- July - Birthday celebrations (a drawing session for all members!), watercolour blobs and baby foxes

Monthly update from my art studio

Hello everyone,

Have you ever seen so many snails in your life? They ate almost all of my seedlings until they were sad and leafless. So far for the colour apricot in my garden this year haha. I managed to save a few plants though, so I’m going to extra appreciate them.

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watercolour baby fox

In the Studio

Truth time. I’m trying to stay afloat, but I regularly feel like life is running ahead of me, and I constantly wonder if I’m pursuing the right things. Should I keep on building Patreon and Substack, even if it’s a very slow process (and possibly not sustainable)? Should I quit social media completely, would that be a big relief? Should I quit being a professional artist, just get a job (what job, though; who/what am I if I’m not an artist full time?), and make art just for fun?

At the moment, I have no answer to these questions, so I focus where I can on making art for fun, and I’m trying to incorporate this as much as I can in client work.

• With “play” in mind, I made my watercolours flow and drew a baby fox on top, referencing Sarah Dyers pictures. They were too cute not to draw.

• I worked on card designs for licensing. It was a slow process and I’d like to do more, but I made a start :)

cards for licensing

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Birthday Drawing Session!

It’s my birthday this month! And because I’ve been in a bit of a funk, I’m going to stay on the positive side and organize a small celebration.
I’ve decided I can be like Oprah and sprinkle gifts around, so I’m hosting a drawing session where we’ll draw my Favourite animals and plants and
YOU get a drawing session, and YOU get a drawing session, and YOU and YOU…..everyone gets a drawing session!

It’s Sunday 14th of July 15:00 (3PM) CEST and you can sign up here: https://lu.ma/zr0k00vm

Hope to see you all there!

Seasonal fruit in my sketchbook

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Pausing for August - sign up now and have a month for free!

Because it’s the Summer Holiday break here in the Netherlands soon, I'm taking some time off with my family, and I’ll be pausing Substack and Patreon for paid members in August.
This would be an excellent opportunity to sign up in July, because although I’m not posting anything new that month, all of the existing content is still available. The perfect chance to check out our community and all it offers!

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Art community updates

I’ve always been very into colour so it only feels fitting to make the theme of July “Tropical”. We’ll explore exotic birds and lots of colour.
Last month I was already exploring colour, playing around with watercolours. You can watch my process here:

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In other posts and videos, you will find:

Replay: Camouflage in nature

Sketchbook art haul and my love for coloured paper

(All these posts and more is also available at Patreon)

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Coming up :

Our live drawing sessions this month

• Available at Patreon - Meadow Maestros tier:
  Tues 9th of July 11:00 (11 AM) CEST - Seasonal Sketch Session (we draw plants and animals commonly seen in my area this month)

• Tues 16th of July 15:00 (4 PM) CEST - All paid Substack + Patreon members (Artisans and Maestros)
  Theme: BIRDS of paradise
  SIGN UP HERE

Please use this time zone converter to find the times in your area: www.worldtimebuddy.com

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Lovelies

Finding the joy in small things:

• A birthday asks for cake, right? This vegan carrot cake looks delicious (hoping someone will bake it for me instead of me making it :)

• eating homegrown blueberries, raspberries and strawberries

• Taking a day off! As I’m a freelancer, I never grant myself a day off, but I figure turning 42 earns me some free time. I’m going to do it this year, a day off on my birthday!

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Thanks so much for reading this, I hope you have the best summer!