Sandra Apperloo: Crafty Moods Project

A very special treat: I’ve been following Sandra Apperloo‘s beautiful blog ArtisticMoods for a while, I just love her taste in art and illustration. Always curious to know more about the person behind the blog, I asked if she would like to share her own creative project called the Crafty Moods Project. Turns out: so talented!

Over to Sandra:

“I’ve been in love with illustration for as long as I can remember. It’s my favorite distraction from reality. A ticket to instant comfort. The more color, pattern & quirky shapes, the better! That’s why three years ago I started the blog ArtisticMoods; a spot where I write about all kinds of illustrators and share their work with the world. But when it comes down to making things, I never used to offer myself occasions to do so. I felt way too impatient for that. Too restless & busy with other things. Inspiring people by writing about others was enough for a while.

As my blog grew I discovered more beautiful things every day. Writing about them is fun and satisfying, but I started to feel a need for different, more creative ways to express myself. That’s when I started the Crafty Moods Project: a personal initiative where I challenge my own creativity by continuously making illustrations for the course one year. Since I didn’t know what materials would fit me best, I decided to submit myself to a new medium every month. How I make sure to follow up? Showcasing the results on the blog every month.

The project has been running for five months now. Since then I illustrated with washi tape, indian ink, thread, simple pencils and I even tried lino printing (that one was definitely challenging!). This month I’m painting with acrylics and I’m thinking of trying out papercutting after that. It’s all about trying out really; a month isn’t very long so I often limit myself to smaller illustrations; doodles of plants, things or people.

Even though I’m mostly doodling, the Crafty Moods Project is an amazing experience for me. I have created my own little art school: learning all kinds of techniques, discovering things I like and don’t like and slowly pushing my personal boundaries forward. I have the tendency to overthink things; not putting anything on paper until I have a perfectly clear image of what it is I want to make. Now I start to understand it doesn’t work like that for me. Things hardly ever turn out the way I had them pictured in my mind. Seeing random things appear on paper as I draw along can lead to surprising results.

I definitely underestimated the challenge factor for this project. The more complicated techniques in particular make me spend long nights awake trying to do my best on creating nice things. Linocutting requires several steps before getting to an end result. So I spent all the free time I had cutting, printing, cutting again, printing again until I felt I had enough creations to share with my followers. But things like these don’t slow me down at all. It’s these days that I get completely absorbed in what I’m doing. Forgetting about things around me and happily experimenting with all kinds of colors and shapes.

Yes, that’s definitely the most important thing I’m learning: I love making things! The project pushed me over the edge of being a maker instead of just writing about makers. Rather than just admiring other people’s work I am becoming more confident in what I create myself. Even though there is stil so much to learn, sharing my creations with the world doesn’t scare me that much anymore.

So what will happen when the project is finished? I’m not that sure yet. I still have a lot of months to go forward. But I’m pretty sure I will continue to make things and I will probably focus more than just doodles when the time is there.”