waiting for the peonies to pop

cutting flower petals

i may have bitten off more than i can chew. again. my imagination got the better of me, in thinking i can do it all. in a jiffy. not so. my imagination runs riot and it is a bad timekeeper at that. 

the painting for the exhibition stage, but...

there's little, naughty tell tales that pull me into this knowledge, like falling asleep with an endless list of new to-do's running round in my head, (ping!) awake in the middle of the night, you know what i'm saying.

well, i tried different versions, until i spilled the coffee {left}...
middle one became sketch pad
right one started with the blue skies but left me unsatisfied

losing the fun bit, and then... this happens: spilling my cup of coffee over a drawing that was in the last stages of finishing. too stunned to react even. 

using up scraps of flower petal paper into circles...

i have never had this happen before, and i daresay, i was completely taken by surprise. but yeah. i started hours of drawing... right over, and gosh yeah. lesson learned. now my fysio sensed the tension too, so ...

... to further fill my collage scrap/mood/ideas book

i am going to take it slower. today i collaged a flower that is soon to open in the garden. oh lord! it has opened! aw. perfect timing. 

and here's our collage try at peony

and this weekend is supposed to be hot, so i'll be forced to take it easy anyhoo. have yourselves a good weekend and a lovely springtime week ahead. ♥

the tiny, one floor villa

"the dark side of dick bruna", rotterdam, 2018

in an ideal world i live in a tiny, one floor villa on a hilly side, overlooking the ocean. in an ideal world i see things as fitting. in this world however, i make do with what i've got. 

hombroich, langen foundation, thomas houseago

and i do make the very best of it : braving the nextdoor neighbours' evening and weekend days renovations, acquiesce the miniscule neighbourhood dogs fierce late night yapping;  

hombroich, raketenstation

bearing a future new housing estate development in back of my town garden, expecting years of construction upheaval; all while stomaching the closeby railway depot nightly racket of running diesel motors.

garden in back, 10' late yesterday evening sketch, before dark set in, actually

i live on an otherwise lowkey street and i understand circumstances, but i hardly signed up for boorish neighbours, county council's ungracious, self-indulgent attitudes and railway maladministrations.

la-roche-en-ardenne, another dream villa... ☺

if on a daily basis i care to remain genteel about all of this, i do keep dreaming of the tiny one floor villa too. therefore, calling in question the two latter nuisances, in an attempt to empower local authorities : 

oh, if ever... hampton court inner courtyard, 2014

advocating a considered and serene living climate for all, our street committee is presently counterbalancing the planned (running up to 9 storeys!) housing development, in an otherwise low rise area. 

hombroich, raketenstation, juan munoz, derailment

the nightly train racket i am taking on solely. there is however only so much energy one has to counteract council goofs, while keeping both a working and creative life viable and the necessary recess unharmed.

to be continued, undoubtedly....

and wishing you all, though, a beautiful, invigorating weekend. ♥

i'm dedicated to awesome creative weeks. and months

{for purpose of blog only; low res reproduced} work by ingrid & patrice. for originals, please contact the ladies ☺

my first try at streamlining my social media movements didn't happen. falling offline, a busy daytime job and traveling here and there have all perturbed my careful organised scheming. i'm taking a second breath.  

eindhoven, viaduct

i'd like to introduce an IG rotation schedule, comprising photographic topics, sharing building drawings, aiming at growing a collection to be offered for sale one way or another.

ABC of Geraardsbergen. so far

midweek i'll continue sharing my A-Z poster thingy (i'm at C), linking local icons to illustrations, running down the complete alphabet, to be commercialized into a town poster celebrating its 950 years of existence. 

piet hein eek, showroom

i also want to share progress on my period area vignette drawings, because i want to work these into merchandise such as wrapping paper and festive holidays greetings cards and prints. 

the greens. in squares. again. no specifications on excerpt images

by the end of the week and into the weekend i work on collage. i guess it'll be loose assembling first and hopefully i'll get into more graphic compositions once i get a good hang of it. 

piet hein eek, showroom, looking up

why diversify thus? i hate monotony. i love drawing, making photos, painting and collage, but not necessarily all together in a kind of mixed media way. therefore i like to break things up a little. 

eindhoven, dusk

and also, it is a way to experiment and extend my online presence in a way i can relate to that works for me. i want a.o. IG to work for me, and regular posting helps me to stay tuned into making things happen. 

zeebrugge, North Sea seaside. fun with friend ☺

apart from my IG posts, i still love blogging, i can't shake that habit. i am always looking forward to bringing together tidbits of a past week into a pleasing mix of words and image. a newsletter of sorts, indeed.

so, stay tuned, and feel very welcome, on IG and here. enjoy your week ahead! ♥

bull, horns and patchwork

kitchen wall, plants trooping

a deep sigh and a mind set to success was all that i needed to get going, like with any enterprise, really. so i finally altered my dysfunctional corner wall construction into a manageable, moveable feat;

corner construction, scrapwood wallpaper

i considered painting the corner piece white to make it retreat into the wall, until i decided against it, and simply wallpapered it with some piet hein eek scrapwood offcuts i'd saved for just this kind of purpose;

recent growing full moon, in brussels lately

and so i had a ball doing that, because, well, patchwork! always a fun thing to do, mix and match; even better when no particular pattern is involved. in this case {offcuts} i also had to get rid of adds on;

vintage sideboard, new handles

in between deciding and doing, i changed the handles on this rad little sideboard, at long last. it needed those unpinching handles badly, so it sits happily now, in its new lease of life. obviously, as always,

evenings without www

all of this meant time away from the studio. i have finally admitted to myself that both renovating ànd studio time in a day don't mix well. i'm taking the hint and don't try to force it on; 

cutting the blues

and so one step at a time. i was however totally happy to cut and paste more paper, but then in my new sketchbook. colour tone-on-tone is leading the way. i'm into the blues right now, can't wait to get to pink ☺. ...  

enjoy the weekend and have a beautiful week ahead ♥