My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs July 29, 2017

Today has been a hazy, lazy, rainy day. We celebrated a birthday by having home-made carrot cake and banana bread and delicious coffees at beanberry coffee in Kingston. Their shop is like an ancient alchemist's laboratory full of tubes, copper, chrome, and glass bell jars covering succulent pastries.

The recipe for a perfect Sunday night: my favourite jazz playlist on Spotify, our favourite zucchini tomato pasta, and a stack of new books from the library for bedtime. After toddler bedtime it's time to make lists and plan my week.

And.... another children's book is finished and delivered! Now it's time for lots of fun sketches, play dates and outings with my toddler daughter, travel, and artistic experimentation!

This morning Mary and I decided to be adventurous and try another new cafe in town. We loved department of coffee and social affairs in Kingston. The coffee was great and the atmosphere relaxed. We've lived in Kingston upon Thames for a year and a half, and there's still so much to discover.

Old and new rub shoulders in the city of London. This morning I took a few hours off to get a change of scenery. I love the city of London, it exudes such an efficient, stylish, orderly atmosphere. I absorbed a bit of it this morning, and then headed home in time to pick my daughter up from nursery after lunch.This image turned out much more abstract looking than I anticipated. Sometimes city-scapes end up looking like shapes instead of buildings!

The rain is sluicing down the windows and ricocheting off the pavement outside. Supper is simmering and we're warm and cozy inside. It's been a lazy, but also busy, day. Errands in the morning. Naps in the afternoon. Rain on the roof lulling us into a state of relaxation.

My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs July 21, 2017

This morning Mary and I met our coffee group friends at the "secret" cafe in canbury gardens along the river. The wind teased the pine trees. The waves on the river winked at us through the tall oaks. And we sipped our coffees, licked our ice creams and chatted about our summer plans.

When I need to clear my mind I often step into the garden and inhale the bracing, clean scent of lavender. It sweeps all the cobwebs out of the corners of my mind. Then I can head back to work again.

This morning Mary and I took the train into London to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. It was a misty, mizzly morning, and it felt like we had the streets to ourselves. We wandered Covent Garden and Waterloo bridge with wide eyes.

Today, amidst deadline prep and housework, I zoomed into town to get some treats for my husband's birthday celebration tomorrow. I took ten minutes to sip a latte and sketched the people around me. I love coffee shops. People chat, read, work, and no matter what they are doing they seem contended and connected: either in conversation or in concentration on a task. A little sketch for a busy day.

Taking a moment

Jane Heinrichs July 17, 2017

Lately life has felt like a mad dash to the finish line carrying an egg in a spoon and balancing a stack of books on my head. I have an illustration deadline in a week, which has thrown all my carefully balanced schedules into flux. This morning, after a few hours of intense work, I took 30 minutes to sip a hot chocolate and daydream at our local cafe. How's your Monday going?

My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs July 14, 2017

Last weekend we went on an "aventure" (as my toddler daughter calls it) and cycled through Richmond park and along the river to Richmond village. Then we had coffee and croissants under the tall, broad plane trees and watched the rowers sculling under the bridge.

I love the sculptural shadows cast by a lovely, big summer hat. It's so fun to play with hats in my drawings. I got this hat years ago when we lived in Cape Town in a small seaside town called Hermanus.

My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs July 8, 2017

It is another hot day in London. I took an early walk in the park this morning before I sequestered myself in my studio for a painting session. I loved the interplay between deep shade and brilliant sunshine. The brick wall was like a canvas for light. It was refreshing and inspiring. What do you do to recharge your creative muscles?

I felt like I made a revolutionary shift this morning when I successfully wore high heels all morning while running after my toddler. I used to love wearing heels, and I never do any more because I think it's not compatible with motherhood. But I challenged my assumptions today and loved the refreshing change.

A portrait of an artist at the end of the day. It's been a busy, happy day. Little One is now tucked into her bed and is softly singing herself to sleep. The birds are singing their evening lullabies.

