'my cards' for Xmas

this is a card my daughter lucia created. i added cicada wings to the angel. then lucia added some more snow flakes. and in the end she did this fabulous logo on the back of the card. within a minute... not even!

christmas season already starts early november for me, when i begin drawing new christmas cards: i love to collect leaves and insect wings, seeds, even stones. they are most inspiring to me. there's so much beauty in the shapes and forms of nature. if there is such a thing as perfect beauty, this is it.

these are the guide lines after which i create my cards:

---> individually hand printed 

---> in hongkong

---> on recycled paper

---> limited editions of 50 pieces

this way each card is an original! 

because they're all printed by hand, each card differs from the next card. so poke around the prints to see which colour, texture and position of the print you like best! to make sure your card is truly special, there's a limited edition of 50 pieces per design. 

i hope you enjoy writing my cards as much as i enjoy creating them:)

thanks to everyone who have bought my cards - it is such an honour every time! i find it so special that these cards will be send to people you love into the whole world... 

this collection of framed prints is available at 'justGREEN', an organic convenient store on lamma. it is such a nice shop full of light and with a little terrace facing the harbour. the perfect spot to have tea or coffee! 

have a wonderful holiday everyone! 

frohe weihnachten!

'my cards' in singapore

a dear friend of mine is organising a pop up store in singapore. and she asked me to contribute some of my cards - exciting! so i've just finished these xmas cards (achtung early birds!) and two framed prints (a special edition of three prints per design, complete with chop and serial number). they will be for sale at 


'SPUR POP UP' 
57 ENNG HOON STREET 01-82, SINGAPORE.

opening hours: saturday and sunday, 11am - 6pm. 

weekdays by appointment only: please call us on 9673 0673.

... if you happen to be in singapore, please pop by!

'rosine' - back to basics

i have a room of my own now. it makes such a huge difference. it's so good. it's a space to be undisturbed, a space to think in ways i can't do at home (no mommy thoughts), a space to expand, to be quiet... to be loud, a space for expression. it's freedom. the freedom to let it come. whatever wants to come.


   

the first thing to come back is rosine. without digital revision this time. so i'm back to the basics: paper, pencils, ink and water colours. no photoshop, no fb, even the reception for my mobile phone is bad. it couldn't be better! for the last two weeks i've been working on these five illustrations. they are going into the 'mostra degli illustratori" competition of the bologna children's book fair. for me working without digital tools basically means i don't have tools for correction. it's braver because everything counts. every line will just be the way i draw it. it's honest. the beauty about it is that so called 'mistakes' often make the most interesting pictures in the end. it's an amazing feeling. like i didn't do it, i was just the one to hold the pencil.

'from my sketch book' - the summer in germany

there was not a lot of time this summer left for drawing. but there was lots of time for harvesting apricots in the garden, for baking 'apfelstrudel' on a daily basis and plum cake (if you can pronounce the word, which is 'zwetschgendatschi' your german is perfect! or you try samuel's version 'knatschikuchen'), to take walks through green meadows, to see friends and to wait for the stars to come out and the hedgehog rustle through the grass at night .

'my cards' - stamps

i just love stamps! the ones i used for these cards are simply cut out of rubber foam using scissors. and off you go stamping away, spreading the love!

i print all of my cards by hand. colour, texture and placement of the motif vary from card to card. so you will always get an original! all of my cards are printed on recycled paper. 

my cards are available at the following shops in hongkong:

Ellermann

36 G/F Tung Street

(just off Hollywood Rd.)

Sheung Wan

the bookshop mccm creations

G/F HK Arts Centre,

2 Harbour Road

Wanchai

'my cards' - time

this is a book my great grandmother else wenz-vietor illustrated almost 100 years ago. it is a famous children's story called "der kleine haewelmann" by theodor storm. a boy called little haewelmann uses his night gown as a sail to drive through the night and ends up in the sky with the wise old moon. every time i look at the book i'm astonished how little haewelmann looks so similar to my children!  

these two cards are for the arrival of a newborn baby. they are a homage to my great grandmother. i used the same requisites: chubby baby, big fluffy duvet, watercolours and ink (else preferred a sepia tone though).it's so humbling how the past and the future connect in this big circle of time.

this is my favourite page of else's illustrations: "shine old moon, shine for me!" the boy cried. and they drove out of the forest and over the fields until the end of the world, and from there directly into the sky....

'my cards' - cutting paper

an invitation card in the process of cutting ... 

i love the way the shadows play ...

need a break? tea or coffee for you?

so many possibilities for collage... in the end i go for the paper lace. (see below) 

cutting an image out of paper means reduction: details are simply cut off because the lines cannot be too thin. midtones of colour are reduced to black&white. what remains is light and shadow, surface and contour. i love it. at its best it's the essence.

this card is clearly inspired by our four legged room mate!

these cards combine my new love for paper cuts with my old passion for stamps.
these are portraits of my two children;-) 

'the blue ball point pen phase' - from my sketch book

'the blue ball point pen phase' - my first children's book

this is the first children's book i've done (apart from the ones i did as a child:) my husband and me spent our first family holiday on 'la gomera', a beautiful island off the coast of africa. lucia, our first born, wasn't even a year old at the time. i only had one of these cool 80's ball point pens with me, which you push down and then ball points in different colours pop up... and here we go: all blue, red and green!