carnet de voyage

Last Saturday I had an intense day, learning how to stuff a crow during an one day class at the Museumwinkel in Nijmegen. It was a very interesting, unaccustomed and sometimes a little gross experience and definitely worth all the hard work. How do you like my own stuffed crow (on the right)?

Such an honor to present my work on this prestigious location! In December I'll give a drawingclass for children at the Teekenschool. It is already fully booked.

The set of 2 notebooks is completely sold out, but I still have a few fox & raven notebooks for sale. Find them in my shop, together with some other handprinted stationery. Meanwhile, we make plans for new notebooks. Do you have any wishes about the contents of these new notebooks? Do you prefer ruled, squared, or plain paper?

Looking back on a wonderful book launch and a very fine exhibition at Bos & Heij. It’s always nice to see my work in different contexts, as this time in the domestic setting of the Bos & Heij cafe, together with the beautiful fern wallpaper.

New work! A client asked me to make something for a vet, inspired by her logo with a dog, a cat and a rabbit. I made this series of three illustrations, with each animal in its own little world.

Whoopee, Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten belongs to the Best Dutch and Flemish Book Designs 2015! Publishers, commisioners, designers, printers and binders have submitted books that appeared in 2015 amounting to 410 books in total. They were judged by a Dutch-Flemish panel consisting of Carolien Glazenburg (curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Wouter Roelants (bookseller and publisher), Luc Derycke (designer, Ghent), Koen Brams (former director Jan van Eyck Academie & former chief editor De Witte Raaf) and Freek Kuin (creative director at printer robstolk®). The books that they have selected distinguished themselves conspicuously by their editorial choices, graphic design, treatment of images and text, choice of material and technical workmanship. I’m so proud! Many thanks to my publisher Loopvis and printing company Tienkamp! www.bestverzorgdeboeken.nl/en/

On this rainy day I hope to cheer you up with this ‘blommen’ print, new in my shop! It’s beautiful and environment friendly offset printed on heavy weight paper, size 45 x 30 cm. You can find this bunch of flowers here. And I promise: spring is coming!

At the book launch of Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten I got a wonderful present: the last red cabbage of Knollenland, a trophy! On the occasion of my exhibition at Dynamo Expo last summer, we planted a real Knollenland vegetable garden, with the help of Christel Burghoorn. In this and this blogpost you can see that Knollenland grew well. But unfortunately not on a close distance from my home, so I was not able to harvest anything myself. But Judith and Christel gave me the last harvest of this season: a very beautiful and tasty cabbage :-) Luckily there was no little goat inside...

It wasn’t my intention to neglect this place for such a long period. It was not a lack of inspiration, content or such, but my focus was elsewhere, I guess… But I have some good intentions with this blog. So, now that I’m back, where do I start?  Maybe with some wonderful news (and also the main reason of my absence): Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten is now published by Uitgeverij Loopvis, as a beautiful picture book! It took me a lot of effort to convert the manually printed illustrations into offset, but I’m very happy with the result! Drukkerij Tienkamp did such a great job, by printing the book in beautiful waterless offset, with vegetable-based inks in patone colors, on FSC-certified paper. And of course, also this edition needed a little handmade touch, so we gave the book a cloth spine with a manual screen print on it. We did a festive book launch at the wonderful Bos & Heij cafe and store. I signed a huge pile of books and we enjoyed a beautiful villainous performance by Karin Lambrechtse. It makes me happy that now everyone can enjoy this book. You can ask your favorite bookstore, or order your copy online.  And you know what, Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten already got a great review by Jaap Leest! (sorry, in Dutch only…)

A few pictures to give you an impression of my solo exhibition at Dynamo Expo in Enschede. Knollenland was a wonderful experience :-)

The opening of my exhibition Knollenland at Dynamo Expo was a beautiful, festive happening. Outside the vegetable garden was growing so well and Jip Heijenga was peforming a beautiful villain. Christel Burghoorn made some Knollenland inspired snacks. I loved to see how my fable of 'Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten' became alive, in print, in language, in dance, in tasty food and in a real Knollenland garden! Thanks to everyone who came by, it was a lovely little party. picture 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 made by Annabel Jeuring picture 2, 8 and 9 by Jos Marell In de next post I will show some more pictures of the exhibition. But the coming week you still have the chance to see it yourself. Next Saturday we will close Knollenland with a festive finissage. 

KNOLLENLAND In de tentoonstelling Knollenland neemt Merlijne Marell je mee naar de fabelachtige wereld van vruchtbare rodekolen, spiedende rabarberbladeren en bijtende braamstruiken. Naar de moestuin van Grootmoeder en haar geiten, waarin plotseling een schurk opduikt… Knollenland is het decor van Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten, Marells eigenzinnige bewerking van Grimms sprookje over de wolf en zeven geitjes. Marell treedt op als auteur en illustrator, en benut de mogelijkheid om tekst en beeld hand in hand te laten ontstaan. De ene keer geven woorden aanleiding tot illustraties, de andere keer is een prent de oorsprong van een tekstfragment. Het gekende verhaal beschouwt ze als leidraad bij het bouwen van een nieuw sprookje, waarin de frictie tussen goede en kwade elementen nader wordt gedefinieerd. Is de wolf louter slecht? En zijn de geiten per definitie onschuldig? Met deze expositie verlegt Marell de grenzen van Knollenland tot buiten het boek. Ze nodigt je uit om te dwalen door oogstrelende prenten en uitbundig groeiende gewassen, te wroeten in intens paarse inkt en diep donkere aarde, te proeven van schurende woorden en knerpend vers groen, te strelen over aaibare pagina’s en teder zacht geitenvel. In het verlengde van de expositie binnen is buiten een moestuin aangelegd. Tijdens de opening kruipt danseres Jip Heijenga in de huid van de schurk en voert er een dansperformance uit. Christel Burghoorn serveert wilde hapjes met hartelijke groenten uit Knollenland.                        

The paperback edition of 'Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten' is now available in the shop! ‘Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten’ is a fable about a grandmother, her seven goats and a villain who is planning to eat them all. But not all goats are easy prey, and the villain has his own insecurities… The story is loosely based on Grimms famous fairytale ‘The wolf and seven little goats’, but written with more attention to the individual characteristics of each protagonist. ATTENTION: text is in Dutch only!

Now on instagram as well! instagram.com/merlijnemarell/ My intention is to post a picture a day: a glimpse into the working process, some visual inspiration, a secret little corner of the studio, … Let's see if I can manage that!

I’m very excited that my book ‘Schobbejacques en de 7 geiten’ is featured in Uppercase magazine no. 25: the printmaking issue! Click the 3rd picture to get a closer look, and visit this link to browse through this beautiful magazine. 

I designed en screen printed this birth announcement card with matching envelope for baby Ebbe. Then I completed his woodland with nameplates for him, his brother and parents. Enjoy this beautiful world Ebbe!

✶ GIVE AWAY ✶ GIVE AWAY ✶ GIVE AWAY ✶ GIVE AWAY ✶ I like to celebrate spring with a little surprise... So I organized a give away on facebook! Two persons can win a set of 3 envelopes, filled with some extra paper goodies! ✶ Please like my facebook page and share the giveaway message on your wall ✶ and you might win the set of envelopes... On Monday evening, April 6, two winners will be drawn. ✶✶✶