Tag: fine art

Art

I wish you a crafty Christmas!

Sonja

winter snow forest painting

It was a last minute activity to make a Son’s Popkes artwork Christmas card. I used to make one every year but last year I just did not feel like it. Crocheting gives me so much more pleasure and taking off a whole week from crocheting to paint a Christmas illustration was simply not going to happen. This year I did feel like making a Christmas illustration and I had a lovely idea, but still working on  something for a week…

I postponed and postponed till I had a few days before ‘sending time’. I decided to do a water colour illustration instead of acrylic paint on canvas. I had exactly two days to draw, colour, edit, print and write the cards. It was a bit hectic indeed. But also fun and exciting, one change only, could I do it?

I wish you all a merry Christmas dear crafty folks. And a very happy new year full of new crocheting, knitting and crafting endeavours!

Cheers 🦊🐢🦉 🐑🎉

Art, Uncategorized

A merry popkes Christmas

Sonja

Snow landscape painting

Howdy how! I wish you all a Christmas full of cheer and a very creative new year. To start the joy, I painted a Christmas card to amuse you all. It is titled ‘Popkes making a Snowpopke’.

My Holiday has just started and I’m going to do what I love doing. Hiking, watching movies and knitting a cardigan, a new hobby I have just discovered. Have fun too dear crafters!

See you in a few weeks.

Art

Lazy Koji

Sonja

Son's Popkes artwork, illustration.

This time I did not announce I was working on a new Son’s Popkes artwork, because let’s be honest, the last time the illustration did not turn out as I hoped. Fortunately, my latest illustration featuring nothing else but Koji, has become the artwork I fancied and I am proud to present it here.

It is simply titled ‘Lazy Koji’.

Together with my autumn Popkes artwork, I posted a ‘painting process’ slideshow. I think it is fun to show you how an illustration comes about.

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I must admit to myself, I like crocheting better, find it less frustrating. That is rather curious, as I have been drawing practically since I was born. Crocheting I have only been doing for five years now. The thing is though, when working on a painting, I can come to a certain point where I absolutely do not know how to proceed. It drives me nuts, I totally think I can never make the painting as beautiful as I fantasize, so what is the point in continuing?

For this illustration, I can show you exactly when that was, as it happens, after the second pic. There still was a lot of blue in the image and I had no idea what to do next. I just did not see it and felt like stopping. I took a break, thought about what to do and decided to just fill in the blank spaces with the colours I though would be right. And that helped. The painting now had the right mood, and for me, when the mood and colours are set, I can fill in the details and so on. Just look for yourself how much difference it made.

Maybe blue as a background colour was a bit poorly chosen for this painting and I should have started with a yellow background, but in the end, I did get it right!

Art, Stories

Koji says hello!

Sonja

Koji-sketch-webNormally, I make the sketch of a doll before I start crochet designing it. The sketch functions as a reference of sizes and shapes and basically is my guide. This time however, I only made the sketch just now, after I already finished the actual crochet animal. Now why is that?

Before I started working on this tiger, I was not sure about how I was going to make him. I had many options of how to design him. I could go for horizontal stripes or realistic ones. And should I tilt the head so the stripes would follow the lines of the crochet rounds better? There were so many options, I had to try it all. Then of course at some point, I found the right style for the tiger and went along making him.

Stopping then just to make a sketch was not going to happen. As soon as there is a sweet little face looking at me, I can not wait any longer to finish the animal.

Everyone here reading my blog has to be a little patience still. The pattern is not finished yet and pictures have to be taken too. In the meantime, enjoy the sketch of Koji, my glorious tiger. The pattern will be released somewhere next week.

Stories

It’s almost Christmas

Sonja

A-popkes-winter-wonderland

Every year, I make a Christmas card. Before I started Son’s Popkes, I used to paint humoristic illustrations of Santa having bad luck. Now, with Son’s Popkes, I have this fabulous new subject, my crochet animals. This year I thought long of what to paint. At some point I started thinking of taking some nice pictures, because I still hadn’t got the right idea for an illustration.

But then the idea finally was there. What about ice skating Popkes? That was a very fine idea indeed, so I started to sketch about and after some time I finished this Christmas card.

The painting is titled ‘A Popkes winter wonderland’ and is painted with acrylic paint on an 18 x 24 cm canvas board. I’ve grown very fond of this painted version of Falun, he looks so utterly adorable.

