tagged

I'm It!
I've been tagged!
Twice!

The first tag came from the lovely Helen, who makes gorgeous ceramics (in her new & very own kiln these days!), among other beautiful things.

This ceramic pendant is her work. It's almost as lovely as she is. She sent this to me, just like that - because she felt I could do with a little sunshine... Be sure to visit her Etsy shop and buy yourself (or a loved one) a present - you're worth her amazing work :)

The second tag came from Fran, whose blog I stumbled upon sort of accidentally one day :) I love her drawing/painting/lettering style! Her shop holds some lovely watercolour & lettered work. She inspires me, and I should visit more. (I should visit more. Yup. In general. I'm a little lost these days. And I need to find me some balance. But that's a different blog post and I might write it some day, if I ever get to it!)

These are The Rules of this game of tag:
... you must post the rules
... answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you
... create 11 questions to ask the people you tag
... tag 11 people
... let them know you've tagged them.

Helen, here are the answers to your questions:

1. If there were Super Heroes like Super Man, what would be your name and what would be your slogan?
I'd be Pencil Girl. I'd love to be able to help out with a quick drawing that would turn usable with a snap of the fingers :) Of course I'd need to learn to snap my fingers, but that's the next step! My slogan? Uhm... "If you're in a tight spot, I'll draw you a door!" :)

2. As a Super Hero, how would you save the world, make it a better place?
That's a stretch for Pencil Girl. She's more of the quick fixes. But I think that - if things run more smoothly, there is not so much need for grumpiness. And less grumpiness makes for happier people. And happier people are more inclined to spread The Happy. Which would help the world. I believe that. Maybe my slogan should be "Spreading The Happy, a drawing at the time!"

3. If you were an art supply what would you be based on your personality?
A ZIG Art and Graphic Twin Tip Marker. In orange. There are days I feel like spreading it on the page with a brush pen, to hell with the consequences of lefthandedness! And then there are days that I'm rather more understated and an unwavering, thiner line is more my thing - less risky, safer, less fun. But still orange. Because orange might just be what I need to cheer me up - even on a bad day :)

4. If you could swop bodies with any-one for a day, who would it be?
Honestly? I really, really don't know! There are quite a few people whom I'd like to understand better - why they do what they do and where they're coming from. So I suppose I'd like to take working holidays in the heads of people I know. Does that count? :)

5. Has a book or film ever moved you, what was it and why?
A lot like I answered above. I am moved by people's realities and what they try to move beyond their circumstances. There are many books like that - a couple off the top of my head, "Breathing Space", by Marita van der Vyver, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", by Jonathan Safran Foer, and "The Quiet Violence of Dreams" by K. Sello Duiker.

6. What is your favorite song of all time?
Oh my gosh, that's hard! There are SO many great songs... And I've tried, but I honestly can't come up with an all-time favourite... At the moment, I'm loving Tori Amos' Night of Hunters, Saybia in general, and Mumford & Sons' first and only album so far :)

7. Is anyone in you family arty?
We've discovered only last year that my dad has a real talent for painting! He only started taking  a class after his retirement, but he's AMAZING!!

8. Other than being an artist, what is your hidden talent?
My right thumb is double-jointed... :)

9. How would you like to give to the community you live in if you were able to?
I know that there are a lot of lonely, isolated people out there... I would love to be able to visit them all weekly. Just for a chat and a cup of tea. Nothing complicated. Listen. Be there. I met a lovely Moroccan lady through a program for that purpose, and we've become friends over the past - gosh, almost 5 years! When I have more time, when Squirt's in school, I'm going to see what programs are out there, locally (we've moved, since)!

10. What do you want from tomorrow?
Oh, time for some art! I haven't brought out my supplies since my public adventure over the weekend! Shame on me!

11. What do you want from your friends?
That I can be myself. That they feel they can be themselves. That they listen, and feel they're heard.

& Fran, here are yours:

1. Did you have a favorite book as a child? What was it?
I read all of the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton. Devoured them, really.  And used to hope I would stumble on Amazing Adventures some day, too :) 

2. What is your favorite meal?
I love food, and it's hard to name a favourite... Some days I NEED to order pizza. With pepperoni. And jalapenos. And pineapple. My go-to quick dinner recipe these days is a spinach pie with whatever special cheese is left over from the weekend, along with olives and chopped cherry tomatoes. And tonight we'll have pork tenderloin with lemon, a tomato & black olive salad with lots of tzatziki. All yummy... :) 
And I LOVE cheese. Any kind. Haven't met a cheese I didn't like yet. I have regular cheese nights with my friend across the street. Great talks and awesome cheese - heavenly combo :)

3. What is one thing that motivates you to create?
Learning to become better at capturing things... I can be moved by a colour, a shape, a concept that I want to give a visual 'voice', but in the end, it's still about getting better. & a deep felt need to draw :)

4. What is your favorite art/craft/supply store?
It's tiny, and it's about 600 feet from my home... Which isn't good. Ow yes, it's BAD :D

5. What is your favorite season?
Autumn - I LOVE the colours! Although I love Spring too. All that fragile sap green - gorgeous!

6. As a child, what did you want to be when you grow up?
Many, many things :) But I think I held on to the idea of doctor the longest. Up until I found out that I had absolutely no aptitude for science... :)

7. Where are you situated in your family? Oldest/youngest/middle/only child?
Oldest. I have a sister who's 3 years younger.

8. Who is/are your favorite artist[s]?
I don't know anything about contemporary famous artists... I feel that as a lack, but don't have the time to add it to my list of 'shoulds'... There are so many amazing artists online - like you, and I'm not just saying that! I'm always SO inspired when I visit my favourite blogs!

