhibition on Facebook

The exhibition will last till half of April. Maybe it's gonna travel, but the organization was not sure about that yet. They need to find some sponsors. I hope it will come to Ghent again. That would be awesome!

We also had some good days in Lissabon. What a nice city it is! I loved all the colors of the houses. It would be a good idea to do so in Rotterdam too!

Ilustrarte 2016

I am SO happy to tell you I am one of the 50 selected illustrators for the big
Ilustrarte 2016  exhibition in Lisbon / Portugal next January!

This Summer they asked people all over the world to send in their work, so they could make a selection. Over 1700 people from 72 countries did sent in work.

And  I was one of them...

Although I didn't  think I would have much chance, but I wanted to give it a try.
You never know.... Nothing ventured, nothing gained....

And I am so glad I did, because some time ago I openend an e-mail with congratulations: my work was chosen for the exhibition and the catalogue. Can you imagine how happy I was?

See here the winner, the special mentions and the list of selected illustrators.

I did sent in three giclee prints of some illustrations I made for the big haikubook
'Stil verwateren' in the beginning of this year.  I also did send the big haikubook with 1001 haiku's and 71 illustrations.

The organizers of the festival also asked for a translation of the title 'Stil verwateren'.
That is not easy, because it's a poëtic title with various meanings.

On de Facebook page of author Geert De Kockere we asked his fans to help. It was so nice to get all this support! Interesting suggestions were given.

I also asked a friend and ex-collegue, a native speaker, who lives in Holland for help. And between his suggestions was: Soluble Silence. That directly spoke to me. The author made it into 'In Soluble Silence' and we did have an english translation ;-)

In January the exhibition will take place in the Electricity Musem. The opening is on the 21th of January. We are planning to go there, because I love to see it. I think it will be a great experience with lots of great work to see and nice people to meet! And of course to visit Lisbon. Seems like a good start of the year.

exhibition in galerie XS: This is (not) Delft

Already more than a week ago the exhiibition 'this is (not) Delft' opened its doors. It is in the smallest and cutest gallery of Delft: galerie XS.

Margo Weijer, the owner of the gallery invited artists to participate in this exhibition with a special theme: Delft, but in a different way... A fun challenge :-)

I made three postcard sets: a Dutch Partyhat set, a Durch Teaparty set and a Dutch Tulip set:

Besides my work, you can also find these beautiful photographs of Juliette Erkelens

Other participants in this exibition are a.o. Celine Schroeder, Loes van Oosten and Patrice Aarts The exibition will last till the end of September.
(During half Of July till half of August the galerie is only open on Saturdays)

Let me tell you a little about the work I made for this exhibition:

Delft has its famous delftblue paintings, so I thought it would be nice to do something with that, but ofcourse differently.

The first set I made  Dutch 'Partyhats' blue line-drawings with the famous Dutch houses as hats.

Delftblue is often painted on plates, cups and pots, so I also made a set Dutch Teaparty cards with legs and high heels. I din't know teapots could be that sexy...;-)

Because of the Holland theme is often used in delftblue, I couln't resist to make a set of Dutch Tulips

So If you planning a Holiday in Holland, it maybe would be nice to visit this is (not) Delft...
All these postcards are also available in the Red Cheeks Factory shop

Exhibition Lobke van Aar

Today I visited the exhibition of Dutch illustrator Lobke van Aar in 's Hertogenbosch. It's her first solo exhibition where she shows work she made during the last 7 years. I know Lobke and her work only via Facebook, so this was a nice opportunity to meet her and see her lovely work in real :-)

I visited the exhibition together with illustrator Connie Snoek, which I  also only know from Facebook. We met and had lunch together in the Verkade Fabriek in Den Bosch. Nice to meet two collegues on one day (In Holland we call that: 'twee vliegen in één klap' :-))

The exhibition is in the beautiful restaurated old Willem 2 Building, where Lobke also has her studio. A really inspiring environment!

It was very nice to hear Lobke talk about her work. That made it even more special. She makes illustrations for newspapers, magazines, books and personal projects. It was fun to hear some stories behind it.

Also nice to see her development in these last 7 years. I must say, I almost love everything she makes, also her early works. Lots of diversity, but always her clear own voice. I'm a fan :-)

The exhibition will take place till the end of next week: the 28th of June. If you are in the neighbourhood, go and have a look and give Lobke my kind regards ;-)

De oase van Matisse - Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

 Today we visited the big Matisse exhibition in het Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
 Really very inspiring!

