The first time I was in France on holiday, I saw it mostly from the car.

Every night we drove on just a little bit too long.

We came through small villages in the twilight; here and there a light was already on.

The paintings of Henri Le Sidaner give me the exact same feeling of melancholy.

It is warm and good in these houses, and they would let you in if you knocked on the door, but you don't and it is okay.

Last wednesday Naar het noorden, the beautiful children's novel by Koos Meinderts won a 'zilveren griffel' (or silver stylus), the prestigious Dutch literary prize for children's books.

Later this year, in October, we will hear if the book will even win the 'gouden griffel'!

Ofcourse I own books by the Austrian illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger (1954)

I admire her work.

It is calm and 'clean', well composed, with beautiful colors and a nice archaic feel.

Not oldfashioned but timeless.

Although as a child I loved Asterix and Charlie Brown, nowadays I never read strip albums or graphic novels. I think it is that I can't cope with that much visual information on one page.

Therefore I only know the work of Jorge Gonzalez through internet.

But what beautiful work! I think I will have to find a copy of his 'Lord of the flies'!

We brought back a small painting by Brian Alderman from Wensleydale, Yorkshire.

It now hangs between works by Dutch painters Frank Dekkers and Rob Jacobs on our wall.

Quite a nice collection!

After three weeks walking in the Yorkshire Dales, I want to hang on to their atmosphere with the work of Wensleydale-based painter Simon Palmer (1957).

His work reminds me of Ravilious and Bawden, and of the work of the Italian illustrator Roberto Innocenti.

But above all it reminds me of beautiful Yorkshire!

We had three lovely weeks in Yorkshire. I used my eyes more than my hands, but made these little sketches of people we saw.

Today I want to show you photo's by American photographer Vivian Maier (1926-2009)

Maier worked as a nanny her whole life, but always carried a camera with her.

Her work was totally unknown during her life, in fact most films were never developed.

Thanks to a collector who bought several boxes of her work at an auction, her work became famous after she died.

She mostly phtographed street scenes, but I wanted to show her fabulous selfportraits.

A few weeks ago the German illustrator Wolf Erlbruch (1948) justly received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for his important role in children's literature.

I love his work, it is both beautiful and funny.

The fact that he cuts out his figures and places them against a light background, makes it appear very bright.

It was very hard which images to choose to show here. But the cat on the litter tray was a must, it's hilarious. 

And the little boy with the rabbit is very moving.

Tessa Newcomb (1955) is one of those -in my eyes- very British artists that I am drawn to.

Her work is narrative, almost illustrative, something that was considered almost a sin in the time I was in artschool, but I like.

As always, it's the everyday subjects and the bright colors that attract me in this work.

Tessa Newcomb is the daughter of Mary Newcomb who was also a painter.

She first learned to paint on the offcuts in her mother's studio.