Day 168: Me and my camera

When I was younger I wanted to be a photographer (who doesn't). I got quite good at it, my black and white work was coming on and I was learning to work with light like a proper photographer. Then my professional camera got stolen and I went to uni instead, leaving photography and creative dreams behind. Since then I have been using it sporadically, mainly switching the 'auto' button on and not bothering about it, the pictures tend to be ok.

And then the other day, packing my studio down, I found a manual for my new-ish camera and suddenly I feel that urge again, not to take good photos but to take excellent photos again...

On the other hand I have really been missing my blog. My friends in 365ers have been carrying on while everything here is on hold but my hands are itching. Only a week left now and we will be in our new house and that I can start properly again.

Oh, and the picture, it is a spiders nest from Gotland, Sweden. I accidentally dropped my camera on top of it and it was fine, camera and nest. Absolutely amazing!

We are moving house

So for my cherished followers and friends, as much as I love my blog and would like to carry on with it, we are moving house so it is really difficult. We have to make a move in mid august so everything is in flux. I have also cranked up my yoga practice so that has taken a lot of time too. I feel I am in a stage where I would like to progress and grow so my efforts have gone that way.

Saying that, I am not giving up on my blog. I love it to much and my skills really have increased, not the least my ability in oil painting. I have been part of a wonderful painting group and just can't make the time to see them which is a real shame and now I have to leave them too:(
So stressed, excited and a bit sad AND we are going away to Sweden in middle of all that just  to sweeten the deal:)

Here is a recent doodle just to make this post a bit more imaginative, it is supposed to be a seal rather then a weird looking bear:)

Day 167: Another horsey doll

This is a good way of exploring collage and using funky paper together with textiles. I really like making these but should probably expand from making horses and elephants.

Day 166: My name

I am well late with my 365ers inspired projects but here it is. Inspired by lauren who makes her name in different fashion every day: http://thetwinoaksplace.blogspot.com/. Check it out!

Day 165: Cowgirl luggage label

I love easy assemble, creative kits:) This one is from crafts paper Mollie Makes and it's easy day project. My hand sewing is not that brilliant but I am going with rough home made style of Wild West to go with my horses:)

Day 164: Drawing 15

Soldiering on with my drawings. I left this drawing after the first arch and thought of giving up but then when I came back to it I found it a bit easier. Didn't bite the pen in two so that's progress. Perspective is a bit all over the place but that is not main focus anyway, it's those pesky stroke directions and shadows. A friend of mine, who works with architectural illustration, made a small demonstration of perspective drawing for me the other day and that was complicated. Never thought that so many lines could be involved in one drawing. But she knew her business...

Day 163: More horses

So happy with my Winnetou horse I made another one. Brought up in communist country, we never had 'My little pony' so I am making up for it with a collection of my own. Who knew string was so much fun:)

Day 162: A 2D elephant toy

This is my new 2D type of toy made of fabric and paper. Really pleased with it:)

Day 161: Winnetou's horse: Iltschi

The other day I was lookinf through my fellow 365er Rebecca Jones artworks and she makes lots of different horses. I love horses and I do draw them often but I haven't actually made any for my blog se I intent to rectify that so here he is: Winnetou's horse -  Iltschi. 
Winnetou is a fictional character from books written by Karl May and it's kind of germanic phantasy about Wild West. As a child I was deeply influenced by these books as well as by Jack London's books and one of my alter ego's was Winnetou, a bit strange for a small, croatian girl but hey, my friends were not much to write home about...

Day 160: A little toy elephant

My dear husband has found my book with toy pattens that I have lost several months back..turns out, it was in  my shelf all the time...fancy...Anyway, this little chap is made from my old sweater and I like this edition of sweater much better:)

Day 159: Drawing 14 and also a sunday project

My blog has been on hold for three weeks now because life got too busy but now I am back and clearing the backlog. This is a Sunday project three weeks ago when we were taking inspiration from Jill Gammon Carillo:  http://flora365.blogspot.co.uk. She photographs different plant every day and her photographs are absolutely beautiful. I thought about the easy option of photographing one too but then changed my mind as I need to carry on with my drawings, so here it is. My first, ever drawing of a plant...

