Hold on to Your Dreams

New addition to my new series

Sketching in Barnes and Noble

Today I had a very productive day. Sketching in my favorite spot in our local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Many magazines to draw inspiration from, so I decided to record my experience by doing quick sketches of what I saw and liked. Here are collages of my visual journey. Each page spread is a different magazine. Unfortunately for us artists magazines are dying trade. So maybe this is a recording of my own nostalgia.
You can see there was a little "accident" on the right where I went over my new calligraphy marker and it turned out it was not water resistant. I will have a post about that soon. Some accidents are welcomed... but it's best to know how to control your medium.

"Where Woman Create" is as always full of stories of wonderful women who dedicate their lives to their bliss.

"Nordic Living" offered a different palette and aesthetics. The sketch on the right of this spread is of my window view of the corner of The Shoppes at Web Gin House Rd.

Daniel Smith Dots

Best way to know if a new art material works for you is to try it, the next best is to hear it from someone who did. Urban Sketchers Symposium provided sketchers with the opportunity to try our sponsors products. Daniel Smith's watercolors are a great investment for all of you who do sketching with watercolors. The best way to try how they really feel on paper is to obtain their "dots". The link here is for all 238 colors they produce but some retailers offer smaller lists which could help you tremendously in your decision. Needles to say these colors are so highly pigmented you might even paint for a minute just with dots so your sample can pay for itself. Some field artists even dedicate first or last page of their journals to create palette and carry it with them instead of boxes. Daniel Smith also offers palettes of certain artists and the one on my sketch is by Liz Steel my favorite Urban Sketcher.

Back From Urban Sketchers Chicago Symposium and already missing good bites (among other things). Going through my sketchbook this quick sketch of our Pret's breakfast caught my eye. Great food simple concept... I miss you Chicago!

On Top of the World

Sometimes I feel like standing on top of the world wherever that might be, but possibly as Black Elk said "The Central Mountain is everywhere." I suspect the Top of the World same as Central Mountain is everywhere because it walks with you. This bird is getting ready to fly or to become a butterfly. She is in a great company nevertheless. My contribution to Illustration Friday. also in my E-Bay store and Saatchi On line. 

New Beginnings- Peace and Love to all

Blue

Gray

Love Hurts

Carrot Cake

New year and new Beginnings, just for Illustration Friday. Here are my new ACEOs in a new romantic and aged style. Something I always wanted to do. Click on a caption below each image to be taken to a E-Bay page. They are available as originals and prints. I hope you can share your opinion of my new direction. Peace and love to all in a New Year.

Christmas is behind us and I do hope all of y'all out there had  a great one. We shared more love than anything else this season and that's the way it should be, anyways. Here is the one for when the goings get tough and we need to bring it back to love. I dubbed it "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word"  and its in my E-Bay shop. But it fits right in Illustration Friday's challenge Reflect.

Christmas is so near! We barely had time to recover after the Thanksgiving feast. This year season is so short. Or maybe it's just me being busy. Here is one for the spirit for at least the tree is up and alight. This one is for Illustration Friday also available in my E-bay shop.
There is no snow in Atlanta, not that I am complaining, but its nice to see some and have a white Christmas. But, Oh well! We can get creative and have some on a small scale. Life is sweeter with a cupcake.

Into the Season

Getting into the season already. We all crave a little alter ego, a little scare and of course super powers! This little fellow is in my E-bay shop.

For "her" eyes only

It's so calming observing birds and animals. But do you know they observe to?! I have seen cats being so intent on an object of their interest that we can really learn so much from them about focus.This blue-green eyed charmer is in my E-bay store.

Summer Accessories

In just one day summer swung in in its full force, and immediately one thinks of vacation beach sunglasses and all those summer accessories that makes summer "summer". But what about our darlings that brighten our days when Sun don't shine? Find a pet friendly resort and take them with us, of course. Lucky is traveling to in this fabulous pink carrier.

Forever a Child

It rains and it rains here and it really is not a time for a kite. But what a great feeling it is when it rises and soars up and high. It wakes child inside you instantly. This is from the series Cool Hat Luke: Fly Your Kite currently in my E-Bay shop.

Sun has Arrived

Even though the title of this journal entry is "China Rain" there is a sunshine in the background. And the Sun has finally arrived in its full force here in Atl. Birds are ecstatic chirping all day long.

Take a Plunge

It might be still cool outside, unseasonably so for American Southeast, but this sounds like a real invitation. Weather  its referring to a real cool blue plunge or just a leap of faith. I might add a new line of these birds to my e-bay shop soon. Stay i touch. I hope this is also liquid enough for my friends at Illustration Friday!

