Art and Illustration
“There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say.
The words just jolly it along.
It’s always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means.”
– David Bowie
For me, it’s colour and texture
Latest Activities…
The Superstar Generation
The Superstar Generation, ink, charcoal and oil crayon on paper, © Mandy van Goeije, 2019 Some images speak for themselves, so let me not ruin it by writing about it.
How waterproof are my inks?
At the moment I'm completely into waterproof ink because I'm drawing and writing a lot of Tanka. It's something I like to do when I have a lot on my mind. Limiting myself to just a small number of lines, a small number of syllables, forces me to boil my thoughts down...
“Balance”
Storytelling with a message Making art, to me, is visual storytelling. Sometimes it is literally a way of telling a story that already exists. And sometimes it is a way of unearthing a story that lay hidden somewhere in my subconscience, somewhere in my fingers,...
And some more activity…
Swatching, demo and review of Faber Castell Art Grip Aquarelle watercolor pencils
Last Summer I went on a holiday to France travelling light. I had only brought some Bruynzeel Design watercolor pencils with me. But, as it goes, when I was in an art store, I wanted to buy something new as a souvenir from France. I chose to supplement my travel-set...
End of year, Tanka and some neat Inspiration
Dear readers, we've come to the end of this year...already! Time is rushing by so fast I feel its velocity might toss me off the planet sometimes. Gosh...almost 2018 already! High time to review, look ahead and fuel our minds with a little, or no...a lot of...
a Tanka illustrated: #6 every day raindrops…
Summer has fallen and my Tanka couldn't but follow... English translation of the Tanka: every day raindrops on the map - it's sunny now beckoning me out but I find my feet frozen in the work I have to do The skies have turned a dull kind of heavy and...
Some collage practise and weekend inspiration
It's time for a little bit of weekend inspiration and an update on what I've been working on. The past week I've been practising my collage skills. Inspired by the work of Sara Fanelli, I finally got started on a collage journal, something I'd been...
a Tanka illustrated: #5 So high…
I'm still working on my series of illustrated Tanka. I searched for a way to combine writing poetry with my art work for years and now it feels like I've found it. The more I write, the more ideas are growing, the harder my fingers are itching. I made some...
Storytelling with Tanka + Illustrated Tanka#4
English translation of the Tanka: four paws are walking to the horizon with me I never get there no matter how much concrete slides past under my two feet Storytelling is majorly important in art Without a story, art is basically just a pretty (hopefully!)...
a Tanka illustrated: #3 Some days… + Weekend Inspiration
Before you know it, it's already weekend again. So on this fabulous Friday I wanted to share some of the things that have inspired me in my work lately or that I feel can be inspiring for a great weekend. But, before I do that, I want to share with you...
a Tanka illustrated: #2 For those willing to see…
I'm still writing and illustrating Tanka's. Partly in preparation of my LIVE workshop on 9 December - for which there are still a few seats available, see the link below - and partly because I'm working on a series. One of my latest Tankas is this one....
Transforming a Filofax into a Traveler’s journal
Do you know the quest for the PERFECT journal/planner? If you're as nuts about notebooks and planners like me and if you have a butterfly mind like me, you probably do and have probably been caught in the planner mania of the moment like me. In this post I...
a Tanka illustrated: #1 Far away mountains,,,
English translation of the Tanka: Far away mountains behind which gold lies hidden that I'll never see because a renewed chaos shot it with an old order LIVE cursus Tanka Schrijven en Illustreren Op 9 december aanstaande vindt de ééndaagse workshop Tanka...
LIVE Workshop Writing and Illustrating Tankas
Why Tankas? My first love was words. I filled tons of diaries with words. And when plain words weren't enough anymore, I began writing poetry. I think I was 11 years old when I started. I poured everything that happened in life into poetry. In poetry and...
Cool Watercolor Faces, a NEW online workshop NOW OPEN!!!
Cool Watercolor Faces - an Intuitive Watercolor Workshop What better workshop to help you cool down in midsummer than Cool Watercolor Faces? (And for those on the Southern hemisphere...this is the perfect online workshop to get a summery buzz in midwinter...