9. If you could pick one piece of artwork in your home who's would it be?
Again, I love the stuff that's being created by blogging artists with Etsy shops :) I've done a few art swaps as well (money is a factor of course...), and I love having (watercolour) art from other creatives around when I sit down to draw and paint myself!

10. If you could give your younger self one piece of advise, what would you say?
Don't believe everything your mother tells you. Don't take it all to heart. Listen to those around you who are better able to express themselves positively. Look at yourself positively. You don't have to 'become' anything - you're precious and special already! (Save yourself many years of trying to unearth hidden treasures, that way...)

11.What is your favorite flower/plant?
I love herbs! Basil, thyme, oregano... They are so beautifully green, smell pretty and they taste good :)

Here are the 11 people I'm tagging:
Barbara
Nicole
Robin
Koosje
Shannon
Almu
Sharon
Rae
Susan
Zeynep
Liezl 

And here are my 11 questions:

1. What’s your favourite breakfast?
2. What’s your favourite country or city, and why?
3. What is the last fear you faced?
4. What do you do to unwind?
5. What’s an art form or medium you’ve never tried but would love to give a go?
6. What’s your intention with what you do with your heart (art, cooking, caring, anything), other than the fact that you can’t NOT do it?
7. What’s your favourite colour at the moment?
8. If there is one thing you could change about your life, anything!, what would it be, and why?
9. What do you do to help yourself through an artistic block (if you ever have them!)?
10. What is the best thing someone could surprise you with, right now?
11. I would love it if you could post a self-portrait – any part of you that you love!

I would love it if you play :)

public

It's been about 5 months since I did this and promised myself I'd do more of it... And it's not like I hadn't been thinking about it. But drawing & painting outside is one of the contradictions in my life. As in - I want to, I really do! The abundance of inspiration! The practise! The freedom, too!

& then there is the Fear. The Fear of Doing It. I want to say, I really don't know what it is!, because I could comfortably hide behind that ;) But I do know. It's the idea of looking stupid. The fear of people coming over to see what I'm doing, and them walking away thinking - oh my gosh, she thinks she can draw?!

But the want and the need won, this weekend :) I bought an outdoor watercolour box out of my first earnings (YAY!!), and sat down to sketch and paint on a freezing beach and in the freezing woods on Friday! Hardly anyone there, so it was a great place to start ;)

And since it was so cool - I mean, it really felt great, not to have to wait to break out the paints till we got home - I plucked up the courage to take my stuff to Artis Zoo again yesterday, and do some more public displays of creativity there :)

Of course I'm not completely comfortable with the whole thing quite yet, nor completely happy with what came out of it - but I did it, and that's what matters :) Practise. I need practise. And who knows? I might actually get some ;) Today we're  off and out again, and my paints will travel along. To bring the stuff is always the first step, courage will & does follow, slowly but for sure :)

What's your fear? What are you facing up to? I'd love to hear!

growth

voices

Perhaps the best way not to engage in conversation with those voices? Drawing with my new bamboo pen and ink! And mess with masking fluid and watercolours!
I'm not fooling myself, they'll be back - but this afternoon I went with fun ;)

energy

I got commissioned by my lovely & amazing acupuncturist (if you're local and tempted, contact me for her phone number :D) to design a card she could send as a birthday card to everyone on her client list this year! She left me - beyond - free, all she could give me to go with is 'yin yang' and her favourite colours, black and white :) 

This is the design she chose, and it was incidentally the one that came most from my heart. Tulips are her favourite flowers, and I didn't actually know that :) Payment? The rest of the year treatment for free!! That's a lot of money, but it feels like much more than that - the flow of energy in giving what you love to do in exchange for what you love to get :) An amazing experience!!

relearning

slogging

awesome

My mailbox held an awesome surprise, yesterday afternoon :D 

I received this beautiful collaged mail art card! From someone I didn't know! I love a good mystery almost as much as unexpected artsy mail :)

Of course I had to go look at Jo's blog immediately - she makes the most amazing mixed-media collages, I'll definitely be back :) - to see if I could figure out how she got to me & my address! Hah, and there it was! A conspicuous avatar in the 'Followers' gadget! Mystery solved :) Thank you, Robin, for being liberal with my postal address ;) I love it :)

& thank you Jo, SO much!! Comments on my blogposts are awesome, but this? This is so much more! A blog comment that I can touch and frame! My mailbox was happy, but me? I'm over the moon :D xx

conceptual

Playing, this morning :) Honestly, I was just playing! My pepper & salt shakers on top of an empty tub of body cream, because it was there, as a still life 'scene' :)

Now that it's finished, I see my current recurring 'concept' in it, again. About friendships, expectations, listening and being heard, pedestals and crap. Yup, even when I'm letting go, my conceptual brain subconsciously kicks in. It's a curse, LOL :)

I'm trying to learn to play more - let go. Not because it's infinitely important to play, or to let go, when it comes to what I make. But when I don't - when I hang on to my apparent need to draw and illustrate concepts - more often than not, I don't draw at all. Because I can't find the words for the concept, or I can't decide on the illustration to go along with it. Or because I start and my inner critic gets floor space before he should. That happens less and less, but it still does, occasionally. Especially when I'm digging deep, trying to excavate soul - like when I'm doing a course ;)

But if you didn't know all that, you'd just see salt & pepper shakers on top of an empty tub of body cream. Right?! ;)

space

Yes to space to be yourself. Yes!
And what is weird and alien, really? At the bottom of things? Where it matters, I mean?
I think it's all about - how much space you let yourself take up. I know I could take up more space. Should, even, in some situations. Stand up. Be counted.

How about you? Are you filling all the space you really need, to be you?