My new job!

I  really wanted to write a blog post about my new job. I'm thrilled to announce that I currently work at the most beautiful shop in Amsterdam! I took the pictures in this blog post off the website because it's not allowed to take pictures in the shop and I, of course, respect that as an employee.

I have been a regular visitor of Chimera for years and years. I remember when I was about 12 years old, that I would save up for ages to buy jewellery, figurines and art books there. At that time, they still had a shop in a smaller space at the other side of the road. I've left my CV there multiple times, and honestly, if there was one shop in the Netherlands where I would want to work, it would be Chimera.

The ambiance and creative styling of the shop are just breathtaking and very relaxing at the same time. I used to go there and just walk around for an hour or so to calm me down. Even if I didn't have money to buy something, I still liked to be there, just because of the calm atmosphere and the many creative things all around. I guess I could've called this a 'happy place' even before I was actively trying to get better from my depression.

I've been working there for two days now. I must admit that I've got alot shoved up my plate in the first days but I've never really felt stressed because the mood that the shop radiates just calms me down and makes me happy. It makes it very easy to work there and I get inspired by everything around me. Even though my anxieties sometimes make it hard for me to do what I want; this shop helps me to be and stay myself.

This is the view from the counter. Isn't it stunning? Chimera is part of a family business and they haven't really hired anyone in years, so I was very fortunate to get to work here! One of my new colleagues even said that I looked familiar to her - perhaps it was because I've been coming there for years and years! :)

I am incredibly happy! I will be working there full time for two months, and hopefully I can continue on the weekends once I start with my second university year.

I think this could easily be called the job of my dreams. I love it to bits and I am so thrilled to be actually working there! As if you didn't get that earlier ;) I think you could definitely categorize this as a 'happy job'!

You can check out their website here: Fantasy Shop Chimera. If you happen to be in Amsterdam, you should really come and visit us! Even if you don't want to buy anything it's still a beautiful place to visit. Anyway, I hope I will be there to be of service to you!

Love,

Jopie

Painting process: Flight to Freedom

Sorry for the silence last week! I had some very important exams that I had to focus on.

I already made this painting some time ago but I still had the process pictures to share, so, why not do it now?

This painting was an assignment given by my therapist. Firstly she wanted me to draw my biggest fears and anxieties, which turned out to be incredibly confronting and difficult to me. I even left some at her office because I didn't want to look at them. Needless to say I was very happy with her next 'assignment'; to draw myself as the person I would like to be - free and happy, without anxieties, fears and depression.

This picture from an earlier outfit post on this blog was my reference. I edited a few things out and I made myself look thinner in the actual painting. Why? Because I'm in the process of losing weight and it couldn't hurt painting my goal at the same time, right?

I really liked the feel of this picture. I first wanted to paint myself surrounded by my loved ones, but then I realised I already am surrounded by my loved ones (and very happy with that!). So I decided to paint myself as a faery, rising from the dark into the sky, into freedom.

 I don't have a picture of the sketch alone, unfortunately. But here you can see I've started on the dress and the skin and hair. I first indicated the print on the dress with large blobs of paint, and then added a shading layer, then more detail to the print, then another shading layer, and so on.

I painted most of the painting in my garden with copious amounts of fresh mint and lemon balm tea. I wouldn't be Jopie if I didn't pick a matching tea cup!

I decided to paint myself with dragonfly inspired wings as I really like to paint the iridescence and I thought they would fit wonderfully with my dress. Here you can see the process from bottom to top. The key is to add lots of very thin layers of differently colored paint.

I started out with indicating the panels with a very thin layer of indigo paint, leaving the veins white. Then add some light blobs of a reddish pink, and then for the third layer, paint some yellow and green very lightly on random patches. When it's dry, paint a very light wash of indigo all over the wings. And for the last step - define the panels, edges and veins with more indigo and a small brush.

I already explained how I made the printed dress, but here's another picture that shows the process well!

I finished the painting at Bagels & Beans, one of my favorite lunchrooms. Here you can see some process on the background washes - the more and more different layers of colour I add, the darker it becomes. Here I used a bright foresty green on the first layer, and then added lots of layers of indigo and Vandyke Brown untill it was dark enough for my liking.

And here is the result! I hope you like it.

My website isn't up to date - working on that!

Love,

Jopie

Painting Process: Loki's Punishment

I wanted to do a post about painting for so long. Painting is my favorite thing to do in this world. It's relaxing and at the same time it helps me to focus and helps me to forget get my anxieties and depressive thoughts.

This painting isn't particularly a happy one but it is actually on one of my biggest inspirations - world mythology (in this case Scandinavian mythology). I've always really wanted to make a painting about Loki - the original Loki, not the Marvel version - and this image has always kind of stuck in my head.

To suffer for his crimes and mischief (for more info on that, read the Edda), Loki was tied to a rock wall with the intestines of his own son, while a snake was placed above his head, dripping venom. His wife, Sigyn, held a bucket above Loki's head. However, every once in a while when the bucket was full, she had to go and empty it, allowing the venom to drip freely on Loki's face. Whenever that happened, Loki would shake so badly that the Scandinavians believed this to be the cause of earth quakes. It is said that one time Loki will shake so violently that he will break free of his bonds - the start of Ragnarok.

I've been keeping people up to date with this painting on my facebook art page Rose Red - the Art of Jopie L. K. I wanted to wait until it was finished to make a blog post about it.  The first process picture I posted was on February 26, so I've been working on this painting for three months!

Most of the pictures in this post have been made with my iphone - my apologies in advance if the colours aren't exactly right. I've tried to fix things as much as possible in Photoshop and the final result shows the actual colours.

All paintings start with a sketch. This painting was originally meant to be a study of the male torso, something I'm not really experienced with. I used a reference for it but I didn't trace anything.

As it was a torso exercise, of course I had to start with the torso. Here are some progress pictures!

Here I started on his wife Sigyn as well. As you can see I decided to make Loki a redhead - fitting for a god of mischief I think! Sigyn is wearing a traditional Viking dress and apron and a Viking hairstyle.

Here's another picture where you can see what a few subtle layers of paint do to a face! I wasn't really happy with the face in the first picture and I wanted to make it more refined and aged (but not quite as much aged!).

Water colour is a medium that requires a lot of skill. To be honest, I think it's more difficult to work with than oil paint, as you can't go over it if you did something wrong. It also dries pretty quick.

I made the snake resemble a viper (Vipera Berus) as it is, to my knowledge, the only venomous snake in Scandinavia. Of course I gave myself some artistic freedom (such as adapting the size of the snake a tiiiiny bit!), to add more drama.

I decided to make the background dark as to add more focus to the drama of the scene.

I like Viking art. I like borders. So I decided to add a Viking border, inspired by traditional Viking artwork - with my own twist on it of course.

I changed the sketch of the snake's head five times. I was never happy with it, so I finally started to paint. It turned out to be quite nice.

I finished the painting yesterday afternoon while sitting at a lunchroom terrace. One of my favorite small tricks is to order a ristretto (with extra glass of water for the paint ofcourse) and simply paint with the coffee. It gives a really nice touch of colour and atmosphere. Sometimes I only paint with coffee - it makes awesome and deliciously smelling sepia paintings!

And here is the final result! My website needs updating (working on that!), so if you want to see more of my recent paintings, visit my Facebook page.

I've already started a new painting!

Love,

Jopie