Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 23:00
Last week, my colleague D. and I got to work super-early so we'd be able to leave early to go see the Moomin exhibit at the Belgian Comic Strip Center not far from our office. The center is housed in an impressive Art Nouveau temple by architect Victor Horta (one of my favorite architects here in Brussels) in downtown Brussels and really is worth visiting just by itself.
When I was little, I used to love the Japanese TV adaptation of the Moomin comics, Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka, so it was wonderful to see the original drawings and paintings the talented Finnish artist Tove Jansson made during her lifetime. Although the exhibition space felt a bit cramped (so many drawings! so little room!), I have gained a new respect for Jansson's work after having the opportunity to see her original pencil sketches and inked drawings up close in the exhibition. Some people seem to get every line just right, every time.
Sadly enough, the second part of our trip to the center was a bit of a let-down. My colleague and I had hoped to pick up some Moomin books and gear on our way out in the gift shop, but either they had just sold out of everything, or the museum lacks business-sense, because the shop carried exactly two of Jansson's books and both of the editions were in French. No Moomin-gear in sight either. So, I ended up taking a French edition of The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My home because someone had reccomended the book to me for its outstanding cutout work.
And indeed, the book is just lovely. Someone told me that Jansson was only allowed to use two colors per spread, but that she got creative with the cutouts to enhance the book's coloring and sense of depth. Very inspirational and awe-inspiring!
Link: Belgian Comic Strip Center, Brussels
Friday 27 August 2010 at 00:04
Ok. Some people would probably consider one of the three options below when their colleagues start buying birthday gifts for their cat:
1) Call a therapist (always a good idea for people who own cats, I think, those manipulating little SOB's got more mind tricks up their sleeves than you can even start to imagine - you'll need the backup, believe you me);
2) Stop talking about said cat and remove all 23 pictures off office wall (and hide the little picture sitting in your wallet);
3) Thank above-mentioned colleagues and never tell anyone else it ever happened, lest they start to suspect you might actually be wanting a human baby boy soon, and you're somehow projecting all of your motherly affection onto your cat (which isn't true and come to think of it, those colleagues must probably die for even making you suspect in the first place. HIDE ALL -supposed- EVIDENCE.).
Of course, I never even considered any of these options and instead I thanked my sweet sweet colleagues, made Meneertje write them a Thank You note (but hey, he just turned 1 yrs old. It's not like he can write yet), and went on to throw him a smashing birthday party*.
Look! A real birthday meal! Nom nom nom...
Of course we got him a bunch of new toys, played with him all evening and he got to (well, did) pee on our bed. Congratulations sweet Meneertje!!!
*In my defense, the boyfriend totally joined in on the birthday-fun!
Annnnd some more pictures of Meneertje when we first got him. Because it's cute. That's why.
Wednesday 04 August 2010 at 08:00
Yesterday evening was a special evening here at the Meneertje Mansion (where our cat Meneertje fortunately allows us to pay the rent and occasionally have people over). Not only is Danielle staying at our place in preparation for our French holiday appropriately titled 'Project Provence' (think: six girls, one car, two tents), but she and I had the honor of being the recipients of Nuria's 100th 'What I Ate' meal! Nuria prepared a lovely pasta dish with fresh almond pesto and an amazing desert. Here, see for yourself:
I'm pretty sure my body is in total carb-shock right now, but fortunately I didn't care too much, since I made some white wine with peaches to accompany Nuria's awesome cooking. It's something I drank in Italy and have just completely fallen in love with. I used a fresh Chardonnay from Carmel, California and (organic) ripe peaches from the grocery store across the street (which has a pretty nice selection of fruits and vegetables).
Hooray for good friends with very fortunate hobbies, for good friends who remain very good friends even if they do live so so far away, and for good conversations and for Chardonnay. And peaches. And pesto. Of course.
(Check out Nuria's blog and her mad cooking skilzzz over on: nuriamariarosa.blogspot.com.)
Monday 19 July 2010 at 18:00
My summer vacation is coming up, so I've been trying to finish up some projects at work. My InDesign however, seems to think the holidays started last week already, and has since refused to function more than ten seconds at a time. Literally.
Just when I was about to throw my stapler at my iMac, my colleague and friend D. (her desk being in the line of fire), proposed that during our lunch break we might check out those vintage shops we spotted the day before. Man, did that cheer me up. Whoever says shopping is a superficial way of solving ones problems is clearly too intellectual for their own good, because BOY, that helped. And how can it not? Check out these beauties!
