Mimi

This is the last day of the year and what a wonderful beginning! I managed to create something new and even finish it (almost;))!

This is my lovely friend  Mimi with her cat Filipina, I started this painting a long time ago, not even sure when, but long enough to say Filipina is now gone...This will be a little reminder of her. I am going to post it to Mimi for her birthday, hope she will like it.

My first inspiration to start this was a great book I proudly have "Taking Risk with Watercolour" by Shirley Trevena. I love her style and I wanted to create something as fearless as her works but...I was actually, ironically,  afraid of taking that risk...So the painting remain unfinished, for a couple of months (years?) till this week!

I finished the composition and started to paint...I became very frustrated in some parts. I was just staring at this and wondering what to do next and how to not ruin it... I am afraid of my lack of experience and this sometimes block me, but without actually painting and trying it is hard to get anywhere so I had to try..

I added a tree behind the window to close the composition and removed bowl from the table...

I wish I could be more confident with this medium. I can see some of my mistakes already (like this green throw under the cat), heaviness of my brush strokes and  clumsiness of the novice, but this is the best I could produce for now without damaging it completely!

I like it anyway, and I think this is a great finish to this 2011. Happy New Year to you all!

out and about

We had a great Christmas Time this year, no haste, no gripping, everything was just right and on time. We even had a little bit of snow! On Tuesday we went to the park and it was so so quiet, not sure if because of this tiny amount of snow, or just the hour was to early, but we where the only people on the playground when we came! We had a coffee and lovely shortbread biscuits, kids had fun and so where we! I just relaxed myself and enjoyed the moment. I have to admit it is not an easy task for me. I try to remember advices from other parents whose children are grown-ups already. Mainly to relax and let go more often, but it is so hard to remember  that children grow fast and sooner than we think we will REALLY miss morning arguments about which dress to wear or what to eat or not to eat for breakfast...

My main struggle is time..my time for myself to create. I read a great book on the subject (A Question of Balance: Artists and Writers on Motherhood), interviews with artists from different fields, how they coped ...conclusion? Almost in each interview they advised to establish career first and then have kids, and almost in each one of them they mentioned about  bunch of helpers (grannies, babysitters, husbands who also happen to work from home or who finish work early enough to be helpful...) Well...I don't have any of that and I didn't finish to read the book either as I felt mad!!!
I am wondering now, how do you cope? How  do you manage to run the house with small kids, and find time to be creative? How do you do this without any help? What is the trick? Any advices welcome!

Anyway, here we are on those last days of this year, resting and relaxing, just me my husband, the kids and sun (and shortbreads of course)! Perfect.

too big shoes

As I mentioned before, I was working on some project which I decided later to let go. This was a good and important lesson for me as the project became too big for me (technique -wise).
I was hoping it won't be that bad, but it was. I had a huge problem with simplification and persuading what I would love to do with my current abilities. So so..here they are some drawings I made..

I can't really tell anything about the story and book itself  as it is still ongoing project, but my drawings are far too realistic even for me..:)

Next one is one of the versions I made working on the main character, but still too realistic, too old I think (the character is between 3-5 years old, that what I can tell and she is the mischievous one)

I was drawing and drawing and I was making just circles. I couldn't transform my drawings in a way I would be happy with so I stopped. I wish I could do better, but at least I have learnt a lot!

old dusted stuff

Hello there. It is very windy in Scotland today. We are experiencing a storm-according to news. I have to say it is very very windy indeed. My older girl stayed at home, schools and nurseries were closed. People had been warned not to go out and travel unless they really had to, and most of them had at least a half day off from work :))
But I had a great day at home, I got very excited as I have received my very first comment from lovely Julie Clay. Thank you! Comments give you wings and energy to do more, to push yourself even further knowing there is someone who actually read this and sees your work, and this in the end - gives you a smile. I love comments, especially if there is some constructive criticism from more experienced fellow artists, so feel free to leave one! Probably it was my lucky lucky day today as I got my first (hope not last:)) follower as well! Welcome Marti Gill, hope you will like it here and you will find my work interesting enough to stay for a little bit longer!

I was quite busy lately. I was working on illustration project, but I have decided it is too early for me. I felt  it became too big for me. I got really stressed, couldn't think about anything else and this was just the beginning! It was the first stage, and I wasn't even choosen yet to be the main illustrator for the upcoming book. With no regrets I stop working on it and got back to my drawings and small experiments.
For last couple of years I was mostly dreaming on becoming an illustrator. I have purchased a bunch of lovely books on how to become one, and I have collected a great amount of artistic equipment to do so (I love the smell of pencils and crayons) but I was working mainly behind a computer screen doing web design and multimedia presentations. It wasn't until this year I have decided to have a go and first of all- have fun.

Despite the fact that so far I have made just six watercolors in total and all of them I did at least eight years ago I am quite optimistic because even in just a few I can see a clear progress. I am wondering if you can see it to.

I can say I made this one ten(!!!) years ago...Time really flies.

This one I made the same year as a previous one, and these are my only versions, without any other watercolors or anything in between. I literally haven't done anything else..

And this is my latest attempt made four years later, and five years ago from now!

For the last two I made an awful, I mean really awful black border around, so I cut it out. Well, it is not much as you can see, and my way of thinking about the color and how I would like to apply stains has changed as well since I made those three...
Now I have to jump deep in, have fun and start using COLOR again. Play with it, with the textures, bold stains, lines and collages.
I know there is a great mismatch between what I have in mind and what I can produce at the moment and it is sometimes frustrating but at the same time this is the part of the process and the fun, isn't it?

And these two prints I really love. I brought them back from Poland. I dug them out from attic when I was at my parents house during the summer this year. I made them eleven years ago! WOW! I am going to frame those two and hang on the wall.Yea!

I've never framed and hang anything I have made. I think I have never really appreciate any of my works and for a long long (too long) time didn't even think about myself as an artist really...
So here they are, my old stuff, now it is time for NEW!

Project no.1 - CATS...

So this is a start, I had to have some starting point and to do so I've decided to follow projects from wonderful book I own. The book is about going back to drawing again and have fun with it, without any BIG OVERWHELMING GOALS in mind. This is exactly what I  am going to do. I haven't been drawing properly (apart from a few sketches of my daughter...) for about 8-9 years now..that is a long long time. My fingers became stiff, and this is quite frustrating really knowing what you WHERE capable of once...and you're no more any of this...but with drawing there is a calming thing, you can always go back and by practising routine, determination and perseverance you can get where you belong... again.

First project is CATS. To draw cats in different situations and poses, quick drawings, best from nature, if not - from photo references (this is what I did as I don't own a cat and don't have any friends with cats around). After that next step is to take drawings further, redrawing, trying different mediums, applying color to the favourite ones and so on...nothing too serious.

I made a few, most of them are kittens:

I made another  three of adult cats and  I have some ideas what to do with them next:))

First one is not so simplistic like the kittens, but I like it that way. I am going to do some watercolor and pencils variations with this one, and the other two below:

I think it is quite a good start, I have a lot of fun doing those drawings (unfortunately from photos only as my husband is allergic to cats, there is no chance we will have one in the future..so sad...). Next step is to take them on drawing board and have fun with a different mediums, my favourites are inks, watercolors mixed with pencils. I shell have a great fun with those, can't wait!