The highlight of Thursdays is definitely Mary's mini movement dance classes. She learns to move and dance freely and expressively. There are no "rules," only joyful creativity. Her dance teacher is endlessly inventive, and always finds new and exciting ways to entertain the energetic gaggle of toddlers.

A symphony in blue. The awnings of our local cafe exactly match the brilliant, hot cloudless sky on a summer's day. I love to pop in just before picking Mary up from nursery for a latte and an Italian treat. It's one of our favourite spots in Kingston upon Thames.

Child-like creativity and my week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs June 30, 2017

I love seeing my toddler daughter's imagination come to life. Each day she invents new games of make believe. Her imagination is so sweet, innocent and confident. To her, there is no such thing as a silly or stupid idea. Isn't that how we should be with our creativity? I wish I had her joyous confidence and silliness.

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An artistic wake-up call

Jane Heinrichs June 29, 2017

This morning I had a 4.45am wake-up call from a toddler who had had a bad dream and needed a potty break. It was hard to grumble when I saw the sky. One minute it was flaming pink and amber, but by the time I had tucked Little One back into bed it was back to grey. It was a fleeting moment and it made me think about being awake and observant. It is the artist's job to see everything, but often I'm so bogged down by crazy to-do lists that I plunge blindly forwards without really taking time to see the world around me.

This 4.45am spectacle was a little reminder to keep my eyes open.

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My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs June 23, 2017

My week in Drawings and Verbs

Jane Heinrichs June 16, 2017

Looking at // the light streaming through my studio window and feeling grateful for fresh, summer days in London. My laundry is drying in the sun. The flowers are blooming floridly. And a sweet breeze is teasing my gauze curtains into a flutter.

Planning // for a weekend of rest and rejuvenation. Weekdays are packed with illustration deadlines and house-hold tasks. Weekends are for sitting in the shade with a book and staring at the clouds scudding across the sky.

My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs June 9, 2017

Sketching at Strawberry Hill House

Jane Heinrichs May 22, 2017

After a long, dark London winter, it is practically a requirement that your soul bursts out of your sternum with joy with the light returns and colour explodes from every corner of the natural world.

One such, joyful, exuberant morning we ventured across the river to Strawberry Hill House. It is a jewel-box home, and the inspiration of Horace Walpole, man of letters and gothic novelist. Every corner was bathed in the prismatic light from the stained glass windows. And each room was unique, imaginative and eccentric.

There is always something to be inspired by in our neighbourhood. Sometimes life feels busy and frantic and I forget to "look" around me. If I stop for a moment (even the shortest interval between breaths) and try to really "see," I am always amazed by the beauty surrounding me.

A Small shift

Jane Heinrichs May 10, 2017

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the small choices I make every day that might have an impact on my health. I want to spend the next few weeks focusing on those little moments. Today I'm drinking a little extra water. What are you doing today to improve your wellbeing? It doesn't have to be a huge resolution; just a small shift.

My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs April 28, 2017

My week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs April 21, 2017

The week in drawings

Jane Heinrichs April 7, 2017

Strike up the band! I'm launching the new Mattie Books today!

Jane Heinrichs April 3, 2017

I'm celebrating two book birthdays this week!

The Amazing Talent Show and The Animals' Funny Funfair are launching today!

Join Mattie as she goes on more fantastic adventures with her wonderful friends: Owl, Elephant, Giraffe, and many more. She conducts a choir of safari animals to save the day for donkey. And she helps rhino with the ring toss at the magical fun fair.

Discover more about the adventures by downloading the books on your Kindle or Kobo. They're available in paperback in South Africa from Exclusive books.

To celebrate, I've created a free printable bookmark for all my lovely studio friends. But you need to sign up for my mailing list first! (And there are so many wonderful free printables available. The sign-up form is below). And also get exclusive discounts for my online shop.

Available on Amazon in English and Afrikaans. Available from Indigo as a Kobo ebook in English and Afrikaans — Available on Amazon in English and Afrikaans.
Available from Indigo as a Kobo ebook in English and Afrikaans

Available on Amazon. Available from Indigo as a Kobo ebook — Available on Amazon.
Available from Indigo as a Kobo ebook

Sending lots of love and creativity your way...

