pattern of the day

I love to make patterns, this is my pattern of the day:

More patterns can be found here

happy birthday to me :)

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me,
happy birthday, happy birthday,
happy birthday to meeeeeee!!!

hello sunshine

The summeschool of make it in design has started. It's an online course about making patterns and it's free. A lot of people are joining. It's fun!

Every two weeks we get new assignments. You could sign up for different levels. Although I'm quite new to this subject, I signed up for all levels\ And I am not the only one ;-) It stimulates me to dive into the pattern world, a fascinating and inspiring world.

This pattern I made a while ago: hello sunshine and you can find it in my Spoonflower shop. Will be continued! I wish you all a nice and sunny weekend!

herbs pattern

I join  the Spoonflower contest again this week. Theme: herb garden.

I made this pattern. It could be nice for an apron... If you like it, you can bring out your vote. My design can be found between many other herb designs. Find them here 

I really appreciate your help! Thanks in advance :-)

let it bubble

Here's the result of the final Bootcamp assignment:

Subject for the July assignment was your favorite beverage. I'm a fan of latte machiato (koffie verkeerd), I like orange juice, drink a lot of water, sometimes a glass of red wine... But the drink I love the most is Prosecco (campagne is also good, as long as it bubbles) We were asked to create a personal piece about it.

That was my inspiration for 'let it bubble'  I like the bubbles in the drink, but I also love it when bubbles of inspiration sparkling in my head. It's available as a giclee print in my Etsy shop

If you like to see what my classmates have made, you can view it in the
July Bootcamp Gallery.

Besides the July assignment, there was an extra 'just for fun' assignment of painting your nails or painting on rocks. Painting nails is absolutely not my thing, so I chose to make this little man.

It's a pity Bootcamp is over now. I started late in May, but it was a very nice experience and I'm glad I've joined. Great to meet all these fellow artists and share our proces and progress!

Next thing is the Global Talent Search: A competition organized by Top Illustration agent Lilla Rogers. First prize is a two years representation by the Lilla Rogers Studio. I can always try... ;-)

If you like, you can still enter. It starts the 5th of August.

Thank you!

Thank you all very much for your votes on my dancing rhinos design!

Unfortunately I didn't win, but I hope you will support me the next time again :-)
 If you are curious who did win: here are the winning designs. Happy weekend!

One of my facebook friends was so kind to tell me they published the voting results on the Spoonflower blog. My dancing rhinos are on the 22th place 0f 251 designs.
Not bad for a first time :)

personalized kids wall art

I recently made these prints for a kids room:

This little sailorman sailing on the sea. I can customize it with the name of your child, Ahoy... If you want, you can purchase this print here

And I made another one for girls. Hello Princess, dancing in the garden in her special princess dress. You can also ask if I add your childs name: Hello... so it makes it more personal. You can purchase it here

Make Monotypes 3

The monotype class has come to an end.The first weeks I experimented a lot. The last week I was too busy making patterns and opning an account on Spoonflower, so I didn't had time anymore. (You can still vote for my rhinoceros pattern here)

Above and below are two prints with the same stencils. I experimented coloring the stencils with a brush and a brayer. One shape print and a detail (ghost) print. I like the effcect of both. They have their own quality. I was surprised by the detail print.

And here an experiment with fruit. I made lots of them, this one I liked the most:

Another detail (ghost) print of a cat and several circles. I like these textures.
You can't get it like this only on the computer.

During the course I made a lot of monoprint Photoshop brushes and patterns. I scanned backgrounds and changed them into pencils. i'm happy with that, so I can use them to make my work more lifely.

It was fun to experiment and to play. This morning I cleaned up my workspace, because after six weeks of printing it was quite a mess :-)

I love Amsterdam

TodayI was a day in Amsterdam to get some work back from an exhibition. I went with my brother and we made a long walk through the city. I love being there. We went to the Museum square, such a great atmosphere. They have whole walls with advertisements for the van Gogh museum and tis gives funny photographs in combination with the real buildings:

We walked through the Vondelpark and had a nice lunch on a seat outside and watched the people passing by. I also saw this beautiful tree. I always see faces in trees ;-)

And here's another van Gogh painting with the Rijksmuseum on the background:

In the Vondelpark there's a sculpture exhiibition. Designs made by children and artists, because the park celebrates 150 years of existance. You can hear about the project here (in dutch)

They want to build a connection between the youth and the Vondelpark, so the Parc will be cared for in the future too. It's one of my favorites Parcs in Holland and some of the sculptures were really nice and fun! A lot of bright colors between the trees.

