I wanted to spend last week to recuperate from the hectic Top 2000 blogparty (did you see all the art that was submitted? It was A LOT and you can still visit those blogposts by clicking the category Top 2000) It was the busiest week of the year – processing all the incoming submissions and creating some pages of my own too)

…but what was I talking about… oh, yes, recuperating. I wanted to, but it didn’t really come to that. How come? Well, my beloved is building a new website for me and I had to make decisions about which of my art I want to showcase in the gallery, I had to write (and translate) texts and in between, my son came to visit and lessons had to be prepared (I teach guest lessons at a school next Thursday.) So much for recuperating.

Today I plan to take care of the ‘loose ends’ in my atelier – and that means, among others, showing you these spreads in last year’s Chronicles. These pages were created in the last weeks of 2017.

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 50

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 51

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 52

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Last page

I already started working in the new “Chronicles” journal for 2018, creating a first page that is all about my word of the year, but I will tell you about that in another blogpost.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I really appreciate it that there are still people out there who come to read my posts. Have a great day. Spend it well.

The Top 2000 list was announced online yesterday so I can now start creating to the songs (and YOU CAN TOO if you wanna join… read this page for all the info about this FREE online party!) I started with creating and binding a small journal (11 x 17 cm – 4.3 x 6.7 inch) that I will use for my Top 2000 art. Doesn’t it look cute?

Top 2000 art journal 2017 – Cover

I also needed a new Chronicles journal for 2018… I had a hard time deciding on the format and size that I want my new ‘year-journal’ to be but eventually I chose it to be square. I never had square ‘Chronicles’ journal before and I hope this shape will grow on me.. the shape of the spreads will of course be rectangle. I kinda like how it looks.

The Chronicles of Marit 2018 – Cover

The new journal is waiting for the New Year to start but still, the old one isn’t full yet… there’s three more weekly spreads to make. I hope I will find time for that when in the middle of the Top 2000 creating-hurricane… anyway, here’s the latest spread I made.

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 49

And this was the last ‘normal’ blogpost for this year… next week, this blog will overflow with music and beautiful art made by participants inspired by the songs. I printed the Top 2000 list myself this morning and I will now curl on the couch with a cup of tea to look through the list of songs and select the ones that I will use as inspiration for my Top 2000 art journal pages.

The blogparty starts on December 25, at 9 am CET (Central European Time)
See you then!

“Being less active” doesn’t mean I do nothing at all… there’s a large stack of Christmas cards on my desk that I need to finish. There’s pieces of paper showing ‘aquarel clouds’ in the window sill, that I made after I came home from Mandy’s workshop last weekend. I want to work on those some more and write Tanka with the images (I may tell you more about it in a future blogpost.) I plan on binding a little journal to use for my Top 2000 art ánd I need to bind a new ‘Chronicles’ journal to use next year.

Oh, and there’s the last week-spreads that will fill up this year’s Chronicles… here’s the last spread I created

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 48

And here’s a spread I made in November in the “Grandes Chaleurs” journal.

Learning to Die

I’m also thinking about a word for 2018… are you choosing a word for each year? In 2010 I embraced this tradition that Eli Edwards started and choose a word for the year ever since. I like it so much more than resolutions (which I never made, by the way.)

Well, there are some Christmas cards waiting to be finished so I’m turning my back on the computer for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Friday & weekend. See you around someday next week!

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 46

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 47

Next is a new journal I bound yesterday. It’s 15 x 18 cm (6 x 7 inch) and I will use it for the workshop Writing and Illustrating Tankas that I participate in next Saturday.

It’s been ages since I took a workshop myself and I am looking forward to it! I don’t know much about watercolor and I can’t wait to learn some more about it from the amazing Mandy van Goeije.

And that’s it for today, short but sweet.

Oh, one thing: don’t forget to vote for the Top 2000 list 2017! You have until Friday. (see this blogpost)

Anyway, today is an extra blogday ’cause I have so much art journal pages waiting in line to publish on my blog that I write an extra post to show you some…

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 44

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 45

The year is coming to an end and my Chronicles art journal is nearly full… I will bind a new journal for 2018 in December but I’m still in doubt about the size. I’m thinking of binding a square journal (although the spreads I work on will be rectangle then.) I also haven’t decided if I will bind it in coptic stitch or use the “binding with the strips” (I don’t know the official name for it) like I always do.

Next is a page that I worked on for quite some time… it layed on my desk and I didn’t like it. I added something from time to time but it didn’t get any better. I even considered to put gesso over it and start again but I decided to leave it, turn the page and “call it a day” (which became the title)

Call It A Day

So now I showed you three pages… I have more art waiting to be published on my blog but I don’t want to overflow this post with art journal spreads.

Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate you dropping in!
Enjoy your week.

My desk shows an art journal spread in the make…

WOYWW #440

The big “Grandes Chaleurs” journal (11.8 x 18.9 inch) lays prominent on the desk. I started the spread yesterday by putting gesso and a few scraps of paper on the pages. At the end of the afternoon I glued the ‘faces,’ painted the bodyshape and stopped right there not knowing what to add next. I hope to work on this some more today.

To the right, you can see my Chronicles art journal. The page is waiting for me to add text and then the spread for week 44 will be finished.

And here’s the spreads from the weeks before

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 42

(The green text: “Did you see that? Another day just flew by…”)

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 43

OK sweeties, that’s it for today – I wanna leave some time for you (and me!) to visit the other desks too so I’ll keep this blogpost short. Enjoy your day.

I have to disappoint you, this morning my desk was empty – but there’s something on the floor instead!

Because you liked the photo taken from another angle last week I thought I’d give you a view to another corner of my atelier. The sheets of paper on the floor are tests with ‘Bistre powder’ stains. I have a little idea in mind for a guest-lesson that I will teach in a class of teenagers in January and I wanted to try some things… it is in an early stage of testing though and looking at these stains I don’t know if this idea of mine is suitable for a lesson. Oh well, there’s still time to think of something else…

Anyway, here’s the photo of my ‘corner’ for this week’s WOYWW #349

I am all up to date with creating my weekly ‘Chronicles’ art journal spreads (up to week 43) but I didn’t show you all those spreads yet. I won’t post all four spreads waiting in line to be published – after all, there are other desks to visit too – but here’s two spreads in this ‘visual diary’ from last month.

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 40

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 41

… and now I am off to do what I planned on doing today: clean the bedroom and change linens, do laundry, go grocery shopping, pick up a dvd of a scandinavian crime series at the local library, write a newsletter (wanna subscribe? Go to my website) and maybe, just maybe there will be time left to visit some desks today. But if not today, I will visit you later this week. See you!

You may not see much differences with photos of former weeks but to me it’s an extra happy desk – for what is on it. See that yellow page I’m working on? It’s the background for my Chronicles spread for week 41…

WOYWW #437

I started with painting the background in a bright, yellow colour as last week was a bright and happy week with lots of sunshine, love and happy moments: my son Nout came to visit us last weekend! I’ll show you that photo that you can see on the art journal page, but first here are two art journal spreads from former weeks.

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 38

Yep, cycling… we watched the World Championship cycling on tv and photos of the winners had to go on my page.

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 39

Week 39: lots to tell, combined with random pictures… it’s just fun to create pages like this!

And now for the happy moments: Me and Nout.

Can you tell we were happy to see each other? There was a ceremony in Amsterdam last Thursday (he graduated in September and he received his master-degree) but we couldn’t be there, so on Friday he took the day off of work and came to visit us. (Yes, Nout started a job right after his graduation as a trainee with the national government.)

Remember the present I made him last Summer?
As a graduation gift, I crocheted a blanket for him (small photo) to put on the couch in his new apartement. He is still very happy with it, and so is his girlfriend Guus! He showed us this photo of her, and isn’t that the sweetest picture? (published with her approval.)

This was a happy and cozy post of me today.
Thanks for visiting and I hope your week will be happy and cozy too.
Enjoy!

Oh, well,
another week,
another Wednesday,
another deskphoto.

WOYWW #433

I’m all caught up with creating my weekly spreads.
I post the last two weeks here:

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 36

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 37

And now,
I’m also
caught up with
showing them to you.

Yay.

Thanks for stopping by,
have a great week,
enjoy the Autumn sunshine,
keep on rockin’ in the free world!

WOYWW #432

See that little envelope on top of the art journal spread I am working on? I folded it yesterday (the image on it is a stamp) to glue on the page – there’s a note-paper in it on which I wrote a ‘story’ that I rather keep private.

It’s a thing.
I keep a journal in which I write ‘my life’.
It’s like a diary, well – sort of.
I’m always aware of the fact that other people can read what I write.
Most things I write about are general events and experiences.
I write about the weather, walks I went on with my beloved , the art I create, the people I see and all other things one does during a week.
But sometimes I want to vent about things that happened,
or jot down my thoughts about things other people did or said,
or take notes of happenings & ideas that may not be revealed yet.

It is an ever recurring search for the balance which text I leave ‘out in the open’ and what to blur (or hide with some other form of ‘hidden journaling.’)

Why do I bring up this matter?
Well, I noticed there was quite some text blurred in my latest Chronicles pages.

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 33

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 34

The Chronicles of Marit 2017 – Week 35

I wonder, how do you cope with private vs. public?