January recap
a personal blog
This post is not going to be anything deep or meaningful, but just a silly little review of the month January. I used to do this on my blog, just a little personal update with tons of pictures. I love reading them back a year later!
For a little context for my new readers: I’m a fulltime wedding photographer and illustrator on the side. January is my quietest month in photography, so I most of the time fully spend it on illustrating/printmaking.
In the beginning of the month we were kinda snowed in, here in the Netherlands. Being a freelancer with January being the quietest month of the year, I had no plans. It was actually bliss! I sewed a few things, like this jacket, that now already has 3000+ likes on Substack. It also gained me 60 new followers on here, so… welcome!
The snow was so pretty and stayed here for a full week. We had up to 20cm of snow here, which is quite unheard of here. I had to laugh as I have this little hedgehog gate, but it was completely snowed in. So I joked that the snow was ‘one hedgehog high’. I hope my little hedgehog Harry is fast asleep now though!
I cleared out the studio and finally organized all my prints, kept stock and changed the layout of my webshop a bit. The sales aren’t doing amazing, but it’s okay. I remember being a bit down after working on the webshop for a few weeks, making a discount code and then having just a few sales. I think it’s only natural: you work hard and the result might not be satisfying. It’s okay though. It’s still only January. Like two days after that my flower jacket exploded on Substack so I felt a bit better ;) Thanks for the love!
Last year I had a lot of inspiration in January and also a lot of sales in the shop! So this month I really thought it would be the same. I have made a few new prints, but just not as much as I thought I would. I’m feeling a little less inspired.
I did follow a screenprinting workshop this month! It’s part of my grant that I got last year - exploring my photography and illustrations through several types of printmaking. At art school I never learned how to prepare a screen and I was excited to learn! A lot of things I already knew, but I’m really happy to know how to do this now. You can also print on fabric easily with screenprinting… so very excited to start some new sewing projects soon!
This is a great example how you can see how you can experiment with screenprinting and colours! I tried to recreate the Northern Lights, as I had once again slept through them earlier this month. (They had never been so visible in the Netherlands before!! Aaargh!)
The moire is a little annoying but something to look out for in the next print!
Other things I enjoyed:
Finally got a new haircut. Not entirely sure yet if enjoy it though. I’m also at loss at what to do with the colour. Being blond is a pain in the ass (you can’t see it here but I have really visible roots and it’s very messy) so I decided on a red, but I can’t get myself to do it.
Finally got a little feederhouse for the birds! Not sure if it’s my age but I love watching them <3
Packing some order, using my printed boxes.
There’s a magpie hiding their stash in one of my planters. So fascinating!
Tulip season is here <3
My neighbours’ cat is always enjoying the sunshine, such a cutie.
Got out there and tried to take some pictures for my grant project. Still struggling.
Every morning I start the day with a book. I just finished Elif Shafak’s “There are rivers in the sky”. I love her books, magical!
I’ve been cutting lots of misprints into little cards.
I’m not going to lie, this has been a very quiet month. Of course, it’s January, and we’re supposed to rest and recharge. I can’t help but feeling guilty though. Today I’m also having a cold which feels like it might turn into a little chest infection, so I’m really going to take it easy. I feel guilty for not doing the work-out I had planned, but at the same time proud for not pushing my body beyond its limits. Posting this makes me feel a little bit more productive at least ;)
Please tell me - what do you do when you’re ill, but not too ill? My plans for today are: maybe pick up knitting, pack some webshop orders, going for a long walk and eat lots of soups. And maybe edit a bit of my Korea video. If you’re into YouTube, check out my latest video (that mostly covers the things in this post ;))