Full of plans .....

I have a big room in my sister's house which I can use solely as a studio. A big luxury for me, since I never had my own studio. When I first started painting I had a really small place where I could paint, but when we lived in Australia our house was very small and I had to use a corner of the kitchen table to work.

So now that all my art materials have arrived I had a blast setting everything up as convenient as possible, and today my friend came over and we art journaled in the midst of all my materials and paintings. And I didn't have to clean up afterwards! I could get used to this ... :-)

I made another journalpage, although for now I'm not sure how many more will follow. Yesterday I sketched a lot and tried out some ideas for a new painting, and there are so many things I want to start now that everything has arrived.

I have been wanting to participate in the 100 faces in 365 days challenge, and now I figured I can just as well use the faces I paint every week in my artjournal. In this spread there are 3 already :-)

I had fun making this spread. All my favorite colours. Such a great medicine against the bleak winter days.

And guess which challenge is starting in February? Yes, one of my favorites: 29 faces! I couldn't participate in September because of our move, but now I can and I will. Looking forward to it! Might be a bit of a challenge because I also need to start recording my lesson for Soul Food. Mine will only be in April, so I have a bit of time left, but still. Don't forget: Soul Food also starts on February 1 !!

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, the weekly blogparty where you can link up to if you created something this week. And if you don't want to participate, it's always worth a visit to take a look at the wonderful art on display there.

Here's my funny for this week:

Oh, I can so relate to that cat ;-)

Thanks so much for visiting! I wish you a wonderful end of the week, and a  warm, relaxing weekend!! I'll be back on Sunday for the start of the 29 faces challenge :-) See you then ♥ ♥ ♥

Finally .....

I'm back again.... Phew, really hope this time I can go back to posting at least once a week. The past few weeks flew by in a haze. Even though I'm getting quite experienced in moving houses, it still takes me by surprise how much work it takes to get everything sorted out again. I didn't touch a single paintbrush for more than two weeks :-(

Until yesterday .... :-)

Journaling again. As compensation for not being able to paint on a canvas, I've taken to painting in my artjournal in the same way I would do on a canvas. Just painting layers until I see figures emerge. Love this kind of journaling. Even though, or maybe just because, the figures sometimes look really weird.

But I love bringing them out. They're like visitors from my subconscious, sometimes telling me things I didn't realize (yet). After I've finished a page I start going through my stash of quotes and lyrics, until I find one that I feel fits perfectly with what the image means to me.

Softness. Kindness. Innocence. Loving each other in spite of our differences. In spite of our weirdness. I guess I needed to bring that out after another few weeks of horror all over the world.

This is the entire spread:

I only have one in-progress picture. Can't believe how difficult it is making pictures in these dark days.

I saw the two figures right away, but it took me some time to see the other ones. After I saw them I just kept going and didn't even think about taking pictures anymore :-) I'll have to remember it next time.

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, and will be paying everyone there a visit this weekend, since I didn't manage last week. Our things are more or less unpacked. Today I'm going to hang my paintings all over the house. Don't want to leave them in bubblewrap all the time. They all arrived safely, thank goodness :-) So nice to see them again, they're a bit like my babies ...

Three more things:

- on the first of February the fun starts in Soul Food!! If you didn't sign up yet, but want to know more, you can find all the information here.
- my calendars are now 20% off until the 26th of January!! If you don't have one yet, you can find them here! Just enter the code NWC20 at checkout to receive your 20%.
- and last but not least: there's free worldwide shipping in my Society6-shop this week!

That's it for now. Wishing you a wonderful Friday, and a warm and cosy weekend! Thanks for visiting! I'll leave you with my funny for this week ;-)

lol

Happy New Year !!

Never thought it'd be the 7th of January before I would write my first post of the year. It has only just started and already it's flying. Before I go any further: hope you had a wonderful celebration of the start of the year, and I wish for each and every one of you that 2015 will be the most creative and fun year ever!

I have managed in the past weeks to finish another journalpage. It might be the last one for a while, because tomorrow our container will arrive! YES! So instead of painting, I'll be unpacking boxes, looking for places to put stuff, trying to make this place a home for the time we'll be here (we are living in the house of one of my sisters for now, until we find our own place). 

I wonder how (and IF!) my paintings have survived the long 10-week-journey from Australia all the way to Belgium, on raging seas and in stormy weather.... At least that is how I imagined it these past months ;-) Can't wait to see everything again...

I made this journalpage somewhere between Christmas and New year, feeling a bit down because of the cold and the grey skies, and missing the light of Australia. And I guess it translated into these kind of sad figures. I love how my inner turmoil turns into images on my pages, without me  having to try. They just appear, and I recognize my feelings in them. Fascinating process I think ....

This is the complete spread:

I was painting at my friends' house and forgot to take my camera. So no in-progress-shots this time. 

Here's a great picture to start the new year:

haha, love these women!

Also: don't forget! Registration for Soul Food is now open!! Can't wait! Starting February 1st, it goes on for three whole months, with 2 mixed-media lessons a week from 20 different teachers (including moi ☺). All videos are downloadable, and the class stays open till the end of the year. And on top of all that: every teacher shares her favorite recipe :-) And all this for the price of $65 USD! (with a 10% discount for 2014 alumni). Can you say no to that!?? More info here.

I will be linking this to Paint Party Friday, and hope to find the time to visit more blogs this week. Might be next week before I get to it though. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Wishing you a wonderful day, and let the weekend be relaxing ♥ ♥ ♥