Wow! it's nearly been 6 months since anyone has posted here, so I thought I would end the drought.

Anyway, here is a caricature I drew for a friend's 30th birthday. He imports designer furniture which is why he is sitting on top of that big pile of chairs and couches.

Also can you find the hidden character from Chocolate Log

Chocolate Log Industries is the new studio I have set up and we produce lots of cute character designs, illustrations and animation. Come and have a look.

Onno
www.onnoknuvers.com

Cleaning process

I finally got the urge for using colors again. We have been busy moving, and I haven´t drawn much at all for almost two weeks. It´s like I can´t find peace enough to concentrate, the chaos around me spreads into my head and I can´t sit down and draw while everything around me is upside down.

I read something a while ago, about a psychology student who discovered that she couldn´t study if the dishes were not made, or if her apartment was too messy. As soon as she tidied things up a bit, she could go ahead and concentrate on her studies for hours. She thought this was a bit funny, and decided to see if others had the same behavior. She interviewed a bunch of people on the subject, and it turned out that most people work like that - before they start concentrating on something important, they have to clean their house or reorganize their handbags or polish their shoes or something. I am like that too, so I read this article with great interest. When she dug a little deeper, some psychologist had a theory on why we do this: as we go around and physically clean things up around us, our brain does the same with our thoughts and impressions. Once all is in order, we can - both physically and psychologically - start off on our great project, whatever it is. The mind is at ease and we can concentrate.

To me, this makes perfect sense. During the last few weeks our home has been clogged with cardboard boxes, and nothing was in it´s right place. Or rather, nothing even had a right place. It takes time to find the order of things in a new apartment, to get into new routines, to start feeling at home. During this time, I have not touched my watercolors even once, and I have drawn only one sorry ink drawing. Now that things are getting back to normal again, I feel the urge to draw and put some colors down on paper. And I swear - I can feel a fresh breeze sweeping over shiny new rooms in my mind. My brain has been doing it´s job while I have been putting things in order here, concentration on drawing comes easy and it is very welcome.

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The pink orchid survived the move this time. The last time, it dropped all the flowers and played dead for months...

Text and image © Nina Johansson

Reflections on Easter

I have this painting in an exhibition called Reflections on Easter showing at the Rawene Centre. Check out some more images of the exhibition on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onnoknuvers/sets/72157600045613305/

Onno
www.onnoknuvers.com

British Art Invasion

Last week, I went on what author Julia Cameron terms an "artist date."

I had the best time. I went to a local Bethesda, Maryland mall during my lunch time to see the Beatles Fine Art show which was holding this art show for fundraising purposes. The proceeds will benefit the Lotus Fdn. This show featured mainly Ringo Starr's art but all four Beatles Art was also displayed. It was really great to see the four very different types of art. The television news said that they think that this was the first time all of the "fab four" art was on display in the same place, now that is my kind of Beatles reunion. I loved it ... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Task: Perform an Exorcism

Straight from the amazing book Walking in This World, this task is too good not to share, and I invite anyone at home to try this and share your story here. I'll be sharing in parts, as soon as I can get my images off the digital camera and loaded here. I suggest you do both parts of this task.

1. Exorcise a creative demon: Reflect on a creative injury and make a creativity monster embodying all the nasty elements of your tormentor. Then destroy it! MUAH-HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA! This is really, really, really fun. :)

2. Create a creativity totem: Make a being that embodies all the spiritual forces you would like to muster to your support. And then give it the honor it deserves.

I will be sharing mine in the next few days. Can't wait to hear what others have come up with!

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Lots of Élena Nazzaro's artwork can be found at frenchtoastgirl.com. This post also appeared there on March 19.

It Don't Mean a Thing ...

... if it ain't got that swing.

So, if you're feeling a little low about your drawing, go someplace where the energy is high and the creative juice is flowing, like a local jazz club. There's something incredibly energizing about riding the wave of improvisation with a little visual improv of your own.

If you find the only seats are near the back of the room, like I did, don't worry about faces, just capture the attitude of the players with simple gesture drawings. Just seeing them again will bring back the evening. And everyone will be so busy listening to the music no one will even notice you're drawing. Well, not too many people at least.


© 2007 Karen Winters
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New art and writing is posted daily on Karen's Blog
Karen Winters Art on Ebay

Relaxed drawing

I am not a beach person. I hate too much heat, I don´t like wearing bikinis and the sand never stays nicely between my toes - it gets into my clothes, my bag and even my sketchbook. Besides, beach people always seem to go to the beach to show off. It´s always about their nice tans, pumped-up muscles and minimal amount of material swimsuits. (Prejudiced? Me??) Don´t get me wrong - I love the wet part of the beach. Swimming and diving is wonderful, it´s the Beach Life I can´t get along with.

But that was before. I´ve just spent two weeks in Las Palmas, and Playa de Las Canteras is the friendliest beach I ever saw. The temperature was bearable, the sand was warm and foot showers were present by every 100 meters. And I was not the only one with shorts and a top on. The people in the neighborhood seem to live parts of their lives on that beach. You see big families with little kids having picnics on the sand, sports lovers jogging along the breaking waves, kids playing football, old couples lying side by side reading books - you know, ordinary people enjoying the warmth and the sun for an hour or two.

How could I not spend time on this beach with pen and paper? I have had quite a few days of drawing people with the best live models imaginable - relaxed folks of all ages, too full of their own slow activities to be bothered by a geek drawing in a book a few meters away.

Beach Life. I kind of like it.

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Text and image © Nina Johansson

Humans as Pets -Death

This is what happens when a pet human dies.

Check out images at www.onnoknuvers.com

National Drawing Award

Being super busy this last week finishing a painting for an Easter show, so I thought I'll show you a drawing I entered in The National Drawing Awards. I didn't win but it was a good chance to see what everybody else was doing.

I used my favourite Winsor & Newton drawing inks on 150gsm water colour paper.

I'm now also on Flickr so check me out here and add me as a contact so I can keep you up to date.

Have a nice day

Onno Knuvers

www.onnoknuvers.com

The Michelangelo Project

March 6th is Michelangelo's birthday! To celebrate the birthday of one of the world's most inspiring artists, I invite you to participate in this project. (This is the third year!)



What you do:

1. Do something creative this Tuesday, March 6th. It can be something you love to do, something you've forgotten how to do, something you've never done and always secretly wanted to try. Here's your excuse! Some ideas are:
- paint/draw/collage
- sculpt (like the master)
- write a poem, a short story
- take a photo
- visit a museum or art gallery
- sew
- cook something exciting you've never made before
- see an art film, foreign film, or movie about an artist

2. Come back here or here and share your experience!
Post a link to your creation, write about your trip or creative process - share your creative story with others. How creative can we get?

3. Link back with the above graphic if you've written about it on your site.

4. Have fun, for goodness' sake! This is not about being perfect or creating the best piece of art. It's about embracing your creative side in whatever form it happens to take.


Can't wait to hear your stories!

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Lots of Élena Nazzaro's artwork can be found at frenchtoastgirl.com. This post also appeared there on March 2.