oh I do like to be beside the seaside...who doesn't! new paintings

Californian dreaming on such a dreary grey summer's day. The summer season here in Holland has been, well, not so warm and sunny but when the moment has arrived I managed to capture these images to paint on canvas. I just love painting the summer light. Above and below are 24 x 18cm and further down 18 x 13 cm. Prints are available of these paintings in my etsy shop and the paintings can be found on my website along with more of my work.

sunny side of the dunes: new paintings

Last Sunday we visited a village on the coast in Zeeland, the Netherlands, called Zoutelande (in English it would translate literally to Saltland). It's a small touristy place nestled behind the dunes where we often cycle to throughout the year and I spotted these two scenes of people enjoying the sun. As you can see from the coats they are wearing it was sunny but cool because it was quite a windy day. I just couldn't help myself but capture the scenes on canvas (above 18 x 24 cm and below 13 x 18 cm oil on canvas). Prints of the paintings are now available in my etsy shop.

making paper with the white kind of love

Just before Easter I was asked to write a simple 'how to make paper' guide for a small booklet that would accompany 101 woonideeen (101 living ideas) and after having to keep it quiet for a couple of months, I'm not good at keeping secrets, today the much awaited printed version finally arrived in the post! The little booklet attached is filled with inspiring Dutch and Belgian Etsy artisans...a real little treasure.

...and *drum roll* ...here is my mini guide to making paper... very satisfying! Even managed to squeeze in a sunny photo of Zeeland. 

sunny side of the street

I love watching this artist working...so much light in the painting

mmmm....chocolate cake

The sun is shining in Zeeland this morning, and the chocolate cake has been made (from a great recipe I found in the yoga journal, it's vegan too so don't even have to worry about having enough eggs and butter, it's very easy). This morning in the art centre (kunstcentrum) the etchers will be busy, and this afternoon the painters (watercolour and acrylic) come to continue with their latest creations. With chocolate cake too...sounds like a perfect day to me...

tea, cake and painting

In the art centre (Kunstcentrum) this week we had, in addition to our normal schedule of art classes, a workshop making collages. We started off by covering the canvas in newspaper so that it was a bit crumpled and not smoothly covering the canvas and then added a base of gesso (a white priming layer) using a roller before layering the collage with fabric, paint, feathers and anything else that was to hand. The room was filled with paint, laughter, creativity and...

...tea and cake of course!

ducky duck on top of the world

I was hanging out of our bedroom window to try and get his shot! My little etching of ducky duck can be seen here in front of Tholen's 14th century townhall, with the oldest bells in Holland. You can just about see a windmill on the right hand side too.  Etsy wants to collect photos of Etsy items in front of local landmarks in order to put together a video of the diverse Etsy community. This is our little corner of the globe...