Last year I wanted to go to the Tate Gallery in London to see the Matisse exhibition, but we didn't found the time. So I was very happy to hear there would be an exhibition in good old Amsterdam this year :-)

We took a guided tour, which was very nice, because we heard more background about this exhibition. Good to see a combination of paintings of artists who iinfluenced each other. Works of Van Gogh, Mondriaan, Picasso, Malevich....

I didn't know Matisse's cut-outs were this size. Impressive! Interesting to see the devellopment of how he came to this cut-outs. Below the famous Parakeet and the Mermaid, one of his most spectaculair cut-out works: a coming together of an underwater and above water world:

Here's one detail of a cut -out work which he made for a tapestry.
These are also shown at the exhibition.

My dearest brother in front of one of his cut-out works ;-)

For this exhibition Dutch illustrator Annemarie van Haeringen made a beautiful childrensbook: The parakeet, the mermaid and the snail. She tells a bit more about it in this video

In the hall of the museum you can find a giant drawing of hers:

I think I wanna go another time, because there is so much to see and discover. The exhibition takes place till half of August. So if you are in the neighbourhood. It is certainly worthwile to visit!

Freaky Spring in the Kunsthal Rotterdam

Today I visited the big FREAKY SPRING exhibirion in the Kunsthal Rotterdam. With my favorite brother ofcourse. (my museum mate ;-))  It was a big surprise. I didn't know what to expect, but I walked through the museum halls with open mouth...

Especially by seeing the work of Kristof Kintera. I had never heard of him, but it is 'freaky' indeed! His exibition is called: Your light is my life. The walls in the halls of the museum are painted neon green / yellow. It's impressive to walk through.

His work is weird. You enter a whole new world with talking and moving objects and installations. Ever seen a talking and moving shopping bag with rubbish or an office chair with giant wings?

Dancing trees, a moving bucket... a giant palmtree and cactus of tins....
It is worthwile to have a look!

Also very surprising was the exhibition of photographer Charlotte Lybeer from Belgium:
The fantastic adventures of the Cabbit and the Folf

You enter again a complete new world. She portrays people who like to be in an 'in-between' world. They live in a world in which they take on a different identity to escape from everyday reality.

She did photograph them in their own environment. It's fascinating! I didn't know the existance of this phenomenon.

These are only two of the five freaky exhibitions. It was a while ago I went to the Kunsthal. I almost forgot what a nice museum it is....

Exhibition Carll Cneut 'in my head'

Yesteday I visited the wonderful and impressive exhibition of Carll Cneut 'in my head' in Ghent in Belgium. I took some (not so good quality) photos to give you an impression, but it's better to visit it yourself, because it is an inspiring expericence  which is difficult to catch in photographs....

What made the day extra special was to meet a whole bunch of illustrators from Belgium and Holland which I know from Facebook. We went for a lunch and walked the exhibition togther :-)

The first part of the exhibition is about Carll's youth. You get an audio guide with lyrics written especially for this project by Wouter Deprez and Carll Cneut. I saw a lot of laughing people. The stories are really funny.

The second part of the exhibition shows the original works he made through the years. I was really surprised how small they were. Sooo many details, so precise... Wonderful colors, textures, fantasy, a treat to look at!

And ofcourse I also bought his latest book 'De Gouden Kooi'

At the end we met Carll in person in his studio at the exibition. He thought he was able to work there during the exhibtion, but due to the giant succes he is only signing books all day..  He also signed our books :-)

When we wanted to leave and said goodbye. Carll asked if we would like to have an illustrator group photo with him in the middle. Isn't that sweet? ;-)

So here we are, from left to right:

Els Vlieger, Ellen Vesters, Nelleke Verhoeff (me), Carll Cneut, Lien Geeroms, Vera Van Groos and Ine Beerten.

Illustrator Pencilory Pecncilory had left already and during lunch we also met Vicky Lommatsch.

It was a wonderful day! Full with great impressions and inspiring conversations.
Thank you all :-)

Swanwalk December 2014

Here are some pictures of our pop-up shop during the Swanwalk last weekend.

I made this photo collage, a closer look here

...an accordioniste was playing in the street and visited our shop to sing a song...

...our display window during daytime...

...our display window by night...

...some of mt Red Cheeks Factory postcards...

...Affirmation Angela, which was (again) a bestseller :-)....

...one of the walking swans I painted on the display window...

...some of my Red Cheeks Factory prints...

...the shop from the other side: leather bags made by Evelyne Hofman
of beleef je verbeelding,  necklaces made by Paula van Loon and
Christmas ornamentsmade by Diny Hofman...

...my postcards in postcard racks...

...and another view on the whole shop...

Today we gonna clear the room again  It was a fun experiment to have a real shop for one weekend. To meet nice and kind people, shop owners, artists and customers.

...and now I'm happy to go back  to my drawing work again :-)