A quick look at 2017

It's already been a while since 2017 has ended, but I still wanted to make a sort of summary of my past year. It's difficult to do so, but I think I managed to put my 2017 in a blogpost! In the past year I went to Berlin, Budapest and Barcelona, had a pug and a whippet for two weeks, picked up photography, participated in Drawing Days, worked on a bunch of paintings and so on. 
Because it's a lot, I did my best to keep it short, but you should be prepared to see lots of pictures! 

In 2017 I......

...Kept an Art Journal

I planned to paint in my art journal every day. Well, in the first few months it went quite well, but after that it became weekly, monthly and then I just stopped. I don't know why. I really want to pick this up again this year, cause I really liked doing it! The best thing I got out of it was that it gave me a very good idea about my style and what I loved to paint most, and that was really something I was looking for the past few years. 

...Perfected my little art studio

I started the year with spending lots of money on a new desk, two shelving units and a new laptop! Now I finally have some more space for my art supplies, and all the other things I really needed to store properly. I'm loving it!

...Helped the Beursschouwburg to be more youth-proof!

As a regional coordinator Brussels at AmuseeVous, I have to coordinate every project they have in Brussels. Last year I helped the Beursschouwburg (a cultural centre in Brussels) to be more youth-proof, and I did this together with a bunch of fantastic volunteers who visited the Beursschouwburg a couple of times and brainstormed with me about what Beursschouwburg could improve and about what was already perfect. I wrote a report on this and presented it to the Beursschouwburg. I have to admit, I haven't been there since then, so I'm very curious if they already did anything with the advice we gave them. 

...Couchsurfed in Berlin

In march we went to Berlin and couchsurfed at a lovely family, who also stayed with us in Brussels in Februari. They're the most hospitable family you could imagine and we enjoyed spending some time with them and get to know them better. 
I wrote a little blogpost with a list of reasons why you should go to Berlin if you are an artist.

...Had a Pug for two weeks!

For those who don't know: I am a parttime petsitter, so I regularly (especially during spring and summer) have dogs coming over and cats to visit.
​This lovely, funny and sweet little guy, named Titus, stayed with us for two whole weeks! He was so adorable and constantly followed us around which was a bit annoying, but when he left I missed having someone next to me when I'm on the toilet, haha. 

And then we also had a Whippet for two weeks!

I never really liked skinny dogs, but Francis was such a sweet companion! I took him to work almost every day and he was such a good boy! Now I would love to have a whippet as well.... and every time I see a whippet, I'm like: OH MY GOD GIVE IT TO ME

...Visited friends and family in Friesland

In may I went to Friesland, the Netherlands, where I'm from, to visit some family members and some friends who I only see once or twice a year. I went with my sister and my sister-in-law to Oerrock, a festival, to see the band Kensington. I had a really fun time meeting with my friends again and hanging around with my family. I sometimes regret living so 'far' away (well, not that far, but... you know), and not being able to have them around that much. 

...Spiced up the house with two new pet rats

We already had two male rats, but 2017 brought us two fearless females! The black girl you see on the left picture is called Lady (we couldn't think of a name that suited her, so we called her 'Meisje', which is Dutch for 'girl', and then we eventually started calling her 'Lady'), and I found her on the internet where she lived in a very small cage together with two hamsters! So I bought the three of them in June and found a perfect home for the two hamsters and kept the rat. 
The girl on the right is called Violet when I got her from the shelter Ratopia in September. Now we mostly call her Druifje, which is Dutch for 'little grape'.  

...Made a new friend

Also worth mentioning I think, cause I don't make friends like Lien every day. Currently, she's in Brazil for half a year, but she returns in April. Can't wait to have lots of fun with her again when she's back! :) 

...Worked on a bunch of paintings

I started a project: I wanted to make around ten paintings about loneliness, powerlessness and especially about the walls we build around us that eventually become difficult to break down. I didn't finish the project, because during the whole process, I started my weekly painting lessons and I learned so much so quickly that I got a bit insecure about the paintings I already made. So I want to start all over again this year. 

...Picked up photography where I left it

2017 was also the year that I started photographing again. It's not that I didn't use my camera for a while, but I only used it to make pictures for my blog or when I really needed to make a picture that was slightly good looking. But I haven't done photoshoots with people for quite a while! In january I started photographing my friend Lies for the secondhand vintage shop Think Twice (T2) and in September I got to do a photoshoot for the magazine they developed to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. If you want to take a look, you can find them here. 

...and wrote some articles

I also wrote some articles for CaCtuS, the magazine published by the Cultural Centre of Strombeek. Past year I did an interview with operasinger Astrid Stockman and with theatremakers Yves Degryse and Bart Baele. You can read those interviews here, but they are both in Dutch. 

Hello Budapest! And hello to you too, Barcelona!

In september we went to Budapest for four days where we also got to meet up with our lovely friend Bogi, who couchsurfed at our place in Februari. She showed us around a bit in Budapest and we had some dinner.
​
We then flew from Budapest to Barcelona to stay there for another five days. We both really needed to go away for more than just a weekend, like we usually do. 

We had a great time in both cities, but we didn't like how extremely filled with tourists Barcelona is. Other than that it's a lovely city where there is lots to do!

...Started with weekly painting lessons

In the summer I decided to attend painting classes, because I felt I wasn't really getting better at painting in the past few years. Now I have weekly painting lessons during this school year, so from september 2017 till June 2018. I already learned a lot after one lesson, so I'm very happy to have made this decision. In May we are exhibiting!

...Perfected my business cards

I also got new business cards! My previous ones didn't have my social media on them and my telephone number and email address were a bit indecipherable, so for these new ones I chose a different font and I've put my social media canals on the back. 

...Participated in Drawing Days Ghent

As you probably already read in the previous blog article, I participated on Drawing Days Ghent and made a painting on the windows of De Banier, a hobbyshop in the centre of Ghent. I wanted to make paintings that would give the passersby something to talk about, that they would normally not talk about. So I made paintings about depression and loneliness and wrote the following: 'Art speaks when words are unable to explain'. 

...Illustrated our own Christmas card

I couldn't find christmas cards that I liked, so I decided to make our own christmas cards with our own little family. The rat on my shoulder is Pépé, then Louis our cat is putting a finishing touch on our snowman, the brown rat is obviously our little Lady, keeping it all together down there. The two rats in the front, working together to bring us the scarf, are Rizzo (left) and Druifje (right). And then ofcourse there is Willow, our cute little white hamster, chilling in Niels his pocket. 

...Had a perfectly romantic
New Years Eve

We filled our new years eve with deep talks, champagne, wine, vegan food and lots of hugs. Looking forward to what 2018 will bring us.

Happy new year! 
(Or, what's left of it.... 'cause I'm 1,5 months late, but hey, that's me.)