Tweetalig / Bilingual

Tweetalig!

Voortaan zal mijn blog tweetalig zijn. Tot nu toe schreef ik in het Engels. Dat deed ik omdat ik veel internationale contacten op internet had. Nu ik heb besloten om van tekenen en schilderen mijn beroep te maken ga ik me meer richten op het Nederlandse publiek.  Natuurlijk kan ik ook voor  buitenlandse opdrachtgevers werken. Ik woon echter in Nederland, dus dat ligt het meest voor de hand.

Ik heb mijn onderneming opgericht in december 2013 (KvK nummer 59379251). De bedrijfsnaam is gewoon mijn eigen naam: I.M.Leonora-den Ouden. Mijn productie gaat in drie richtingen:

- portretten e.d. in opdracht;

- illustraties (kinderboeken);

- tekeningen en aquarels die ik verkoop op kunstmarkten en via galeries en mijn webshop.

Hierbij een van mijn recente tekeningen. Onder het Engelstalige deel zie je er nog een. 

'een kleurrijke acrobaat', kleurpotloden op zacht perzikkleurig papier/ 'a colourful acrobat', coloured pencils on pale peach paper

Bilingual!

From now on my blog will be bilingual. Until now I wrote it in English. That was because I had many international contacts on internet. Now I decided to make drawing and painting my profession, I will target the Dutch public. Of course I can work for foreign clients. But I live in the Netherlands, so that’s the first choice.

I started my business in December 2013 (Chamber of Commerce nr. 59379251). My company name is just my own name: I.M. Leonora-den Ouden. My production goes in three directions:

- portraits and other commissions;

- illustrations (children’s books);

- drawing and watercolours, which I sell at art fairs and through galleries and my webshop. 

Here is one of my recent drawings. Another one you saw under the Dutch part. 

'the highest note', coloured pencils on blue paper / 'het hoogste lied', kleurpotloden op blauw papier 

Your help please

I am writing new texts for my website. First I wrote it all in Dutch. Now I am translating into English (UK). Please read them. Give your comments so I can make them better, before they appear in my website.

Here is the first part.

A portrait, because …

... your baby grows so fast, becomes a toddler, soon a teenager!
I put the phase in life down in a portrait and you will enjoy forever!

... your parents have their fiftieth wedding anniversary only once in their lives. A portrait of them together is a great gift!
I can use their wedding photo, or more recent pictures as my reference.

... you lost a beloved one (human or animal) in death. You miss him/her every day. You don’t want to forget him/her.
With my portraits for ‘in memoriam’ the bereavement will feel a little softer.

... you want to present yourself in a professional way. You want a portrait that shows who you really are.
I paint portraits you really want to show in your company.

... there is so much you value. A place of nice memories. A special event. Something you love to see. You name it.
If there are photos of it, I can use them for a drawing or painting. Otherwise I find or make photos and use my imagination.

... an ordinary snapshot doesn’t have the impact of a drawing or painting. Using them to make a drawing or painting with the help of your photos I make souvenirs of lasting value.

About me ...

 In my childhood my parents stimulated my creativity. They also taught me to love nature.

I did my best to choose a school that would help me use my creativity in my life. My choice was a school for becoming a teacher in drawing and textile arts. But I found it wasn’t the right choice. ‘In front of the class’ was not my kind of place. After two years I left the school. But I was glad I learned a lot about many different techniques.

I married and had children. My creativity was limited to a ‘hobby’. It was in my second marriage I discovered it could be more than that. My new husband, Carlos, promoted me as an ‘artist’ for his friends and family. I started painting portraits, as gifts.

Would I be able to become a professional artist? That question appeared and reappeared in my thoughts. I started making paintings I wanted to sell. I had booths at local art-fairs. On the internet I did what I could to ‘become known’.

In 2013 I saw there was a market for my art. At exhibitions my watercolours were sold. I had some commissions. I was even asked to illustrated a children’s book! The office-job I had to earn my money felt like it took too much of my precious time. I was happy to hear the company wanted to ‘shrink’ and I could stop there when my contract would end. I registered at the Chamber of Commerce for ‘the big step forward’.  

To illustrate it here is a portrait paintings I made recently. 

November 2013

A Sketching Challenge

The Facebook community 'Sketching Workshop' organised a challenge for this month. We (some of the members) try to make 50 sketches this month. We put the sketches in an album at 'SW AgSketchMo'. There are 30 sketches in my album now. I saw there is someone who already has 50! Her name is Barbara Moore.

If you are on Facebook, you can have a look there. But I'll show some of my sketches of this month here.

cactus flower, sketch in soft pencil

an old lady in the train, quick sketch in soft pencil 

kaki / sharon / persimon fruit, sketch in four-coloured BIC ballpoint

 aloe vera plant, quick sketch in soft pencil

 plane tree leaves, sketch in soft pencil (blended with finger)

 plane tree, sketch in ink and coloured pencil on a brown paper bag

my booties, sketch in soft pencil (blended with finger)

Experiments

I think the following time you will see some changes happening to my blog here. I am experimenting with backgrounds (using photos or paintings I made myself) and lay-out. It will take some time untill I will have found a 'final' look (if ever ...).

