Inspired by | Greetings from…

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings FromMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from TekstMarsha Valk | Inspired by: Greetings from Tekst

Inspired by: a monthly creative blog series by Riikka Kovasin and Marsha Valk Inspired by is a blog series by my friend Riikka and I. We decide on a theme (and that theme can be anything from a film, a book, a painting, to an item, colour scheme or material), and then we create something with that theme or thing in mind.

We keep what we’re making a secret until reveal day on the 10th when we show you and each other our creations.

This month we’re enjoying summer. Catch up with Riikka on her blog Paperiliitin. We’ll be back next month with a regular theme!

n*Studio | Artful Adventures

n*Studio: Artful Adventures

My friend Nathalie Kalbach has written a book! It’s called Artful Adventures in Mixed Media (aff. link) and it’s full of mixed media art and techniques.

The official release day is June 8th and Nat is hosting an Artful Adventures Stroll Challenge in the 30 days leading up to the release.

We’re now on day 10 of the (photo) challenge and it’s not too late to join in!

You can view the prompts at the end of my post and start right away or you can go to Nat’s website and register to get access to the optional classroom.

I’m sharing the photos I take for the challenge on Instagram, so be sure to follow me there, especially if you want to read the thoughts and explanations that go with them!

I’ve also started a new art journal for my creative takes on the prompts. On Tuesday I’ll be sharing my take on the ‘Pattern’ prompt on Nat’s blog for my monthly n*Studio Creative Squad post!

I hope you’ll join us! Enjoy your weekend!

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 1 Home

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 3 Fence

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 4 Mailbox

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 5 Shiny

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 6 Window

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 7 Sky

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 8 Ground

Marsha Valk | Artful Adventures: 9 Plantlife

n*Studio: Artful 30 Day Prompts By Date

Yesterdaygrams

Marsha Valk Yesterdaygrams150120

Had to run some errands in our beautiful city centre yesterday. Tried to focus on the colour red on my walk.

It’s not really like I need another thing to focus on right now… I’ve taken on the task of (re-)establishing some routine habits. But I think I can handle a little added colour adventure.

It’s fun and easy: once the colour is in my head, I have no trouble finding it everywhere.

Inspired by: Stroll through the hood

inspired1

Hi there! I’m back again with a whole new Inspired by!

Riikka and I were both in Paris this weekend for Version Scrap 2014 and some sightseeing. I promise I will tell you more about that soon! In the meantime you can check out my Instagram feed for a visual update on what we saw and did.

We came back brimming with ideas, of course, but because this Inspired by was scheduled so close after the trip, we prepared something else ahead of time. Don’t worry: there will be an Inspired by connecting to the trip in the future! This month however, we chose to be inspired by Nathalie Kalbach’s awesome blog series ‘Stroll through the Hood’.

You must know by now that I can draw inspiration from almost everything. I also see photo opportunities everywhere. I don’t always take the actual photo because it’s not always convenient to stop (while riding a bike for instance…). So for some time now, if I get the chance, I try to walk where I need to go. Sure, it takes more time, but one of the pay offs is that it enables me to stop and take advantage of a photo opportunity when I see one!

Because I take my iPhone everywhere, I didn’t really need to stroll through the hood for this challenge. I already had more than enough photos of my neighbourhood! Most of them aren’t of buildings or people though… It seems that I’m especially attracted to the colours, textures and patterns of the hood:

2014-034

Riikka and I had agreed on using 12 photos for this challenge (I cheated a tiny bit there) and I think the brief was to write about what you like about your neighbourhood… So that’s what I did:

140410_MarshaValk_IB_StrollthroughmyHood

It will be fun to revisit this idea sometime, because I’m sure that in a couple of years (or even months!) some of it will have changed!

As said, the journalling is about what I like about the place: that I can always find something to attract my attention, that everything is within walking distance and I also like that there is a forest nearby, even though we don’t go there very often. It’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty good place to live and we don’t have plans to leave any time soon.

And now it’s time to visit Riikka’s hood… I can’t wait to see!

140310 Amersfoort

140310_MarshaValk

My Mondays have been surprisingly photogenic lately…

Yesterday Liesbeth came over and we went for a long walk through the neighbourhood and the city centre.

We had lunch at a terrace, soaking up as much sun as possible.

I can’t believe the beautiful weather we’re experiencing right now!

An hour well spent

I went to the zoo yesterday, partly to just go for a walk and partly wanting to photograph. At first nothing appealed to me… but then I got to the part where the zebra’s live and then all of a sudden I saw patterns… And there were two giraffes fighting… And I got a good look at a rhinoceros’s butt… and last but not least there was a teeny tiny newborn monkey baby holding on to his/her very fast moving momma!

De zon!

Vanmorgen kwam er zomaar af en toe een zonnetje te voorschijn… en aangezien het verderop in de week opnieuw kouder lijkt te worden, vond ik dat een prima excuus om weer eens gebruik te maken van mijn dierentuinabonnement.

Kijvende Wijven

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEGkwG5TNk0]

Vorig weekend was er een leuk nieuw festival in Amersfoort: Spoffin. Lezers van de Amersfoortse editie van het AD zouden in de krant van zaterdag al gezien kunnen hebben dat ik op vrijdag heb ‘gefigureerd’ in een van de voorstellingen van de Kijvende Wijven op de Langestraat.

Vandaag vond ik bovenstaand filmpje op YouTube. Degene die tijdens het bekijken van het filmpje niet met zijn/haar ogen knippert, kan zien dat ik er een uur later deze foto’s zelf heb gemaakt: