Siem

For the courageous, kind, softspirited Lineke. She gave birth to a beautiful babyboy called Siem (also my sisters nickname). Lineke and her boyfriend Niels were the easiest going clients ever. So nice to work with them. Siem, with so much hair and two amazing parents. Love Marike.

Ben

Ben's mom Sanne I've know for almost 25 years. She was a cheerful and delightful teenager. Full of smiles and giggles. When she called me to tell about her the birth of her son Ben she over the moon. it was completely the same Sanna as I've ever know but intenstity of her laugh was intense. Beautiful Ben. I wish you and your lovely family so much love and laughter. And thanks for the lovely, modest job of making the card. Marike.

Noam

Nrc.Next last week

It's such a lovely summer, nice weather, meeting my friends for summerdrinks, doing yoga, and picking berries. My life lingers away in a calm and kind way. And I'm working. On various cool jobs. Birth-announcements, work for new clients, work for old clients, I'm enjoying them all.
I was going to spend 6 weeks in Cornwall but that fell through, and I was a quite gutted about it. So I stayed home, and I'm having a great summer in Amsterdam instead.
The unexpected can be such a blessing in disguise.

PS SNOOP DOGG! That was so much fun.

Finally!

Woohooo! I've made it to a dutch womens-magazine. I always wanted to illustrate a romantic, corny story about love, relations falling apart, etc. Opposed to all the more hardcore journalism articles that I usually work on....

This is one of these days that I'm really proud of the work I do. (you have to, sometimes no, be proud at yourself and the work your do?)

Summertime

This drawing is inspired by my (almost) daily swims in the park. And by a very cool documentary I saw two days ago. First about the the swimming. I live in a lively neighborhood in Amsterdam, with restaurants, bars, a cinema. But also, a 3 minute bicycle ride away, an amazing park and a huge freshwater pond, connected to the large Ijselmeer. On warm days I try to go for swim every day and I imagine being old, my hair grey and living somewhere outside. In Germany, France or Sweden. Poland maybe? And doing daily swims to keep fit and healthy. Picking berries on my walks. Something like that. I don't why these thoughts come to me when I swim. It's the rhythm of my arms and legs. The water all around me. The cleaving through the water. And the waterbirds ignoring me. And the perspective on the world: very low. My eyes just peaking out of the water (imagine the perspective of a hippo). I guess I just love swimming in fresh water lakes.
And this week I saw an lovely documentary about an older lady from Poland. She still lived together with her husband but they barely spoke.
'He does not really know me' she said.
'She said she suffered from depression. I don't what it was but it was not depression' he said. She packed up her backpack and started hitchhiking across the world. Meeting lovely people every where. Who share their food, drinks and smiles with her. The movie starts with a swimming scene. Maybe the water is the only place where adults and children make the same movements. They are playful, relaxt and let things be. They swing their arms and splash water around. The joy of hot summer days and being in the water!
I hope you have a lovely summer. Take a deep breath, dive under, come up and see how different the world is. Love Marike.