Chronicles week 42

Chronicles week 43

Chronicles week 44

I kept on running behind on creating weekly art journal spreads so at the end of this month I did what I advised my Chronicles workshop-students when they are running behind: I caught up up by making a few similar looking, fast and fun spreads.

Chronicles week 45

Chronicles week 46

Chronicles week 47

Thank you for stopping by,
Je t’embrasse

In between my job and doctor-appointments, creating in my art journal brought a bit of distraction. I had to depict heavy subjects but nevertheless, the spreads still look kinda nice…

Chronicles 2025 – Week 3

Chronicles 2025 – Week 4

Chronicles 2025 – Week 5

Chronicles 2025 – Week 6

Chronicles 2025 – Week 7

Chronicles 2025 – Week 8

Thanks for stopping by.
Stay healthy and enjoy life.
Je t’embrasse.

Week 34

The background is a gelli print, torn ‘napkins’ on the right (it’s a kind of printed tissue paper, I once bought a pack of them at a paper fair…) Cut out magazine-photo of the ‘back’ and a lot of writing, this was one big stressful week ’cause I found a spot on my back that had me worried…

Week 35

Another back photo with a punched hole, because the dermatologist ‘punched’ away a spot on my back. She reassured me that it could not be a melanoma but I won’t really believe it until the lab results are in.

Week 36

For years I have been buying cheap reading glasses from the drugstore but if you wear them all day long (like me, during my work in the restoration workshop at the Zeeuws Archief as well as in my own atelier) it is not so good for your eyes… so I went to the optometrist and had my eyes checked. I now have fitting reading glasses… the background is a gelli print on thin paper, a collage of a body with a bird’s head, my own head painted and cut out glasses. The border is created from scraps of paper. Orange fluorescent stickers (there was already one in this page because of the previous spread, the orange was/is visible through the punch hole) and lettering with markers and posca pens.

Week 37

Background of acrylic paint with also some paint sponged through stencils and stamped with bubble wrap. I got a call from the hospital: the spot on my back was indeed something innocent called “wisdom wart”.  A poem from my mom cut out from a calendar, email note from my dad and postcard from my son… haha, a family spread! Lettering with black markers and colored with Posca pens. Oh, and the ’77 (name of my fave café) are stickers.

Week 38

The background is partly left white (it takes some effort, I almost never do that!) A strip of old tissue paper and other ‘from my ‘left-over-scrapbox’ paper is glued on. You can also see a cigarette wrapper and a photo/text from an old book. The lady is also cut-out from a magazine, I covered her face. Text with black marker and red paint.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I wish you a beautiful day filled with sunshine and laughter.

Photo: @LenaSchreijenberg
I submit this haiku to Haiku my Heart

I am still creating an art journal spread every week but it’s been ages since I published pictures of it on my blog. Since 2010 I keep an art journal called “The Chronicles.” It is a  handmade visual year-journal in which I create a weekly spread. On the pages I comment and reflect on my days or just try to capture the week in words and pictures. Here’s some spreads from July. (If you’re interested, you can find the complete series on my website)

The Chronicles of Marit 2022 – Week 28

The Chronicles of Marit 2022 – Week 29

The Chronicles of Marit 2022 – Week 30

Thanks for your visit today, enjoy your weekend.

Je t’embrasse

My friend Robert send me a package which contained all kinds of collage paper and I have plans to use some on a spread in my journal. That box with washi tape is there ’cause I used tape on the envelope (on the photo to the left) that I, too, filled with ‘stuff’ for yet another person ’cause I participate in a ‘inspiration swap’. I will take it to the post office today and in return, I will receive yet another envelope with collage-paper in the upcoming days… I guess one day off will not be enough *lol*

WOYWW #667

I will work on a spread for week 11 today (I’m running behind with keeping up my weekly art journal) and when I get into the flow, I might even create ‘week 12’. I will show you the weeks before…

Chronicles 2022 – Week 9

Chronicles 2022 – Week 10

These spreads show what was on my mind: my son who came to visit us, the start of the cycling season and the war in Ukraine. Creating helps to get it all processed in my mind… how about you? Do you use your creativity to keep the balance, to stay sane in these times of uncertainty?

Have a nice day/week, I wish you serenity!

The last time I spend creating on my desk was on Sunday… I always clean up (sort of) after creating so here’s how my desk looks this morning… ready to go wild tomorrow!

WOYWW #637

And here’s my two latest spread which I created last weekend.

Week 30

Week 31

I bought a book for a bargain in a second hand store: “Rock & Pop, Half a Century of History” – it’s packed with pictures of musicians including this funny photo of the Who. I have a ringtone from that band on my mobile (Baba O’Riley) so that photo with the ‘story’ became the starting point of my spread. The background and added colors derived from that one picture…

RECTIFICATION: Lynne pointed it out and she’s absolutely right, The Who is not on the photo, those are the Small Faces! It said ‘Who” underneat the pic and I wondered a bit myself when I looked at the photo ’cause I didn’t recognized Pete Townshend… I should have had it checked before I used this pic on the page. Oh well, I added an extra text (see below) and I still like my spread.

We had rainy and windy days overhere last week and this morning doesn’t look bright either… I better take my umbrella when I walk to my work! I do hope the sun will come out to join me on my free days… starting tomorrow! Hope your days will be sunny and bright too. Thanks for visiting me, I hope to be able to visit you back so ‘see ya’!