Cool Hat Luke - Take me to the Moon

Future was at the reach of our hands when imagination was young. It is still so. All we need to do is just remember  This is my character Cool Hat Luke and this image is a tiny ACEO listed in my E-Bay shop. I contribute it to Illustration Fridays challenge "Future".

Out in the Sun

Finally some sun to warm our souls dump from incessant April rain. Birds and bugs are out busy and cheerfuller. If you add to it that kids have just one more week of school it'll make my heart sing to. This tiny lady bug is an ACEO in my E-Bay store a new addition to the family of red creatures.

Time to knit a new story

Even though it's April weather is still cool here. I'm still knitting. These little feathered friends keep on appearing in my mind. And also in my backyard. Days now start with a chirp and a song. 

Immagination

I fell in love with The Little Prince long time ago. And then my own little prince was born. So fragile and so full of imagination that actually he was the inspiration for this illustration. I wish I can pry open his dreams and see what they are made of. 
This is my contribution for Illustration Friday this week

Hope is a Song

It's been a while since I have visited my favorite place. Last year presented many changes and challenges for me and my family. It was exciting , life changing and necessary. So after many new books several new friends, new jobs and schools here we are now in what's left of 2012 still young in heart and ready to create some more.  Hope is a song that bird sings right before dawn- I've heard somewhere. And here is a tiny couple that can melt our hearts and bring the new dawn of hope and love for days to come. They are not related to those thorn birds that Colleen Mc Collough used for the title of her fabulous novel. These are cheerful hearts companions we should welcome in our lives. 

Because I need... Love

And so it is. This is a new year in which all is possible. These wonderful rhymes come from a poem by Tin Ujevic titled "The Daily Lament" . I love this part in which a word can change everything in ones life.
So let's start with love because it carries a thunder power an alchemy and spell that can convert death to life. That's the word to start a year with.

Cherry Red and Sooo Summery

Oh the wishing and the dreaming...It's even better than shopping! Isn't this the perfect shoe for bare feet? Are you ready for summer yet? Weather is already hot here in ATL , kids are out of school and vacation is just around the corner but I ... I want to dream... of this piece of perfection and some olden days when going to the farmers market to buy wooden sole clogs and slides meant for sure that summer is moving in and we can forget about socks, and play outdoors all day long with just a slice of fruit jellied bread and glass of milk to keep us going until dusk.

I'm filling up some journal pages fast lately. Experimenting with colors and color combinations allowing myself to be inspired by just about anything in a world: nature, cultures, moods and weather even calendar days. It's liberating and fun as summer is suppose to be to.

Who is Who ( For the Love of G...ray)

You certainly know you've gotten ahead in your life if your name ends up on one of those "Who's Who..." lists. But for some of us it will remain the shade of gray no matter the effort. I love gray it blends well with all other colors and has so many shades it excites me to just think of possibilities.This is my humble contributionto Illustration Friday and Altered Bits Zine "Letters and Signs".

A Cupcake a Day

I hope you all had a great Easter yesterday. Now that all that bunny chasing and egg hunting is over here is something refreshing for, all of a sudden, summer day in Atlanta. The recipe is a fresh spin of a classic one changed slightly so that the final product is also eye pleasing with this wonderful combination of rich chocolate brown (without really using a chocolate) and pale lime green. Yummy at the same time.

Dipping Deeper in a Jar of Life

Or "Happy birthday to Me"

Life is this perfect , incomprehensibly , sweet and simple thing that we manage to turn( daily) into something more complicated and harder to digest. The final product is always a mystery that never fails to inspire and outrage us at the same time. Why can't we just leave it as it was meant to be : sweet and simple? Oh no. So here I find myself dipping deeper into new and sometimes seemingly incompatible matter experimenting with every year that Lord gave me more and more. Something like these strawberries that started off as a perfect spring fruit that needed nothing more, but in spite of that perfection it ended up being dressed in many, very creative ways.
We love them plain but nevertheless we cant can't resist the urge to change them. And sometimes we love the change ...
and sometimes we just feel it is"good for us".


Sometimes we crave that bizarre and luscious transformation that makes us want more and more of it...

sometimes it's a complete surprise and we just go with it until we get used to the taste of change.

OWOH Winners

Winner of the first Painting is ... drum roll

JINGLE

and the second one .. drum roll again...