Another experiment is my 'webshop'. I follow a tutorial by Rose Schuring 'Grow your art business online'. After her explanation on the importance of having a webshop, I started mine, with three watercolour sketches in it. Maybe soon there will be more. You can find it HERE, but sorry it is in Dutch, with Dutch paying services. If you are interested to buy one of my works, and you're not in the Netherlands, please contact me by e-mail: i-m-leonora@hotmail.com .

One of the watercolour sketches for sale is 'Oak leaves', you see here:  

sketching daily

Maybe there is a thing called ‘talent’. But sure the most important thing is PRACTICE. Practice does not make perfect (as ‘perfect’ doesn’t exist in this world). Practice helps you develop your skills. That is why I practice drawing as often as possible. I do my best to make one sketch every day.

I make small sketches of ordinary things I see every day. I folded a large (A3) paper in 12 squares. They are each about 10x10 cm. I make a sketch in every square. Sometimes I use two squares for one sketch. Here you see such a paper with sketches.

When the weather is good, I sketch outdoors. Weeds in my garden are a great subject.

Also indoors I can find nice subjects. Like the dishes I washed ...

... or the towel.

Sometimes I even dare to sketch a living animal. Soon you’ll read more one that. Here is a preview.

I will do my best to show you some of my sketches more often in my blog. Some will be under 'More art', some (together  about a certain subject) in a new post.

imagination

You can see things with your eyes. But you can see too with ‘your mind’s eyes’: your imagination. It’s even possible to draw (or paint) things you see in your imagination. I have different ways to make such drawings. About two of those I tell you this time.

The first way. I want to tell a story in a picture. In this case the story is about an animal. It’s a real, existing animal. But I want to show something about the animal that can’t be seen in a photograph.

The first drawing is about a kitten, ‘Poekie’. I made it as an illustration for a children’s story (a product of my imagination too). Poekie is all alone, a little lost, in a dark alley. I want to show its loneliness. I want to show it’s a cute, little kitten. I want to show Poekie is not scared. It’s a courageous little kitten!

To be able to show all of this, it wasn’t enough to take a photograph of a kitten and draw it just like that. I took some photographs of kittens, to see what kittens looks like, in general. But then I used my imagination, to change some things, to add some things. Its shape became rounder, its eyes bigger, its black fur more reddish; so I enhanced its ‘cuteness’. Its pose and the look in its eyes tell you: this is a courageous kitten. And the background shows: Poekie is all alone in a dark alley. 

 Poekie, drawing in coloured pencils

The second drawing was also made using photos. In a magazine about wildlife I saw some photos of the elusive ‘red panda’. In this case I did not change much to the ‘red panda’. I only wanted to show it’s a very cute and fuzzy looking animal. So I changed a little to its eyes and mouth and its fur. And I fitted its shape (pose) to my paper.

 Red panda, drawing in coloured pencils on Kraft paper

The second way. This is ‘totally imagination’. Maybe you can call it a ‘doodle’. I took my paper and a ballpoint and started, with no idea of what to draw.

My first thought was: a person. I started drawing an oval shape for the head. It was at the left side of the middle of the page. I thought: “there’s space for another person, right of the middle”. So I made another oval head shape next to it. Then in my imagination came the idea of two sisters, standing close together. I made some lines to show the position of their bodies. It looked to me as if they were singing whole heartedly. I made lines showing they each had one arm spreading out. And so the whole picture developed while I was drawing it. When a shape became clearer to my mind, I made it look clearer in my drawing. I added curves and shades. So I went on until it looked good to me. Now I present to you: the ‘Singing sisters’. 

Singing sisters, drawing in black Bic ballpoint               

I didn't have to go far ...

... to paint 'plein air'. In fact: I stayed in my own garden. There is always something to paint or draw there. Even in bad weather: looking through the window (I don't know if that is real 'plein air'...).

(view through the window of my living room)

 

Sitting in a lounge chair in the garden I looked up and painted the blue sky with white cloud, above my garden gate with red roses.



 

 

When the chives were in full bloom I couldn't use them anymore for salads, but they were very nice for a drawing and a painting.

 



(drawing in ballpoint on GarzaPapel drawing paper)

 

(hypericum, digitalis and allium -chives- in watercolours)

 

 

This was the garden in front of the house, In the back there is another one. I can do a view through the window too, in this case the kitchen window.

 

 

I cut some branches from the honeysuckle growing over the gate and made this painting of one of the blooms.

 

(made on GarzaPapel watercolour paper)