The whole day I saw beautiful, funny, colorful patterns and textures. On clothes, in nature, everywhere. So inspiring!

Here's another sculpture I liked a lot. I love this combination of culture and nature.
We also went to a photography exhibition in Huis Marseille. Also inspiring!

My work is back from the exhibition and I had a really nice, relaxed  and inspiring day in a beautiful city! Have a very nice weekend! i'm gonna work and draw, which i love so much!

Red Cheeks Factory patterns

This week I'm busy with patterns. Since the Make Art That Sells course, I'm interested in making them.and this week I opened an account on Spoonflower, a huge community where you can sell and buy all kind of fabrics, giftwraps, wallpapers etc.

Aboves design: 'jelly party' I've made some time ago,. It was the March-assignment for Bootcamp. Since I started in May, I wanted to do the assignment, because it was such a fun theme.

Below a dancing rhinos pattern. On Spoonflower they have a weekly contest and the theme was rhinoseroses. I never drew one, but I liked that too. You can vote on your favorite designs, maybe my dancing rhinos? If you want to vote, you are invited, click and scroll . Thanks in advance ;-)

And below a 'nerdie' design. I made this some time ago. I like to present the designs on a person and this fabric would be great for a pyama, don't you think?

Thiese days I worked very hard, because I heard there was free shipping on Spoonflower. Before you can sell your designs there, you need to order some samples, to see if the quality and the colors are right. So I've put a collection of 12 designs in my shop. Within two weeks I will receive the samples and then it's ready to purchase. I will let you know.

If you are interested you can find these patterns in my Spoonflower shop.
I'm very curious what you think of it.

winner of the giveaway

drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumrole!

...who is the winner of the Red Cheeks Factory party postcardset ...?

No, it's no joke ;-) It's number 20 on the comment list, Joke Feddema.
The lucky number, blind picked by my friend. Congratulations, Joke!

Thank you all very much for joining the party. For your support and kind words.
Ofcourse you are always welcome in the Red Cheeks Factory shop, where you can find partycards, but also lots of other Red Cheeks Factory products.

(Joke, can you send me your adress, then I can send you the cards)
Have a nice day everyone :-)

3000 likes - give away time :-)

Unbelieveable! More than 3000 people like Red Cheels Factory on Facebook!
Time for a little party. Time for a give - away:

You can win a party postcard set; including 5 Red Cheeks Factory party postcards:

How can you win this set?

Simple! Go to my facebookpage and give a comment on my facebookpost
Then I know, you are in for this party. I will pick the winner on Tuesday, the 1st of July
Good luck!

Gallery Oker online auction

Remember the exhibition 'Like' in Gallery Oker?

The exhibition is still going on, but I have some exiting news to share:

There will be an online auction, You can make a bid on some of the works.
That work will go to the highest bidder. And what makes it even more unique.
I offer two original works.

Aboves painting is titled: 'ín de gloria',  mixed media on paper, 50 x 50 cm.
This is an unique work! There's only one available in the whiole world.

If you are interested, you can make a bid on the works on the online auction here.

Below  'drie koningen' ('three kings'), mixed media on paper. 25 x 32 cm.

The online auction offers 8 works in total:

Besides my works, also nice Art Prints of Kordula Röckenhaus and Helen van Vliet and two original illustrations of Jacqueline van Leeuwenstein.

So if you like to purchase  a real 'Nelleke Verhoeff', go to the online auction and make a bid. Good luck! The auction will last from now till the 6th of July!

Make Monotypes 2

I'm a bit behind with blogging about the Make Monotypes class, which I wrote before. Below one of the prints I made last week: 'wooden shoes', a combination of Monotype and Photoshop.

I'm experimenting a lot and most of the results are not for the viewers eye. 
A whole pile of experiments and lots of learning.

In week 2 we had to look for found object, things from nature, threads, feathers, etc. I like these objects much when they are inkted. I think I like them more than the prints I make ;-)

Second assignment was to make our own stencils and play with them. I liked the thread with it's curls and was inspired to make the print below: the parade. I make other things from what I normal make and I love the textures of this technique.

At the end of the week we made some two color prints with your own stencils. I have the feeling I can work on these more, they are only a beginning of something. I'm not that happy with the colors, mixing them is yet another thing...

The next week was about making your own stamps, first with found stamps. Now I almost can't throw anything away anymore. You can use so many things to make textures. My home is a mess and I need to find space where I can put all these props.

Again I made many prints. I played with abstract figures, a mixture of yoga and acrobatics. I liked the experiment wit negative and positive space. The most easy was to use one color.

There's a learning point to balance my shapes, while using more colors, in a way they will work well  together and interact, without distracting each other.