The blue & red dress I got at Gabriele Vintage and the yellow dress I got at Isabelle Bajart. Both shops are located in the Karthuizerstraat in Brussels and definitely worth a visit!
Saturday 10 July 2010 at 00:52
Thank you everyone for your sweet comments and well-wishes on the post about my grandpa. It seems to have worked, since my grandpa is (very) slowly recovering, although he'll probably never get back to where was (which wasn't a very good place to begin with). It's hard to see someone you care about suffer like that and most of all I wish him as little pain as possible.
I'm now back in Brussels and pleased to have some good news for you this time.
This fall I'll be teaching art journaling classes at the Turtlewings atelier in Brussels! YAAAYYYYY!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.
Art Journaling Course
I'll be teaching one full day course for adults on October 9th (10-16h). Think this tutorial but in real life + fun times + lunch + awesome supplies! I'll be explaining some of the different techniques out there, give you some tips and quick tricks to make your pages and layouts look good, we'll figure out what kind of journal you'd like to keep, and we'll all be working on journal pages together.
Art Journal DIT
Then, I'll also be teaching a 'do it together' art journaling course for parents and children (aged 8-14) together with Turtlewing's wonderful Julie Anne. This course will take place on four consecutive Saturday-mornings (10-12h) in November (term begins the 6th and ends the 27th) and we'll be exploring how keeping an art journal can enrich your child's and your own creative life and manner of communicating.
You can sign up through Turtlewings (click here for the form) and if you sign up before September 4th, you get an early bird discount (which means €126,- instead of €140,- for the adult course and €108,- instead of €120,- for the DIT course).
I can't wait! :-)
Tuesday 06 July 2010 at 09:00
I've been lazy about working in my art journal the past few days. This time I'm not going to blame me being busy, since that has never kept me from staying up late and putting pencil to paper. I just needed a break. I went to the park. I ate ridiculous amounts of food for our Sunday brunch. I've been doing lots of reading. I can just get completely sucked up into a good novel.
So, here's a couple of pictures of my studio that I don't think I've shared on my blog yet. Tomorrow, I'll be posting my Polaroid Poser Post and perhaps some scans from my journal. Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!
Saturday 05 June 2010 at 22:00
When I met my sweet friend Nuria 8 years ago, her idea of good food started with an 'M' and ended on 'acDonalds'.
Things have changed.
Nuria is now quite the little chef and keeps a daily food blog over on NuriaMariaRosa. Definitely worth the click if you're into food, food-porn, Jamie Oliver recipes, orrr if you just need a virtual kick underneath your cooking-bum. Which is what Nuria's blog did to me today. It, however, being too hot to cook today I made myself this little summer dinner:
A spinach, pine nut and salmon salad, with a avocado filled with yoghurt-herb filling (both were kind of an experiment). Toasted flatbread and crackers with artichoke dip, black olive tapenade, and cheese (fourme and beaufort). And for desert strawberries with minced mint, yoghurt, and sugar.
I know, nothing spectacular, but delicious. Thanks Nuria, for inspiring me!
Tuesday 18 May 2010 at 12:00
Sorry for disappearing like that! Did you miss me? Awww, thanks. I missed you too.
I was a couple of days off from my increasingly busy job and took a trip to the Ruhr-area in Germany. This used to be / still is a highly industrialized area in Germany near the border with Holland. Now that many industries have moved abroad or have significantly changed, they decided to turn the old factories into cultural hotspots. More specifically they did so for the European cultural capital festival they're hosting this year (link: RUHR 2010). We had a wonderful time, but I'll write about that some more when I finish coloring the journal pages of the weekend.
Now I'd like to just shortly write about some insanely pretty wine glasses my mom gave me for my birthday. I know, my birthday was in March, but I needed to pick out these glasses myself and well, that took a while. I knew I wanted to buy them from one specific artist and I needed to find a moment when I could really take the time and check out all the options.
The glasses you see above are made by Saskia Felix, a local Brussels artist. She handmade and decorated each glass by hand and as a result of this each glass is unique and beautifully organically shaped. Fragile yes, so these glasses are for special occasions only, but oh so pretty.
If you're ever in Brussels, I would definitely recommend checking out Boutique Saskia Felix (Ixelles is a nice area to visit anyways, and not just because I happen to live there). Felix recently teamed up with fashion designer Mireille Ahn and jewelry and fabric designer Cécile Bertrand. A wise move, I'd say, because the tiny store now has a charming collection of gifts and clothes you really don't want to give away.
Thanks mom!
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