Angelique Houtkamp

Oh, Angelique! I love this woman's artwork so very much and yesterday after sharing my phone's background image via twitter (click here), I found that a lot of my friends didn't know who this wonderful artist was. So of course I felt it necessary to write a little blog about the wonderful-ness that is Angelique Houtkamp.





Angelique is a Dutch tattooist living in Amsterdam and didn't actually start drawing or painting until she was 30! I started getting into her a few years ago, and fell in love with her traditional yet beautiful artwork. I typically love everything she creates, and Hank and I both really adore each of her books. A handful of my friends have A.H. inspired pieces, and my next tattoo will be just that. I can't wait.


Be sure to check out her site by clicking this link and really take in all of her beautiful projects, paintings, and prints. You can buy everything via her website (which I recommend since the money goes directly to her), but if the books aren't available there you can always buy them via Amazon, and I highly recommend doing so. You definitely won't be disappointed. I find something new to be inspired by every time I flip through them, and they're a great addition to any coffee table or library. She also recently came out with a line drawing book that we can't wait to get.








Here's my most favorite print of hers on our wall:


and a closer image from the framer's shop:



I'm really excited to have a wall full of her prints (and hopefully one day an original painting) at the new house. She's incredibly inspiring to me, and really shows that tattoo art is truly beautiful. I hope if you didn't know about her before, you possibly found a new artist to fall in love with via this post. And if you already were a fan, then I hope her artwork brightened your day a bit!

Happy Friday everyone!




*all images property of Angelique Houtkamp and were found via google images or via her site, linked above.

Saturday

This morning Hank and I woke up fairly early and went to visit my Grandma on my Dad's side. It was wonderful to see her, but at the same time incredibly sad because her speech and mental capabilities have dramatically diminished since her last stroke, about a year ago. It's heartbreaking because she knows what she wants to say, but the speech area of her brain was badly damaged, so it sounds like gibberish. The only bright spot is that wherever her brain has gone to is a really beautiful, happy place, and she seems to be in good spirits, considering. It's just so sad to see a family member go through that and not recognize the people they've known their entire lives. I had to fight back tears throughout the visit, and it was hard to leave and see her waving from the window in her wheelchair. I wish people didn't have to get old and be in pain. It's so upsetting...

When we left my Grandma's Hank and I had to do some returning, so we stopped by H&M and then went to Green for a quick lunch. The rest of the day was spent doing errands- we dropped my Angelique print off at the framer's, got Hank new shoes and button ups, and stopped by Coldstone so Hank could get a milkshake. Besides this morning this visit has been incredibly jam packed with all of our family in from all over the place, and we still have to celebrate another Christmas! I am hoping we get the Flip cam we've had our eye on, so we'll see. We are heading back up to Prescott in a bit and I am excited to get there and organize all our new stuff. I also got some new wood cleaner for our floors and I can't wait to try it out! Sounds weird but organizing and cleaning gets me excited. Annnnd...tomorrow is a certain best friend's birthday! Fun.

I'll leave you with some photos-

Good morning!


Saturday shoes


dropping off my print- soo excited to get it back next week!




another little Angelique print, matted and framed