And there’s a haiku, inspired by the riots that took place in the Netherlands last week. (“inspired” is too much a nice word for it… “shocked” may be better.) Perhaps you have heard/seen about it? I could say a lot about those riots but I will not do that, that would be too much honor. I hope Holland will stay calm this weekend.

Friday haiku

The photo is taken by Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart

I managed to get two spreads done in my new Chronicles art journal. The first days of the year fell into a week that, according to the calender, belongs to 2020 and is called ‘week 53’ (I prefer to call it ‘week 0’ but I had already paint the title to this art journal page…)

The Chronicles of Marit 2021 – Week 53 (zero)

The year started with national ánd international news… the first vaccination in the Netherlands (January 6, pretty late as all surrounding countries in Europe started way earlier) and the Capitol riots.

The Chronicles of Marit 2021 – Week 1

There’s a lot of protest and violence in the world it seems. Try to stay positive y’all, and have a calm and relaxed weekend. Be healthy and safe!

Je t’embrasse

MAN, some week we had huh? In the Netherlands we also saw the terrible scenes on Capitol Hill, what a world we live in! I think of all my American friends – are you OK overthere and can you find peace of mind after what happened? I send warm hugs your way!

On the other hand, I myself had a nice week. My arm is getting better every day and I payed my collegues at work (Zeeuws Archief) a visit. Because of the lock down, there were only view people in the building and at a safe distance we drank coffee and chatted for a bit. I will get back to my job in the restauration and conservation atelier next week, only for a few hours, to test if I (and my arm) are up to working again, and I will build up from there. I’m looking forward to that!

There’s more to tell but let me post this week’s haiku first…

Friday haiku

The photo is taken by Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart

As you know, I couldn’t create while recovering from surgery. Weeks went by without playing in my art journals so the moment I got back in my atelier, my Chronicles art journal showed a lot of blank “week-spreads” to fill. I turned to an ‘easy trick’ to fill the blank weeks: I printed the ‘update emails’ that my beloved and I sent to friends in November and December and glued those on the weekly pages. That way, my journal keeps the story without me having to write it all over again. Those pages are in the photo gallery on my website. There’s only one week that shows some creativity.

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 49

I bound a new Chronicles journal to use in 2021 before I had surgery (knowing I wouldn’t be able to bind a book in the weeks after…) but I had not decorated the cover yet. I managed to make something of it late December… it’s simple (some paint and big, bold lettering) but I like it nevertheless.

The Chronicles of Marit 2021 – Cover

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I choose ‘one little word’ to focus on. For this year I picked the words ‘unlimited spontaneous’ (it has ‘Carpe Diem’ as a subtitle.) I could tell you the backgrounds, my considerations and the whys that led to choosing this word but I guess it’s pretty obvious for all who know what I went through the last couple of months.

The Chronicles of Marit 2021 – First page (“OLW”)

I hardly created this page when I got the opportunity to ACT to it… last weekend a journalist approached me and asked if he could interview me for a local newspaper. With ‘my words’ in mind, I said yes right away. Last week he came by and got really excited about my work. We talked a lot and as an addition to the article, he filmed me too – it’s already published online and although it’s in Dutch, you might want to ‘see me move and talk in person’- so HERE’S THE LINK.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a lovely weekend and stay safe!

Je t’embrasse

WOYWW #576
This was on my working table Tuesday afternoon. (Who said I couldn’t make a mess… 😉 )

Gelli-printing on my ‘big desk’…

… and the smaller surface to the left, used to lay the paper to dry (on top of my stencil-folder) and there’s my mobile phone underneath of it all (the ‘green thingie’ peeping out)

DUTCH DARES

A new dare at the scrapbooking challenge group where I am a (guest) designer. The challenge is to use this sketch:

The layout I created with this sketch
(the French sentence is from a Jacques Brel song: Ay Marieke, Marieke, Il y a longtemps. Entre les tours De Bruges et Gand.)

Notes from the land of the screaming seagulls

A few years ago (September 2017) I started working on a new series of ‘small collage-mixed-media’ pieces. It was a sequel to my earlier series Letters from the Wasteland. I created two pieces back then, but the project got ‘lost and forgotten’ at the bottom of a drawer after that… until I found it last week and picked it up again.

Notes from the land of the screaming seagulls III

Notes from the land of the screaming seagulls IV

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 22

Week 22 was a week the world will remember…

Thanks for staying with me ’till the end of this blogpost! Have a great week y’all – go do something fun: make a (creative) mess!

Today is such a day, so this blogpost has little words – but some more art instead. Enjoy!

Friday haiku

The photo was taken by my friend Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart.

It’s been a while since I created an ‘old fashioned’ scrapbook layout but a week ago, I found two scrapbooking challenges online that I combined and I had fun playing with an old photo.

First challenge was this Dutch Dares February sketch

The second challenge came from Challenge YOUrself:

This month, we would like you to create a layout showing us how you are inspired by the song “Hero” by Mariah Carey. (…) as always, please remember to include a photo with YOU on your layout.

I found this old photo taken in 1966. That’s me as a three-year old, pushing the pram in which my little brother lies and I found it fitting for this ‘hero’ challenge. I did, however, used lyrics from another song as a title, that I found more fitting.

He ain’t heavy

And some art journal spreads that I created in the passed weeks

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 5

I received a postcard in week 5 that I wanted to preserve, so I taped an extra piece of paper to my page. Here’s the spread with the piece/card fold out.

And one more week spread…

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 6

And now, I will put some paint on my pallette and go wild.
I wish you a lovely day, go do something that makes you happy.