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I'll be guest blogging at Flow magazine every Wednesday this month. Stop by and say hello. I just realized that I haven't posted most of my Stamp Club projects.  The windmills at the top are our recent project.  Aren't these just great?  I wish someone would make a sticker book of them. I'm very excited to share my new cards with TeNeues publishing.  A box of blank notecards titled "Five Dutch Bikes", with 20 cards, five of each bike.  I have a few available for sale in my etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnisaMakhoulArt

I'm also doing a giveaway on instagram.  Here's how it works: you must follow me @Anisamakhoul and repost one of my pieces of artwork, tag the post with #fivedutchbikesgiveaway and on Monday the 18th I'll choose a random winner. I've been busy setting up an Etsy shop.  I do hope you'll stop back later and have a look.  Until then, here's some of my latest work. We went Ice skating with my son's preschool class.  I was horrible at it but it was still fun. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas from a few of the Santas I've seen around town! I've been getting ready for Printsource 2016 by brewing lots of tea and coffee. I have been cramming the past few months, getting ready for my first art licensing shows.  Here's a bit of new work. How about a little stamp club update? In October the theme was "Earth", a topic chosen by Kate Mason.  The image with the butterflies belongs to Tara Lilly, and moving clockwise around the next one is mine, the storefront is by Monika Forsberg, and the globe is by Kate Mason.

For November the topic was "kitchen" chosen by Monika.  On the top left with the most adorable chicken is Tara Lilly, followed by Monika Forsberg, below that is Kate Mason's, and lastly is mine.  My stamp for this month was very much about Paris and how my heart is with that city after the shootings.  This is a fun project and we've agreed to keep up with it. Stay tuned for next months stamp. I started a little stamp project with a few of my fellow artists.  Mine is on the top left, then if you go clockwise next is Monika Forsberg, Kate Mason, and Tara Lilly.  I wish this was a real sheet of stamps and you could just tear one off! Big News!  I have joined Jennifer Nelson Artists!  I'm thrilled to make this announcement, as I'll be joining some of my very favorite artists.  Not to mention, I now work with one of the top agents in the industry! Somebody pinch me! I'm so lucky to be able to do what I do. While I was walking around London last month I saw two house plaques that made me happy. One was of this quote from Henry Ford which I've always loved. The other said "John Lennon lived here"! I leave for a three week trip, back to Europe today.  I'm very excited to meet some fellow artists at a conference in Brighton, eat caramels from Jacques Genin in Paris, and relax on a yacht in the south of France.  (Ok, so maybe one of those things won't happen, but it could!)
The truth is, I really miss Europe, it's been one year, and one week since I moved back to Portland from Amsterdam.  Europe inspires me, and I'll be taking my watercolors, and filling my sketch books.  The best way to follow along is through my Instagram, link over to the right. I'm currently retaking Lilla Roger's class Make Art That Sells.  This week's assignment was to illustrate a cover or a spread of the folktale "The Three Billy Goats Gruff".  I worked really hard to make my goats into characters, through expression.  I also wanted to be sure I gave a taste of the setting, and the urban landscape where the story takes place. It could be a little moody for a young picture book, but I had to go dark so the white goats would pop. This is exactly the kind of book I'd like to read to my son. I put together a little collection of surface designs.  I decided to use the top image as my next mailer, and new business card. These are inspired by spring and flowering trees that drop their flowers down onto the sidewalk. I'm dreaming of an on call cleaning service that could show up in the cute tiny truck and magically transform my house.  Instead of cleaning I painted this. I've been taking Lilla Rogers bootcamp illustration classes.  This assignment was to make a piece of wall art on a round cut of wood.  The subject matter was inspired by vintage plate scenes.  I'm really enjoying these acrylic paintings on wood, hopefully I can make a few more and have a whole collection. I'm working on a couple of acrylic paintings on tree slices.  Here's the first one. This is my personal art making manifesto for 2015.  I was keeping it to myself, but Lilla Rogers is a having a competition for her new website, she's looking for manifestos that capture the essence of her teachings. I figured if it motivates me it will probably motivate others. P.S. it's a term used by pilots when the plane is going full throttle.