Cunera Olshoorn, a devilish little angel.

Hello my friends,

I told you about the Bisschop dollshouse in the Rotterdam Museum last year. In the same museum hangs a portrait of a little girl called Cunera. Unfortunately the picture below is very dark. 

Apart from being a beautiful painting, depicting the girl in an idealised garden accompanied by her dog, the fun fact fore  me is that she is indirectly related to my partner. Very distant family, but related none the less. Because of this fact I want a miniature painting of her.

Most paintings in Huis ter Swinnendael will just be prints, glued on card, but a few will be real miniatures. Like Cunera.

I contacted Diane Meyboom who makes astonishing miniature drawings, etchings and paintings. If you want to see more of her work, this is the link to her website. She accepted the commission to paint Cunera in miniature and last december, just before the museum would close its doors for a 4 year period, we visited the museum together to take pictures and discuss all the details that needed to be discussed.

When we were about to leave, Diane suggested to take a picture of me next to the painting. And there it went wrong. As you can clearly see the little minx poked me in the eye! The devilish little brat! 

Well alright, I had to sneeze at the moment that she took the picture, but it does look like Cunera pokes me in the eye does it not? 😅

I look forward to the end result and can't wait to see it finished. But patience is a virtue! And Diane keeps sending me pictures of the progress. I love seeing every step from blank canvas to the finished portrait.  Here I post a few of them. 

 The last picture below shows the lapis lazuli blue used on Cunera's dress. I already love it although it is not yet finished. I will keep you updated on Cunera's progress. 

Huibrecht 

Supplying the office: To put your stamp on things...

Hello my friends,

Can you upcycle an already perfect miniature? Perhaps not. Or at least the word upcycling is probably wrong in this context. So let us simply call it personalising.

Sun of Nalladris added a box with sealing wax and a stamp and all that is further required for sealing letters with wax to her webshop. I immediately fell in love with it.

Moreover the box comes with a tiny personalised lasercut monogram in silver stuck on the lid. The same monogram (but even smaller) is etched into the sealing stamp. I find that só cool so I wanted to have one of those boxes. I happen to know Sun from the miniatures fairs in Arnhem so I called her up asking to buy one of those boxes. 

We had a lovely chat about miniatures in general when I told here that I (the idea had just sprouted in my mind that same minute) that I would want to try to decorate the box with some tiny chinoiserie scenes. She loved the idea but told me that for that it would be much simpler if she would leave the box unfinished and just provided all the elements. That way I could decorate them and put the box together just the way I wanted.

So now I was left with actualy decorating the box myself. Me and my big mouth! :-D

When it arrived I was thrilled. Every piece is so tiny! As a little gift she added two more stamps saying that in the office or library of Huis ter Swinnendael there would always be a place for a couple more. If you read this, thank you again, Sun!

It was time to get to work. I painted the outside bright red and the inside light blue. It needed a few thin coats before the woodstain stopped shining through. I lightly sanded the outside to smoothen the surface.

I have collected various pictures of japanned furniture. I used them to find a few scenes to recreate on the box. I had to leave some room for the monogram.

First I painted some basic forms in black and let that dry. Then I added gold paint on top of that to add details. The black that remains vissible adds some shadows and depth to the tiny pictures. I added scenes on every side of the box. When those were finished and dry, I glued the silver monogram in place. 

I also painted the handles of the stamps and the mini crucible to melt the sealing wax in the same red or blue. I decorated the handles with a simple gold flourish. Then I varnished each peace inside and out with glossy varnish to give it a proper lacquered appearance.

When that was done I added the hinges on the box and lid, as well as the tiny tiny brass bead on the drawer for storing the sealing wax. It took me a few days to get to this stage, but I really like how it turned out. I hope that you do too!

This box could go into sir Zonneschut's library but it will get pride of place on the desk of the steward in his office.