Day 158: Knitted hearts and some art fair evaluation

I haven't knitted anything for ages now so I thought of cleaning the cobwebs by knitting something easy and small, hence little hearts. I recently went to my first art fair as selling artist. Big step for me as I never dared to do that before and thanks to my 365 project I had some work to take. It all looked very nice but I was to stressed to remember to take a photo :).
I sold for £40, paid £25 for fees and spent the rest on lunch. But...I didn't make a loss, so happy with that. Small, inexpensive items are definitely a eay forward. Thinking of maybe trying a Christmas fair next. I should have enough stuff:)

Day 157: Untitled

Day 156: We all need someone to talk to..

Day 155: Drawing 13

Day 154: Drawing 12

Day 153: Drawing 11 - water

Moving from trees and landscape on to drawings of water. I actually find this easier then foliage.

Day 152: 365 days of love

This is a Sunday 365ers project. This week we are taking inspiration from Rebecca Borowski and 365 Days of Love: http://rebecca-365daysoflove.blogspot.co.uk/ Her blog is truly inspirational and full of both love and humor. So here is my love for you, Rebecca:)

Day 151: Toy Mouse

A 10cm toy mouse climbing the tree. I rarely give sense of scale so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do so:)

Day 150: Rose and Cherry - photo shoot

After all that hassle, I decided that a photo shoot was in order. Really proud over myself, I didn't throw it all in the bin after all...

Day 149: Rose

One day at the time and I finished Rose too. I had to cut a new dress for her since the first one got all ugly from many times turning in and out. I had difficulties attaching limbs but finally managed so it looked neat:)

Day 148: Cherry

Tadaa...legs right way round and all. This is Cherry as she has little cherries attached to her hair.

Day 147: Rose and Cherry - part 2

Got my stuffing and started sewing...The first doll was so badly sewn that I had to take it all apart because I wasn't following the technique correctly. Dress part got so badly abused I cut it all off and left it at one side. So I made a start on the other doll, Cherry, it all went really well and I got all parts together as I should. The trick was to sew on arms and legs,fold them inside the doll and then turn the whole thing right way round. I did...and after all that I managed to sew both legs wrong way rounds..AAAAARGH!!!!! So I threw everything in the box and left.

Day 146: New dollies - Rose and Cherry

I got so fed up with drawing so I decided to get my trusted buddy  - the sewing machine and make something else. This pattern is from magazine Mollie Makes and it seemed simple, so I cut out all parts, made the hair and then run out of stuffing, easy-peasy, I thought, I'll carry on tomorrow. For sure I will finish this tomorrow...

Day 145: A small film about guilding

This video is result of our weekly Sunday project with 365 group. This time inspiration was taken from Gabrielle Soileau and her daily vlogs (video blog). You can find her work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFrqvS53rak&feature=g-user-u Enjoy!

Day 144: Drawing 10

This is how far I managed with this drawing before I gave up...several hours of work and lots of impatience later...I might come back to it later..or start again..

Day 143: Drawing 9 - more directional strokes

More of directional strokes and tonal values...I can't believe this is so difficult. I sit there and grit my teeth because it is difficult. Instant re-aligning of attitude is needed if I am to continue on these drawings without biting my pen into two (or several) pieces. The exercises are getting harder, after I finish tree-section, water section follows:( It is worth adding I have never bothered to draw anything like this before so no use moaning it is difficult:)

Day 142: Drawing 8 - directional strokes

Short, directional strokes should give an illusion of foliage, something that resembles a birch believe it or not.... in my case I think it is more like a pine:(

Day 141: Drawing 7 - tonal values

Apparently the different pressure on the pen should give tonal variation. This is drawn with 7b pencil but it all looks samey to me, i do try and be light on the hand so I guess just more practice...

Day 140: Drawing 6 - cloudy skies

with more or less success...

