June 17, 2026
Time is flying these days and frozen at the same time… After my mom passed last month, I got bogged down with managing her estate. Grief also is a process that can overwhelm you in the most unexpected moments and when that happens, time really stops. It will take a while to process it all. The world certainly looks different now that I am without parents… For that reason, the blog will be a bit more silent than usual in the coming months. But I do have an art project on the go that will take up quite a bit of my time as well: I am creating illustrations for a children’s book!
I am working in watercolour, which is a bit different from my recent activities, that were all focussed on acrylic paintings. It will take a bit of time for me to into the swing of it and finish this project. And of course, the first version of the paintings may not be approved by the author, and then I may have to redo some of them.
The good thing is that I am also editing and designing this book, so my illustrations are geared towards a layout that I am more or less in control of. I hope it will become a really nice children’s book! I cannot show you any of the illustrations before the book is available for purchase, but I am hoping it won’t take too long…
While I am in Europe, I will also do a quick portraiture course with an artist I really like. And I also managed to carve out some time for a visit to Monet’s garden in Giverny. This is quite unexpected – I was only going to pop into Paris to see the renovated Notre Dame and I actually never realised that Monet’s garden is so close to Paris! I always thought it would be located in the southern Provence. An artist acquaintance of mine was there recently and that was the impetus to look up the exact location. And it turns out it is on my route to Paris! It will be a quick visit of a couple of hours, but I am still looking forward to it a lot. By then we will be in September, so there won’t be any spring flowers, but I reckon that this place will still be magical. I went to the immersive Monet experience in Toronto a few months back and I am sure the real thing is even better. So look forward to seeing pictures of all that once I am back home!
Until then, I hope you are all having a nice and sunny summer! I am hoping for the same. Climate change seems to have done wonders for the Dutch climate, so I am looking forward to some sunbathing and making this long stay feel a little bit like a vacation, despite the fact that it will also be centered around my mom…