Morning Paintings #261-270

They say it takes 30 days to create a habit, but from my perspective that is a very optimistic view. It took me a very long time to feel about my morning paintings the way I do about my writing: a thing that is so much a part of your daily routine that you can skip it for a day without being afraid you will drop the habit. That's what a real habit is to me, not so much a discipline, but a thing that is ingrained in your system.

I think it took me at least six months (if not more) before I got the feeling that my routine of painting every morning before breakfast had really become a part of me. Now that it has that is quite a wonderful realization. And yes, I have skipped it. I skipped it consciously during my vacations, because those are for stepping out of your routine (well, in my opinion anyway), I skipped it when I had the flu and I even skipped it just two weeks ago when I wanted to pack extra light or a work trip where I had to spend the night in a hotel. The thing about a real habit is that after that skip you pick it up again without any trouble. Because you will miss it if you don't.

I'm glad I have reached that point with my morning paintings and I feel quite proud I have been able to get this far this past year. I never expected to be capable of this, so it makes me happy that I am.

Here are paintings no. 261 to 270:

#261 - A Good Day

#262 - Alien Candy

#263 - The Owl Queen

#264 - Flowers and Washi

#265 - A Full Head

#266 - Mandala

#267 - Bubbles

#268 - Flowers and Dots

#269 - Mandala

#270 - Rainbow Blocks

#261 and #262 were done at my sister's house in watercolour when I was staying there because of our annual visit to Kreadoe. The rest is in gouache as always and done at my studio table.
#263 is done after the owl bag that I bought at Kreadoe. You can read all about Kreadoe 2015 here and see the bag that I used as a base for the owl image.

I hope you enjoyed this new batch of paintings and that you are doing something wonderful and artsy today!

Two collages

Already quite some time ago I decided to dedicate an extra large moleskine cahier to collage making. I did a few back then, but since that time it has been terribly neglected and that's not because I don't like collage. I guess that my need for collage is often met by my mail art these days and I just don't get around to any other form.

But the other day I figured it was high time I put some effort into the Collage Book again. Yes, I call it the Collage Book, because I'm resourceful and original like that. ;-)

I had so much fun that I made two collages in one sitting:

"Moois" means something like "beautiful things".

"Spelen" means "Play" and "inhoud" means "content" or "substance".

I combined pretty papers with magazine images, found words and some penwork with stencils. I absolutely adore the second one, it was one of those times when things came together just right, if you know what I mean.

Here's the spread as a whole:

I hope I will not wait so long to work in this book again as I did last time.

This is the trouble when you have too many interests in different media and formats, you can only do one thing at a time. Sometimes I wish there were ten of me to do all the work I want to do. An artsy team consisting of ten Caatjes, now wouldn't that be something? ;-)

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy day.

Random Sketchbook Pages

I have a ton of sketchbooks.

Don't believe me? Lookit:

That's one of my studio tables. It used to be where my computer lived, but I moved my laptop downstairs and now that table is basically used as a resting place for all my books when I don't use them. Now these are just the books that are in use (or recently filled). You don't even want to know the amount of empty notebooks and sketchbooks that are still awaiting their turn.

Most of the books in those pics have a specific purpose, but there's also a couple that are basically just random sketchbooks that I will choose when I need a specific size or a specific type of paper and am doing something that will not fit the other more specific books.

The following pages are from my Fabriano Venezia sketchbook and except for being in the same book they have nothing to do with each other.

A gouache painting that makes me smile every time I see it.

Circles in watercolour just because I can.

A made up landscape in watercolour.

Blind contour drawings of hands for an online class.

Some blind contour scissors.

A page inspired by one of Lisa Congdon's classes on Creative Bug.

I'm showing you some of the less attractive pages too, because I really want to bring across that it's important to use your sketchbook and not save it for a special occasion. This is how one practices one's art after all. I like keeping most of my art in books because it makes for interesting tangible things to look through. Books feel more interactive to me than loose pages and as long as you don't treat your sketchbooks as something sacred it's perfectly fine to do whatever you want in them. The sketchbook police will not come after you if you ruin a page or (gasp) an entire book!

Hope you enjoyed this peek into one of my random books and I wish you all a wonderful and artsy weekend!

Morning Paintings #251-260

Time for another batch of Morning Paintings.

When I first started these paintings my idea was to spend 30 minutes on a page, but some of the paintings below took a lot longer than that. In itself I don't mind that much, but I'm finding it takes away from my journaling time in the morning and that I do mind. Sometimes I only write once a week, which is very rare for me and I miss it.

So I'm thinking of trying a different approach the coming year where maybe I won't finish a page every day, but will simply work on a sketchbook/art journal 30 minutes every morning and not care so much whether a page is finished or not. I'll let you know what I come up with. For now my plan is to simply fill the sketchbook I'm working in the 'old' way (a page a day), but when it's done I will start a revised art practice in the morning. We'll see how it goes.

Here are paintings no. 251 to 260!

#251 - Block Pattern

#252 - A Minor Variation

#253 - Pattern Variations

#254 - Stitched Blocks

#255 - Diamonds

#256 - Diamond Variation

#257 - Flowers and Washi

#258 - Flowers and Washi

#259 - Flowers and Washi

#260 - Flowers and Washi

For some of these I tried to use the same colour combination in different ways. I love experimenting with colour and seeing what happens if you use the same colours with completely different pictures. Paintings #253 to #256 are examples of intricate works like I mentioned above. These can take up to two hours sometimes to finish. I don't mind spending two hours on a paintings, but for my 30 minute practice a day I think it's a bit much, haha.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these paintings though (I sure keep enjoying making them) and I wish you a wonderful and artsy day.

Walking Pictures

It has been a while since I shared some of my walking pictures, the photographs I take with my smart phone while I'm on one of my walks across the island. Not always, but every now and then I will share a compilation of those pics on Instagram, so if you are curious to see them in 'real time' you can follow me there via @caatjes_artsy_stuff.

Here are some pics of the last few months for your viewing pleasure:

The next pics I took last week when I was in Harlingen (that's where the ferry arrives on the main land). I was staying in a hotel there after traveling for work when it was too late to catch the ferry at night. Early in the next morning after my stay I shot these photographs on the way to the ferry terminal:

Never let it be said I don't live in a beautiful country. People in the Netherlands often have a tendency to want to travel to the most exotic places, but I find a lot of beauty and interest can be found practically at our doorstep. Keep your eyes open and it's right there.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures and I wish you a wonderful and artsy weekend!