Day 139: Drawing 5

Not to shabby, this one:)

Day 138: A fan for Gina

This is Sunday's project, a fan to celebrateWhee Gina's blog. Gina makes one fan every day and is a great friend and support for all of us in 365ers Facebook group. I wanted to make a fan but didn't have any lolipop sticks so I googled for a fan and this came up. It can be retracted into the tube, very clever!!! If you would like to make one here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLTFmVgfkd8&feature=related and if you are looking for inspiration and would like to see some lovely fans here is Gina's blog: http://wheegina.blogspot.co.uk/

Day 137: Drawing 4

This one is a bit better. i am enjoying this so much. It calms my mind from rushing around, I can sit for a moment and just think about light and shadows:)

Day 136: Drawing 3

Not great this one. I was supposed to work on creating a mass of leafs but not that easy, as it turns out.

Day 135: Drawing 2

Learning to draw the roots.

Day 134: Working on those drawing skills

I have a new book that I am very enthusiastic about: Drawing problems and solutions by Trudy Friend. I know, the title gives nothing away but it is a really good book to work from. I finished my drawing on the left side of the brain-book but still have problems with things like textures which this book addresses so I will be doing the exercises from it and hopefully improve:)

Day 133: The most life-enhancing choice (MLEH)

I have decided to live my life according to a new philosophy (it's old really, new for me). In every given choice situation, no matter how bad choices are, I am going to try and think what the most life enhancing choice is, for me or someone else. So today I decided that the most life enhancing choice (MLEH) is to enjoy our garden. These flowers (no idea what they are) I had in a pot last year, I grew them from bulbs, then my cat decided they were great to sunbade on and squished them. So I used my proven gardening technique then: put it in the ground, it either will or won't, and here is the glorious result that I had to capture on camera. 

Our garden is truly magical at the moment which makes a difference to our neighbours garden where they have ripped everything up. The old lady decided then to mow the grass without cleaning branches from all trees and shrubs they have destroyed...and it broke :) They have managed to destroy an entire habitat for wildlife and they refer to our lovely bees as 'wasps'..and they have two annoying little yappie dogs that never get to go for a walk...but the MLEH is to ignore that and focus on our beautiful garden. I should really share a picture of my compost, I am very proud of it as it is a source of much food for birds and I love digging in it. It represents all that is good in life. The rubbish turns into beautiful, rich, black soil that feeds everything:) I had a good MLEH day today.

Day 132: Bolivian pompoms:)

My fellow 365er frances Lewis makes a sun every day and Sunday was the day we took inspiration from her blog. Very fitting as it was the day of sun eclipse and we celebrated that event in a small way, great coincidence:)
Frances creations are ligh-hearted, cheery and really pretty so if you would like to make some pompoms (and hers are much more accomplished then mine) or just want some sun in your life here is her blog: http://frances-suns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/11-april-2012-bolivian-pom-pom.html

Day 131: Dancing Shiva

Just a quick doodle. I was busy all day and absolutely exhausted in the evening but dancing shiva is on my mind at the moment. I would like to paint it in icon technique but not like this, more properly. My icon painting has taken back seat for a while now, expenses of gold have gone up a lot so I haven't been able to get a any. I have three icons waiting to be finished so I should really get going before I start this one..

Day 130: Granny squares are multiplying

I keep my crochet with me when I go away somewhere because it is light and undemanding. So I had a great opportunity to expand my granny square collection when the car broke down by no reason at all and we were there for two hours while the RAC man huffed and puffed. At the end he refilled the water and the car just took of, not a glitch after that. I wasn't annoyed at all...Thank god for granny squares. The total is 16 for now, I am aiming at a whole blanket but not stressing about it, but it would be a nice grand finale for 365 project:)

Day 129: Another hare

Day 125-126-127 and 128

I have left my blog for few days now as some very sad and very unexpected events have happened. For days I felt I was at the loss to what to do. Our 365 group has regular projects together on Sundays and I was excited to do that but then life just floored me and I could't find any creative energy.

Today is the first day I have felt like going into my studio and working. As loss is on the forefront of my mind I created this series of images. This is the shadow hare from Watership Down. When I was a child I saw the cartoon on the telly and the black hare has never left my psyche. When I think about death this is the image that comes to me. But it is not an un-pleasent image, it is more ambiguous one. A mixed message of unknowing, fear and comfort. I asked my husband once, how is it that we don't know what happens after death. Because then we would not have the motivation to choose between good and bad, he replied:)