X
Jane

This week in drawings and verbs

Jane Heinrichs March 31, 2017

Grateful for... all the little things that I have a tendency to overlook: the sun streaming through my window in the morning, the daffodils nodding their heads in my garden in the almost constant spring wind, and sips of freshly brewed coffee.

Planning... a reflective and festive Easter, and looking forward to my mom's visit at the end of the month.

Deciding... whether or not I prefer making lists in my paper planner or digitally in my phone. Sometimes I like the malleable transience of digital lists, and sometimes I prefer the solidity of writing things down on paper and crossing them off with a flick of my wrist. Right now I'm stuck between the two methods, using one or the other depending on my mood. Makes life a bit confusing sometimes! Which do you use?

Excited about... the upcoming launch of my two newest picture books in South Africa. You can download an exclusive and free printable bookmark (see above) if you join my studio friends mailing list!

Recent Daily Drawings

Jane Heinrichs March 24, 2017

Every day I try to open my Moleskine pocket sketchbook and do a little drawing. It's a habit that keeps me sane during the hurly-burly routines of being a stay-at-home mom to a toddler.

Here are a few of the recent daily sketches. You can see more on my instagram....

Five Things About Me

Jane Heinrichs December 9, 2016

Five Things about me.

1. When someone raises a camera, I usually try to duck out of the sightline. I’d rather not be photographed, but I love drawing self-portraits. I feel like I can invest each drawing or painting with more authentic emotion than any photo could ever capture.

2. I have green eyes and an emerald engagement ring. Green is my favourite colour; I love how alive and restorative it is.

3. My sketchbook, my planner and my journal are the three most precious objects in my life. My mother, my husband and my daughter are the three most precious people in my life.

4. I was born in Swaziland; I grew up in Canada; I now live in England. I love to travel, but I’m actually happiest when I’m curled up with a book at home.

5. I studied art history, archaeology, Latin, and German at university. None of these are particularly useful in my current incarnation as a stay-at-home-mom and illustrator/writer. However, my studies taught me self-discipline, to be curious about everything, and that all ideas and things have a hidden history of meaning that reaches back through time.

Fancy playing along?

Mother - Daughter mornings

Jane Heinrichs November 27, 2016

My daughter is my alarm clock. She wakes at (or before) dawn and I hear her small voice calling, “Mama? Mama? I finished sleeping.”

That is how my day begins.

We pull open the curtains and search for the sun, or if we’re up before (as is common in winter), we search for the setting moon and the morning star floating just above the rooftops of London.

While I may not always be ready to start the day, I’m always ready to receive her warm, sleepy, nuzzling hugs and kisses.

What I love about the morning is it’s possibility. The night has absolved all of yesterday’s disappointments and the sun brings a new day full of promise.

Each morning starts the same. We get dressed, we make porridge, we brew coffee, and we invert into a few downward dog poses to clear the head. These routines are carefully choreographed steps that prepare us for the day to come. In the endlessly repetitive actions there is a sense of possibility.

What will we do with this one wild day?

Will we go to town to see the ducks on the river and share babyccinos? Will Little One go to nursery school so that I can spend a few uninterrupted hours in my studio? Will we set up the craft table and draw uncountable numbers of stars and moons (just as many as are in our unfathomable universe)?

Each day is a collaboration.

For years I have wanted to collaborate with my mother. I have dreamed of writing a memoir or novel together, but it has always seemed too overwhelming. How to start? Especially since we live so far apart?

I decided I needed to think of a smaller project to start with. Something we could do daily, but would add up cumulatively into something rather large.

Since we both love mornings, we decided to take a photo each day before noon: just one picture. It could be of anything at all. It's about illuminating, and making beautiful, the random objects we see each day. The cup of coffee. The bird feeder. The bookshelf.

We may be separated by 6297 kilometers, but we share the same aesthetic sensibility and way of seeing. We love the same things, wear the same colours, and read the same books.

I hope you can see the connections and similarities in these photo duets.

Here is the first instalment...