These prints are sa bit simple. I have the feeling I could do more with it, but at the moment this is where I am. I love the lines you'll get after lifting your stencil of cardboard and make a print of what's left on your plate: the detail print.

And ofcourse I couldn't resist to make a face. The collar of the lady I made with an orange juice press. .(don't know if this is the right english word, but it gives a nice effect)

And for those who are interested:  here is an example of the wooden shoes print you see at top of this post. Before and after I edit it in Photoshop. Before it's nothing, but after playing and experimenting on the computer, I make a whole new image. But I hadn't been able to make this without the basic print. I feel a bit like a magician this way. I surprise myself ;-)

We are halfway the course now. I'm curious what I will make the coming weeks.
Will be continued...

go with the flow

It has been a while since I posted something here. I'm busy with all kind off things and I don't take the time to blog about it. But today I do.! I want to show you my nautical wall art piece I made for Bootcamp, inspired by the drawings I made earlier.

The assignment was to make Wall Art. This is the market I'm most familiar with. So I was quite happy.And the nautical theme is very inspiring. 

It is already available in my Etsy shop. Brand new and fresh, waiting for a new owner ;-)

some nautical illustrations

For Bootcamp we have a new suject for the June month. Drawing nautical things. It's a very inspiring theme, There are so many possibilities: the sea, ships, boats, sea- animals, mermaids, sailors, waves... I love it! It triggers my imagination. :-)

I made these singing mermaid twins.

You can find them singing in my etsy shop to brighten up your wall :-)

But I made more drawings this week!
I also made this sailor man, John, with his the loooong beard, secretly wanting to be a mermaid...

And Otto Octopus. I can't help it, but when I think of sea animals, I have to think of dancing creatures, maybe it's because of the waves of the sea...

And here's another sailorman, named Sven, with his huuuuuuge moustache, dreaming of being a captain of a huuuuge ship once....

Tomorrow we will get the next assignment based on this nautical theme. I'm very curious!
Will be continued

Make Monotypes 1

This is the first week of the Make Monotypes class with Linda Germain. Till now I like it very much. It brings nice surprises. Here is my latest experiment: 'hello, dear moon'.

The first day we had to make a gel plate with glycerine and gelatine. Products I only know by name, but have never worked with. It was quite an experiment to make it. At first I thought: maybe I can skip that part of the lesson, but now I know it's an essential part of the course.

The second day we were asked to gather all kind of 'stamp' materials. With textures on it like stripes,  bubbles, smooth and rough surfaces etc. And make shapes. To keep it simple we only chose one shape. I chose the half circle and made many (way to much ;-)) shapes.

The third day we did  a warm up exercise. During about 20 minutes you follow Linda's  voice on the video and print along. It's fun, but also hard work. I had big red cheeks during the process :-)

It's an exercise to learn  and understand the terms and principles of this gel plate monotype printing. Without thinking to much or judging yourself.

You get two versions of one lay out. First you ink the plate, put some stamps on it and make a 'shape impression'  After that you remove the stamps and print a detail impression. Here is one example of the prints I made:

Now I understand why you need a gel plate. You give pressure on the paper, so that the gel plate moves along under your hands, because it's flexible. So you can see ALL the textures of the stamps in detail. Really fascinating!

The two versions are totally different from each other. It needs much more practice to understand what's happening exactly, but that's one of the reasons why I took this class.

I scanned the detailed impression and edit it in Photopshop. These creatures appeared:

Here's another experiment. It's from a one color monoprint which I played with in Photoshop. I posted it on Facebook and a few people thought it was the Pope! "Bedankt fur die Blüme",  he always says with Easter in Dutch. So here's the Pope amongst his flowers :)

This was only a part of the first week. I'm looking forward to learn much more!
Will be continued!

Red Cheeks Factory on Pinterest

Hooray, hooray! Today I finally registered on Pinterest!

I doubted for a long time, because I know it can be quite addictive. But today I gave in. And it's fun! Yes, also addictive, but that will be a challenge to deal with. Click here if you want to follow me. You are welcome :-)

inspiration: Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman

Here's some work of Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman. He was an inspiring artist living from 1882 - 1945. He experimented a lot with typefaces and printers' materials, such as stenciling and stamping. I love it. He can tell a lot with just simple shapes. But why am I blogging about him today?

It's because I subscribed for the monotype class. Make Monotypes with Linda Germain, which starts tomorrow. I'm a big fan of the printing textures, but I never take much time to experiment. So when I saw this online course, I thought: "this is my chance!", to play and experiment and learn more about these techniques. I hope it's a good one!