This weeks adventure: I have participated in my first dutch street market: I had a booth at ORIGINAL MARKET in Alkmaar on 2nd October. WHOOP WHOOP

I can tell you, that made me pretty excited. And a little nervous, to be honest. I was thrilled to have an event that feels as my first real business activity. And I can tell you: it was a good experience.

As I painted and created a lot during the last weeks, I had to think about selling some of my artwork. A creative market that sells all kinds of handmade arts and crafts, DIY homedecor and other great creative stuff souded perfect to me to start with. Many differnet creatives collaborating is a cool idea. So I googled for creative/handmade markets in The Netherlands and found this cool website: MevrouwMarkt.nl with an overview of streetmarkets. On that website I saw that ORIGINAL MARKET Alkmaar was still searching for participants.
I got enthousiastic and applied. That was only 1,5 weeks ago.
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A couple of days before the market, I realised that I had only left a small amount of business cards. Oops.
Since a long time I wanted to use postcards with my contact details instead of business cards. Now was the chance- only the timing was a little - let's say- short notice. 
With good intentions I searched for good options online - not too expensive and with fast delivery options. With the help of friends who know more about printing I found out about DeKaartendrukkerij. During the process I realised that I have zero experience with designing postcards and the hussle to deal with dpi and print marges etc. It was stressfull to sort it all out by myself with little time- lessons learned! I can tell you, don't do it my way. Get some help :)
Friday, I was so nervous to receive the mail- boy!
But it was all worth it- the result is fantastic. I love my new postcards. 

If any of you, my creative friends, will go to a market one day, you might be interested in practical information what to take with you. This was my list:

• 2 chairs
• 2 small table easels and 2 wine boxes for the display
• small plant 
• paper towel and a microfiber towel for cleaning the frames
• price labels
• pen, note book, sissors, big and small rope, cloth pins, scotch tape, duct tape
• my paintings, frames and postcards
• trash bag
• purse with change
• camera and tripod

​What I didn't take but would have been very, very useful with an outdoor market is a huge tarpaulin or plastic to protect you and your products from rain and wind, plus something to attach it to the roof.
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Well, after so much preparation I was happy when we arrived in Alkmaar and everything was in its place.
​I thought: "let the people come and buy my colourful paintings". 
Then it started to rain. And to storm. My paintings got wet and one big frame actually fell from the table and got broken. And there was more rain. One shower after the next one. And very, very few visitors. 
So in the end I sold almost nothing and we got super wet. And cold. It were 6 long, long hours, but we had great company, nice neighbours and enjoyed take-away hot chocolate from the cafe across the market :)
I hope, next time, I have more luck. One thing is for sure - now I know how to TACKLE a street market next time!

Lots of love,
​Lisa

Ola amigos,

It's been a week full of creative hours in the studio. The good vibes are still flowing and my art supplies are dissapearing rapidly. I will need to do more art shopping soon (but as you can image, there are worse things to do for me). 

I did more paintings with the layering process I described 2 weeks ago in The art of layering. It's so much fun! I'm loving the way everything comes together in the end. 

​After your great reactions on my first time lapse video, I wanted to try out some more video making. I love to watch videos myself and like editing too, so I listend to Gabriellas request to do a longer one. In the end, I filmed about 1,5 hours of footage in 2 days! I was not sure if anyone would take the time to watch all of it, so I decided to do another time lapse for you guys. From a white canvas to a complete painting in only entertaining 5 minutes.

Enjoy watching it! 

PS: if you like this video, you would really help me if you share it with your friends. The more the merrier.

This is the result: a 60x 60cm acrylic painting! Colourful and vibrant. 
By the way, it is for sale. If you are interested or you know someone who might be, LET ME KNOW. My home is getting way too small for all my paintings :)

Hi friends,

After months of little creative outcomes, having a creative flow is great. I've been in my studio for the last 2 days for about 20 hours! And enjoying every single minute. I painted, and painted and painted. Experimented with new techniques and colour combinations and tools i.g. rediscovering stamping and potatoe stamps gives so many possibilities.

I also went to the garden and got some leaves from flowers, coloured them and stamped them to the canvas. They give great texture.

​Now I am super tired and exhausted, but satisfied. I am even sitting behind my laptop now because I couldn't wait to share this with you. Time is going fast when you are in a flow, having fun. 

Next to 5 paintings, I also did a try-out with timelapse video. I still have to find an easier ways to set it up and the editing afterwards is way too time-consuming for a 30 second result, but it's a starting point. 
As I love sharing all my experiences, especially these first hick-ups, I love to share this time lapse painting video of mine with you, too. 
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There is more to come.

Big hug, 
​Lisa