Botany and feminism

October 2, 2020October 2, 2020 / cultivatingjoy / 6 Comments

JOYFUL GRATITUDE #197

Recently I came across an event called A feminists’s guide to botany, and since those are two of my favourite topics, I was intrigued. At closer look it turned out to be an online botanical painting session, so I signed up as it sounded like a good opportunity to dust off my watercolours.

On the evening it was scheduled, as it got dark outside, I dug out my paint brushes, watercolours and thick paper, then covered my desk with some newspaper and settled down with a cup of tea.

The first half hour was an introduction about two women botanists of the 17th and 19th century, focussing on their art and how they evolved in the times when they lived. Forget boring art classes from high-school, this story-telling was captivating, nuanced and full of humour. I was so inspired by the tales of these bad-ass women who didn’t take no for an answer and went on to achieve ground-breaking work.

The second part of the session was dedicated to several short exercises with watercolour to loosen up, practise ‘really seeing’ our botanical samples and the negative space around them, playing with colours and learning some basic watercolour techniques. As the pace was quite fast, moving from one exercise to the next, there was no time for my inner-critic to come along and comment on my skills. Time flew by, I was in flow and really enjoyed experimenting with colours and techniques that were new to me.

It was a lovely way to spend the evening, the perfect Artist date, and I look forward to part 2:) The London Drawing group has a lot of different events coming up that you can join online, you can check the program here.

Being tourists in our own city

October 7, 2019October 8, 2019 / cultivatingjoy / Leave a comment

As I write today, a black and white postcard of a photo by Brassaï showing a misty scene of Montmartre in the 30s, sits on my desk, a souvenir from the exhibition we visited Sunday at the FOAM museum. I hope it will inspire me to practice getting more of those atmospheric black and white shots, a challenge to play more with light.

As for colourful inspiration, we also had the chance to dive deeper into amazing art by Van Gogh, Millet and many others, exploring that quiet part of the museum at our own pace, without jostling crowds of tourists to soak up the bright colour palettes.

I am grateful for a great weekend spent being tourists in our own city with my Mum and Walter, filling our well of inspiration and of course we enjoyed many good meals, a wonderful classical concert and fun chats together.

Painting placards

September 30, 2019April 13, 2020 / cultivatingjoy / 3 Comments

After the climate strike in Amsterdam, which I attended with my hands in my pockets, a little voice inside me made it known that it wanted to hold up one of those creative hand-painted placards cobbled together from old cardboard and coloured paint at the next march.

I’m trying to listen more closely to my inner desires, and be in tune with what lights me up, so last Tuesday evening I tore apart an old moving carton, covered the kitchen table with old newspaper and got to work. I first drew some drafts in felt-tip pen on the back of an old envelope, then lightly drew the outlines in pencil on the cardboard and finally got down to the fun part of painting with bright colours.

It was dark outside as I carefully painted the letters and images, I listened to podcasts and felt completely in flow, not feeling time pass until I looked up and it was time to go to bed. My creative practice mainly consists in photography and writing, which both involve technological tools, so picking up an analog paint brush and bright acrylic paints felt very grounding. I’m glad I satisfied my inner placard holder who was very happy to hold it up amongst thousands of other slogans during the march on Friday in Den Haag. I am so heartened by the tens of thousands of people who made time to march and make their voices heard.

Photo by Paolo S.