This month's Etsy crush for Oh Marie! Magazine is all about the kittens. Because everything actually is about kittens. And things your kittens will mind control you to buy for them. Like gorgeous kitten furniture by Vurvdesign. Absolutely stunning.
Journal page © Anna Denise Floor
Learning new things really is one of my favorite things in life, but it also means my list of things I suck at is longer than most people's.
Soccer? Disaster. Knitting? Ehm. Humbling? Tennis? A chapter in my life we will not speak of ever again. Walking? An ongoing battle.
But mostly - learning new things is just great fun and good practice of cultivating your 'beginners mind'. Some things I learned this week: I relearned that I actually love skiing and am pretty unafraid (we even did some little jumps!), even though I'm an absolute beginner of course . I also learned that my husband is a great teacher when I allow him to teach me new things (heh. Not that I'm usually stubborn or anything...) and that ski pants don't have to make your butt look unattractive (I know right, this was totally holding me back as well). I found out (again), that I'm apparently quite attached to my old boring hairdo. Ah. Such important life lessons here. Next up: enlightenment. BAM!
Oh oh!
Impression of 'me' wearing 'The Knit Kid', for Oh Marie! © Anna Denise Floor
Oh, oh, oh hold on! Before we go there - I wrote/drew a post for the Oh Marie blog, where I discuss and illustrate my Etsy crushes. It'll be a monthly installment, and first up is my ongoing love for The Knit Kid. Read the post here!
Also, if you've never heard of Oh Marie!, go check it out. It's an amazing (free!) online magazine with tons of gorgeous photography, great articles, and DIY magic. Their last issue (#5) was just published and it's once again stunning. Check it out here.
Meneertje, by Katie Noonan!
One of my favorite things to do in life is to complain. Ah, a day without the sound of my own voice nagging is like a day without coffee (and we all know that leads to scary, dark things).
So the other day I was whining about how much I miss my cat. I know, right. Tragic. Thing is, when my ex and I broke up, we decided to leave Meneertje (the cat in question) with him in Brussels. The ex has a big apartment, which happens to be the place the cat has lived his entire life, and at the time wasn't sure where I'd go and where I'd be. It seemed like the best thing I could do for the furry beast.
Anyhow, since our current mansion is wonderful but not tremendously spacious, we've decided to hold off on the kitteh-front for now until we know where we'll be next. Look at us being all grown-up and rational and whatnot. Doesn't mean I don't miss the little loudmouth.
Some more cat portraits done by Katie!
To make a long story not much shorter but definitely not any longer: my friend and colleague Katie Noonan, crazy cat lady, self-made illustrator, and world traveler, is doing this wonderful thing where she decided to draw 300 cats on Instagram. And she drew Meneertje for me. Yay! Such a fun idea (and I wish I had come up with it). So, if you're interested in getting your furball set up with an Instagram portrait, make sure to tag her @afternoonan! Also, she sells amazing cat magnets on Etsy.
Be sure to check it out. Katie surely made my day.
Drawings in Vers Magazine. © Anna Denise Floor
Last week saw the start of the Dutch Film Festival in my hometown. Tons of Dutch celebrities I don't recognize are said to roam the cobblestoned streets, cool looking hipster folk crowd the bars I never go to at night, and I myself walked the red carpet (it was the only way to get into the theater and kind of hard to avoid). Exciting times.
Well, actually yeah, kind of. Because the new magazine VERS ('Fresh') was presented at said festival. VERS is a magazine for 'nieuwe beeldmakers', which really doesn't translate very well, but in short: it's a magazine for those in the business of creating images or pictures, may it be film, photography, illustration, you name it.
And guess who had the honor to not only create two portraits of the editors , but also a page filling comic on the stresses of 'stepping out of your comfort zone' when self-promoting?
© Anna Denise Floor for VERS
The answer was 'me', of course. But I know you knew that.
I'm curious, though, if you're in the business of self-promotion: what makes you feel uncomfortable when it comes to doing your own marketing? Or is it 'anything goes'?
Let me know!
Jasmin tea in one of Kim's delicious tea cups she left behind for me to use.
Summer is definitely over now and the Dutch skies above us have switched back to those smashing shades of gray it dons most of the year. I have purchased myself a pair of new boots to replace the old ones that none of the shoe repair men (and one woman) in town could save, have dug up the winter coat (ok, it was hanging right there in the hallway, but I denied acknowledging its presence for a few months), and am dreaming of pancakes, tea, and pumpkin pie.
Also, this video is about a year old, I think, but it's magnificent. It's a dance performance by Yokoo, one of our top sellers on Etsy, creator of amazing knitted accessories and gorgeous Etsy shops. She truly is amazing. Check it out.
So the portrait sale is a smashing hit, of course! I've sold a whopping total of eight portraits and my financial woes are a thing of the past!
I made one of Marta, the amazingly talented lady behind 'The Luscious Joys of Princess Misia' - your one stop destination for prettyfingerlicking food photography and recipes. Where's the food, indeed. Then, two more, for VERS magazine. There's also a comic of mine that will be published in the magazine, but more about that later. And finally, I made a whole bunch for the amazing Turtlewings crew. And then I took a nap.
Anyhow. The big sale came not a minute too late, as me and my freshly earned 'doekoes', as we like to call them here, took the husband (or, the husband took me, as I still can't drive) to Friesland, where we attended a wedding, partied it up, contemplated sailing (rain, no wind, no dice), and went to see 'Borgman' instead.
Journal page for the weekend of Saturday September 7th and Sunday September 8th!
Ola, my darlings!
Two things are happening.
as a very non-funny joke from all the marrying, traveling, and driving around with expensive instructors (and ehm *ahem* failing *cough* my first test). and am especially interested in experimenting with drawing portraits.
2. I am feeling the itch to draw again
So. Put two and two together and what we seem to have on our hands here is A SALE, my friends.
My grandma in days gone by.
For €20,- I will make a high res digital portrait of your beautiful face and email it to you. Great for all sorts of (online) birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, and pool parties. Or you could use it as a profile picture. Or print it and put it on your bathroom wall. So many options!
This here above is a photo of my grandmother rocking out on vacation about 20 years ago. She doesn't have ze Facebooks, but you know she'd totally be blasting this one out through the internets if she had a connection.
So head over to my Etsy shop and make me rich.
Or not so disastrously poor.