Back on the Blog

Hello dear reader! Are you still here? Maybe you can give me a little wave or smiley reply to let me know you’re here reading? I’ve been away for so long that I can hardly believe anybody’s still reading this blog. I hope you are, though, for I’m pumping new life into it!

Last year I left facebook. For numerous reasons. Let’s do the quickest recap possible and say the cons greatly outweighed the pros for me. I’ve hardly missed it. One thing I have missed, though, is blogging. I intended to rekindle my blog and website the moment I left facebook, but a chronic health issue spiraled out of control soon after that and eventually sent me into hospital, taking me off my feet for a few weeks. I’m well on the mend now, though, and feeling better than I have in years, so hello blog, here I am! And you, dear reader, welcome!

Forming connections on Patreon

After leaving facebook I set up a Patreon. I was looking for a place to have real and unburdened, non-algorithm driven connections about watercolor and my art. Of course the little health devil extinguished the fire on that project too for a while…BUT…it still is up and running! I paused billing for the months I couldn’t fulfill my Patreon promises, as I am pausing the billing for February too. Because this month I need a fair bit of extra time for further recovery and also…I’m updating and tweaking this website and blog. And I’m FINALLY making a webshop!!! So this month will be a little less filming…although I’m already planning filming doing a drawing tomorrow or next week… But anyway…should you like to take a look…now it’s free. There’s a lovely February desktop calendar available for free….you’re more than welcome to enter and download it.

Watercolor work

My work hasn’t been very consistent the past years. I was dealing with a chronic pain issue that got worse and worse. It made me stop teaching because I could no longer be sure I was going to be able to deliver. It made me stop taking commissions because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to deliver. And eventually it almost made me stop working completely. Basically because there were hardly any pain-free days or nights anymore. I was exhausted and at the end of my tether.

It wasn’t swell, ending up in hospital. But it turned things around. There are pain-free days again, weeks, even. I sleep well again most nights, so I have tons more energy. That means that some days I can even do full work days at my drawing table. I just needed a little direction once I could get back to work. It hadn’t been easy, constantly stopped in my tracks by the pain. It had diffused my work focus and lots of plans and promises had ended up in the bin, next to my confidence. The days in hospital weren’t only healing physically. Being down for a while helped me see what really mattered from where I was. There was no need to go back to the humongous plans I once made. All I yearned for was to grab my watercolors and paint…grow my body of work, develop as an artist. Looking back I know that for years I had been trying to compensate for the pain and insecurity by making BIG plans. Now I know there’s no need at all. I have a lot to say. And I say it best in watercolor. So, here goes!

“Witness” is one of my latest paintings. It’s another tree world. I have a feeling I’ll be painting trees forever 🙂

“Witness”, the painting

Silently they stand there, Now barren, soon heavy with their canopies,storing our rainwater, socializing with the funghi networks hidden from our sight, sending food back and forth between friends, family, strangers in need, fighting over light and space…and all of that quietly, without protest. Did you know trees ‘walk’? Yes, they do. Some
move inches per year. They may be quiet, but they are not inanimate. They are not just the decor against which we live our o, so important lives. The things they have seen over the years, witnessed. The voices they heard, the embraces they supported, the bullets they caught, the tears they sucked up in their roots, cycling them through their trunks, their branches, their leaves, their roots. Nothing is ever really forgotten where they stand. And sometimes, when you allow yourself, you can hear their memories whispering softly against your cheek.

“Witness”, watercolor and color pencil on 18×26 cm paper. Prints on request.

Soon in the shop!

As I mentioned, I’m working on a webshop for some originals and limited edition prints. And I’m currently looking for a local printer to make some beautiful postcards for me. And I’m exploring printing on demand services for fun products like mugs, tote bags and laptop stickers. There’s no shop just yet, but limited edition prints of “Witness” are available. You can e-mail me if you’re interested or contact me through the contact form on my website.