SASKIA

I will be soon organizing a new giveaway. Thanks for all of you participating and wishing for my birds

Love

Bleeding Heart

This is an intense Valentines Day image. This gorgeous red ink bled by accident but then I considered it to be a "happy" one ( as usual- that's just ol' positive Me) because not all Valentines are perfect. It is a very emotional holiday for many... both ways, I think... those that are in love and happy and those who are in love and suffer :( ..

But I do want to wish all of you a Happy Valentines Day because love is just one great thing that keeps us inspired either way it goes.

Somthing for Today

I dont know if this is a feeling or a vision .. but it just

Time to Ride Magic Carpet

Hi to everyone, it's that time of the year again when we birds of a creative feather flock together . It's time to share and replenish complement and encourage each other. Welcome to all of you wonderful souls on my blog. I hope you have a great time in here. This first original small painting is going to be yours if your name get drafted in a random drawing. And so that there is still hope after this one leaves my nest here's a second original painting for another lucky one among my visitors. Enjoy! And lets SHARE ! This is my ticket for the wonderfull ride on One World One Heart magic carpet...

Renewal Time

Come beginning of every new year we all want to start anew, learning from past mistakes ( hopefully); applying new wisdom, creating some resolutions that could serve as perfect applications for a saint position ( or at least an angel). Well we're all humans and if the10% of what we wish for us in this year comes through this world will be a better place. So just be bold and add some daring and even impossible goals for you never know how far the frustration of meeting them can push you. Everyone deserves a second chance. "The old order changeth, yielding place to new" , said Alfred, Lord Tennyson in "Idylls of the King" .

Happy New Year

I know that many of you have visited my blog silently in last few months asking yourself where are my new posts. It was my wish to return as soon as possible but many changes took place in a last quarter of the, now old, 2009 that has absorbed all of my time usually dedicated to art. That process is far from being over but I will try to do much better in combining my desires and obligations from now on. In that spirit I want to wish all of you very happy and prosperous New Year. I want you to grab the opportunity when it arises and spread your wings to soar into new heights.
I have created this piece for the Fourth Issue of Altered Bits Zine themed : Notorious. It was created while listening to the Carrol Of The Birds By Mormon Tabernacle( my latest carol addiction a splendid old Andalusian song). Link here is for the UCLA Madrigal Singers since I could not find Mormons performance on YouTube.
This artwork is now in a permanent collection of my son whose awe was expressed with a two minute jaw dropping silence ( you can't ask for a higher price).
I also want to contribute it to a Theme Thursdays challenge : Flying and Wednesday Stamper: Open challenge.

Wrapped up in a Magic

My son is asking for a tent in a backyard for a longest time, and I am always so scared of what might crawl in to ever get close to say "Yes" to his Innocent sense of adventure. As a child I used to have similar ideas and somehow back then, people were more laid back and during hot summer nights we children stayed up late to either listen to adults tales all curled up at their feet or would form a tiny circle in which one of us ( literate enough ) would read some nicely illustrated book about ancient times when knights and princesses ruled this world... Pictures made up for many words we couldn't read right... Imaginations soared and later on our dreams were filled with that magic of a perfect tale shared with the loved ones.
This two brothers all wrapped up in a book share that same moment and magic we used to know years back when we could count years of our life on fingers of one hand.

Back to School

School is back and everyone is impatient. This is a last day of summer break for us here. As of tomorrow everything will be more hectic, no more lazy mornings and late movie nights...

Summer reading list

Summer is near. As much as I am thrilled to be less stressed about our combined schedules, and possibly enjoying few hours of sleep more there's also that inevitable obligation, that falls solely on me, to provide a Summer reading material for kids. I went to local library today and selected few for my son ( I still give my high schooler some time to finish strong- besides the only book that interest her now is the Year Book ). At the same time I kept an eye on a classics selection that always magically pops up on a side shelf this time of the year . There is so much I want to squeeze in for myself that it looks almost impossible, and makes me yearn for those long lazy summers when I was a kid myself drowning day after day in some fantastic book without heaving to think what will I cook for a dinner or did I finish all of my washing loads for this week. Innocent and carefree... Sweet, sweet life...

April Showers

It's been raining almost daily here in a past week, and a throughout a month of April on and off . It could be a bit disheartening to be confined indoors when you expect to unleash your spring spirit and jump into celebrating life and renewal heads on .... but there is nothing more nurturing than that rich, earth smelling rain for these May flowers. It seems almost like this all just happened in my backyard overnight and by some kind of miracle everything was blooming. My camera can not capture the fragrance and freshness but some of those exuberant and incredible colors are her for you to enjoy and share with me my enthusiasm for a next gardening season that looks so promising this year.