Blue water and the heat

For several days now, it's so hot outside and in here, that even the tiniest amout of water seems to promise a refreshment - looks nice, but I am not sure about the taste, though ...

 
Just looking at those fresh and bright colors helped a (very little) bit not to literally melt away within minutes due to the heat - the icecubes in my glass weren't that lucky ... but I guess, it would freak me out, if they had eyes ;) ... see, I must have gotten at least some degree of brain damage due to overheating ;).

Anyway, I still managed to more or less *finish* a new, experimental addition to the inspiration wall.

... *off to eat a huge dish of ice-cream* ...

Old stuff also works

A nice person told me lately, to allow myself to be experimental - and so I did ...

Sometimes, it's the old stuff that works when you don't want to waste *precious* or expensive paints or paper for simple sketches or doodles: pages from an old, discarded book - or my old liner pencils and a simple box of paints which I haven't touched since I left school ... and that was sure a while ago.

Ah, well ...

... how I wish I would have been busy as a bee lately, but instead, I have been enjoying some books (ahem, reading, not binding them), the sun, far too much icecream and some new high-tech toys ...

So, I admit I am a rather lazy bee, getting easily sidetracked by all sorts of things ...

Spring and dots

As promised, I am going to try to catch up a little bit. And since today is a very grey day here - same as most days this spring here - I thought I might share some ideas for simple ornaments I made back in february and march to add some color (especially some bright green) to exactly such grey days to instantly lighten up the day and the mood.

And last, but not least, my favortite ones: I simply love the vintage feel of the lace pieces in combination with the bright colors of the felt. They were a gift to my mother-in-law, but on that day, she wasn't the only one who wanted to keep them. Guess, next year I will have to make a lot more sets than just one ...

So much for today, I am off with some words which are (at least for me) perfectly suited for grey and rainy weather to keep me smiling. ;)

Hey, how cool!

This december, the German branch of SciFi channel hosted an online drawing contest to celebrate the launch of the television series "Sanctuary" in Germany. You could draw simple "monsters" online in a small active drawing window. I participated under my name and my husband's name - well, I didn't know back then, that I could post more than one monster ... But as life is, always expect the unexpected!

One of the monsters, I drew and donated under my husband's name - the "Hey, it's me - monster" - actually made it into a real design for shirts, bags and so on which are now sold for a charity project! Just have a look at the SciFi shop.

How cool is that? It's so cool to see your own stuff somewhere in a real shop, on real objects. A nice late Christmas present.

Dreams

I once dreamt of being someone else in someone else's life, a wish burried deep inside me, hidden behind a daily routine - now I have stopped dreaming. From day to day, I am closer to be the person I always wanted to be ...

Never stop dreaming, never stop hoping to be able to create your own world. Your blank dream may grow to become something big one day.

Simplicity

Standing alone in the grey shades of autumn and winter silence, the plants have forgotten their lives and lost their colors. All is reduced, and what remains is pure simplicity.

The flower centers are actually accentuated with a golden color, because I like the appearance of such vivid colors that change their appearance depending on the angle of light. Only it's hard to take an appropriate photo without daylight.

- black ink on shoji paper with acrylic color details, mounted on heavy watercolor paper, size with white frame 14cm / 5.5" square -

On those, I just had to use such a reduced colorscale. In case anyone might have noticed that the drawing I showed in my post Lines is not included here: this is the second, white version. I tried to do the berries in red, too, but so far I am not that pleased with the result.

Lines

Playing and experimenting with lines and shades ...

- doodling while watching a film, and well, what should I say ... the film was not *that* interesting to keep my eyes glued to the screen ... -

- black ink on shoji paper, mounted on heavy watercolor paper, but I think, it still needs some more work on it - therefore unfinished -

Blue

... is the color of december - at least when you are looking outside. The skies are blue with all different shades of white and grey in them, the snow and the ice are shining blue in the fading twilight of the evening hours ... With the bright summer colors gone and nearly no green left, blue sometimes seems to be the only color left. So, I tried to be inspired by all this blue ...

This was my view this weekend when I woke up at my parents in law's house - enjoying the misty morning light and a great december *winter wonder land* view. And here are some things I did the last days, besides making again *millions* of different cookies for my mother in law and painting some walls - no, not in blue this time ;):

 Words woven into water - a series of watercolor and ink drawings on heavy, nicely textured watercolor paper and a blue star, whose pattern I found on Ravelry, it is called Celestine Crochet. It will hopefully have found a new owner until Christmas since it will become a present.

I hope, you all had a nice weekend and you are not having a too blue monday ...

;)

Good and bad?

Well, at the moment, I am slowly caught up into thinking about the Christmas presents I have/want to make. There is sewing, drawing, bookbinding ... on my list, and of course buying some presents, but I haven't thought about that too much yet. Oh my, and days are flying by so fast currently, that I really wish my day could have 48 hours instead of 24.

Anyway, I took some time to do the decoration for Christmas. The gingerbread men and bisquits of my last post are *in action* now, sleeping peacefully in our Christmas decoration. Although they looked so yummy, they would be a little fuzzy when eating them, so I made some *real* cookies this weekend. Unfortunately, they definitely won't last as long as the gingerbread men, but I am okay with that ;)

Well, that was the good part. Onto the bad one... I am planning to do some ink drawings in the next few days, or at least until Christmas, as a present, therefore I did some little *practice pieces* to get used to ink and pen again, because I feel like I haven't done so for ages ... The outcome is ... well, see for yourself, let's just call it a little bit misshaped - or a happy little accident ;)

Seems like I am having a little hiatus in bookmaking, since I am only posting other crafts lately, but I will return to the books - I promise.

Boo

Darkness has fallen and so Halloween begins... A happy and creepy Halloween to the monster in you.