My Christmas holiday has started now. I’m going to enjoy it by finishing the book I’m reading, Roald Dahl’s ‘Going Solo’. My boyfriend and I like to go hiking in this wintery weather and in the evenings we will be watching our favourite movies. I always look forward to this time of year and wish you all a jolly good Christmas and a happy New Year!

 

Art, Stories

A pretty big cat

Sonja

LynxLast week I started working on my new crochet animal pattern, a crochet lynx. I am quite excited to make this animal. Before I start designing a new pattern, I always look online to see what other designers have come up with. First of all to be sure my pattern will be nothing like theirs but also just to see what is offered. When I searched for a crochet lynx pattern, there wasn’t much to find. This pattern might become rather unique, which makes it extra fun and challenging.

Lynxes are incredibly colourful animals. Their fur consist out of all kins of colour ranges and lynxes can also be spotted. To make the pattern simple and not to expansive for everyone to make, I will use three colours for this crochet lynx.

And one slightly silly note, I am quite awful in drawing cats. Drawing this basic sketch took me hours. I have no idea why that is, other animals aren’t a problem, but when I draw cats, they always look ridiculous. Fortunately this lynx does look fairly smart.

 

Uncategorized

Floro and Finse’s wondrous autumn

Sonja

Every so often I feel like painting a picture, creating an image where everything is possible. My crochet animals are the perfect theme for these illustrations, as I can make them come alive in a fairytale world. For my ‘working self’ there is nothing more exhilarating than combining my work as an illustrator with my crochet designs like this. It is so much fun and inspirational.

‘Floro and Finse’s wondrous autumn’ is a seasonal Popkes painting, the third in a series of four illustrations. I previously made a winter and spring illustration featuring my crochet animals. A summer illustration should be next on my list, but as summer is my least favourite season that probably will take a while.

I thought it would be interesting to show you a slideshow of the process of making this illustration. As you can see, blue is my white and the painting slowly gets its full colour.

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It is no surprise to me that this illustration is my best loved so far, as autumn is my dearest season, it is those colours!

 

Art

Next little doll

Sonja

Mollen

A year ago, I made many illustrations for an assignment. In the end, sadly the project was cancelled and it left me with plentiful lovely illustrations of animals. The one above was my favourite and inspired me to make a crochet version of that adult mole someday.

Usually I post a sketch or a simple watercolour of the animal for my next project, but this time this illustration will be my guideline.

I hope everyone is enjoying summer, just like these little moles and ants.

 

Art

Finse and Jonesy’s night of fireflies

Sonja

night painting forest fireflies

As desktop wallpaper I most often use one of my illustrations. Untill yesterday, my Christmas illustration featured on both my laptop and iPhone desktops, which obviously was becoming outdated. I had many ideas for new illustrations, but didn’t find the time to actually make one. After Jones was finished I decided to skip crocheting for a few weeks to paint a new illustration.

First I thought of making a strictly seasonal spring painting but also had the idea of a big field with fireflies in it. And by all means, it had to become a Son’s Popkes themed illustration. I decided to go for the field with fireflies, and Finse and Jonesy.

When the illustration was finished, I was not happy at all with the result. Somehow the colours didn’t seem right to me. As usual I’m starting to like the illustration now. It is not perfect, but I love the atmosphere and the expressions of the animals. It is probably some kind of an artist syndrome, not liking the result immediately….it always takes time for me to really love what I made and then I’m absolutely proud. It is a weird thing.

Well, now I’m back to crocheting. On a whim I decided I’m going to design a panda. Two leftovers of yarn caught my attention and I decided they had to become a panda. (Hopefully there is enough for the whole beast.) After that I’m back to my list of otter, mole and red panda. I don’t know the order in which I’m going to make them and a rat or mouse also is on my mind.

Enough to be done!

Finse and Jonesy’s night of fireflies is acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 cm.

 

Art

Merry Christmas!

Sonja

The Christmas holiday has started and I’m closing the previous period with a Son’s Popkes adventure.

Son's Popkes illustration, christmas illustration

A Son’s Popkes adventure by Sonja van der Wijk. Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 20 cm.

Finse, Falun and Rupert went into a dark forest to find themselves the perfect Christmas tree. It took them all day and by nightfall they finally found it and went back home.

I wish you all a great and fun time and a very cosy Christmas! On New Years day I’m back with an image post about dolls made by all of you. See you then!