Monday, September 30, 2013

Sketchbook Challenge - catching up on June

Last Friday I told you how behind I am on the Sketchbook Challenge and how I'm trying to play catch up so at least it will look like I have some will power. ;-) I recently caught up on May and now I am showing you June.

The theme for June was actually one that was right up my ally as it was 'garden doodles' and I love drawing flowers, especially ones that I just make up out of head. So that's exactly what I did and here's how it turned out:





In this case it's a two page spread and as you can see it's just full of flowers. I first did the basic lay out in pencil, but the details I added straight with a drawing pen. The background was filled in with watercolour in different greens and the flowers and letters were coloured in with Tombow Brush Markers. I really love the brush tips on those even though I know that the colours themselves will fade with time as they are not light fast at all.

What always surprises me is how long it takes to do a drawing like this. It looks so simple, but it took me about four to five hours to finish. But they were good hours and I really enjoyed myself, so I suppose it's okay. I just wish I had a better instinct about how much time things take, I always overestimate my capabilities when it comes to time. I need a more realistic view, so I'm not bummed because I didn't get around to the other 300 things I had planned to do that same day. ;-)

Well, that's all the catching up I've done so far. October is about to begin so I'm still behind three months. But three months is better than five and who knows I might actually finish the Challenge within this year. Perhaps. Maybe. ;-)

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy week!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Sketchbook Challenge - catching up on May

One of my resolutions/plans for this year was/is to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge. Well, if this year is teaching me one thing it is how bad I am with plans and resolutions and challenges! I love thinking them up, but I'm not very good at executing them. I'm more of a 'let's see what I feel like doing now' kind of girl. ;-)

But I also have my pride and not being able to even keep up with a once a month challenge is just too much for my ego to handle, so slowly I am playing catch up. So here is my contribution for May (yes May!).

The theme for that month did not appeal to me at all, it was 'bowls'. I mean really: bowls? Who thinks up this stuff? But strangely enough, once I got going I actually enjoyed coming up with two pages in my Studio Book. And here they are:







Are they colourful or what? They were first drawn in pencil, then drawn over in drawing pen. The backgrounds were coloured with watercolour and the bowls themselves were coloured in with Tombow Brush Markers.

And just to prove to you how imperfect I am I made a huge spelling mistake on the first one, yes in plain sight for all of you to see. You're welcome. ;-)

Despite the mistake I really like both drawings and it taught me a little lesson not to be too blasé over themes I consider unappealing. With a little imagination you might surprise yourself. I know I did!

On Monday I'll show you another catch up for the Sketchbook Challenge. Until then I wish you all a wonderful and very artsy weekend!


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Composition Book continued

A while ago I introduced you to the Composition Book. You can find that post here.

It's a book for experimenting with collage compositions and it's a lot of fun to work in and to play around with. I've been doing some more pages in it and thought I would show them to you today.









This ring bound sketchbook is A5 in size. I guess you can tell I've been trying out different types of backgrounds and different sizes of black pens for the pen work. It's interesting to see the effects of these things and also how different colours give a very different atmosphere. I even tried my signature dashed lines around one of them, but found I didn't really care for that.

What's interesting in doing these is that I can't always tell why I do or don't like something. I like most of these, but some more than others and it's really more about intuition and feelings than that I can pinpoint the cause. But it's a good way to experiment with compositions without it having to be anything. It's good practice and practice is after all what I'm all about! ;-)

Hope you enjoyed looking at these and if you like to try something like this be my guest. Love to see what you come up with! If you have any questions feel free to mail me or put them in the comment section.

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy Wednesday!

Monday, September 23, 2013

From the White Book

How I keep loving to journal and how I keep loving the White Book. This book is one interesting journey. I had a big struggle in starting it at the beginning of the year and now it seems I have found some sort of momentum in it.

I keep trying new things, especially when it comes to backgrounds and I'm less afraid to sometimes just quickly put some stuff on a page so I can just write if I don't have much time to make a real lay out. That means not all pages are pretty or interesting, but it also means that at least I keep journaling no matter what and that's most important after all.

Here are some of my latest spreads.








The book itself is starting to get quite fat! It has so many pages and I think I still have about a quarter to go. It's also showing some wear and tear on the cover. I like that. I like that my books look like they have been used. That's what they're for after all! When it is full I will show you some before and after pictures, because this book will never lay flat again, haha!

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy week!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Photography Friday

Hello, my blogsy people! I left you all two weeks ago with a Photography Friday, so I might as well come back with one. ;-) After all I had a break from both work and blog and you all know how I love to walk around taking pictures when I'm not working, arting or reading.

I had a bit of a restless vacation really, too much goings on. Nothing all that major. I had to prepare a bookclub meeting which I had to lead (we take turns) and that takes quite some time (and a little stress too). I had to go to the physical therapist several times (I hurt my arm/shoulder months ago and it just won't heal, so we're hoping to get stuff moving again). Also the housing organisation from which I rent my home thought the past week was the perfect time to do some painting upkeep on the houses in my street, so there were painters roaming around the house from time to time which infringed on my privacy a little. The first weekend of my vacation was also te music and art festival Into The Great Wide Open, which is really nice in itself, but I just wanted some peace and quiet and didn't feel like going this time. However, when 10.000 people swarm your tiny island at once it's kind of hard to find any place where they are not. In short, it was a bit harder to relax for me than usual. But...I did manage to sleep, read and walk a lot so that's good. And I also managed to take a lot of pictures. Hundreds of them. Both with my camera and my phone.

Usually my Photography Friday posts consist of pictures from my smart phone. That's because they don't require downsizing before I post them and that just saves time. But this time I thought I'd show you some 'real' photographs, haha. So here's a little selection of pictures I took during my vacation. Proof again of how beautiful this place is I call home.  Hope you enjoy!























With the festival being over so is the main tourist season. I'm enjoying the more quiet environment. Of course there's tourists all year round, but the big bulk of people come in summer and I'm glad that's over. I prefer my island nice and quiet. ;-)

Also summer seems to have taken a leave. It's become much cooler and signs of fall are slowly starting to show all around. Since I'm a great lover of fall and winter I am very happy about this, just as I'm happy that the days are shortening and I can actually do things like light candles at night again and really curl up on my couch with a blanket, a book and a cat.

I didn't do much art in my vacation, except for the journal, but that's okay too. I wanted to take a break from everything and that includes my own routine. Now I've been back to work again this week and slowly getting back to my daily rythm. It's good to be back!

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy weekend!

Friday, September 6, 2013

Photography Friday (and a blog break)

Another Photography Friday, another peek through my smart phone lens. ;-)










I'm just letting the pictures speak for themselves today.  A quiet impression of some rare quiet times in the past few weeks. It's been a bit hectic. But things will slow down for a while I hope, because as of yesterday I have myself a little vacation. I'm staying on the island this time and plan on taking it easy. I will  go on a little blog break and try to keep my internet use to a minimum. I'll be back here in about twelve days, so behave while I'm away will you and have yourself a wonderful and artsy time! ;-)