Back online

Ah dear readers (if there are any left)

As many promises I have broken in the past, I am back! ;)

New year, new motivations, new expectations. 

Throughout my vacations I have finally accepted my pathetic status as "unemployed" and have decided to make the best of it, instead of falling into a black pool of despair. 

So for this new year, I have subscribed myself to oil painting classes, I am thinking about learning German or Japanese and of course the continuation of the epic search for a job. Keeping this blog regularly updated is also something I want to continue, as well as my webshop project at Dawanda (already got a call to ask if I was planning on continuing..) So I am hereby inviting you to my (quite empty) shop :D SHOP LINK I have also found other nice websites like Society 6, but I first have to get my paypal account working again. 

Enough of the rambling!

I first want to share my holiday season cards :) Sadly I started as always a bit too late.. so I could only make 5 hahaha. But I want to use the stamps I bought for upcoming birthdays and Valentine cards as well.

The next two are sketches. The EDM challenge number 5: Draw your bed! I quickly sketched out of memory my room with my bed in it. The cat on the bed is a stuffed animal... yeah.

Next sketch is my final version of Tjido in cartoon style AND I LOVE IT! He looks awesome!

             

This last drawing was an idea of my good friend Star. She told me about a painting she had seen on TV  and I though I would recreate it, but apparently I didn't understand what she meant haha but ended with this: A 2 sided drawing!

Sorry!

OMG!
It has taken me a month to update... a new record! I'm soooo sorry!

So since I did not get my job in Spain I have been a bit busy with looking for new jobs, stressing about it, taking the theory driving exam and of course our little "wolf".

But thankfully I have a colour drawing I was trying to save for a decent post but whatever!
EDM Challenge 4! Draw your mug or cup :)

I really like this sketch because I did it with feltip pens which I do not normally use. They also remind me of home, since every trip to mexico I bring a few back.

I also realized that I haven't told you guys I have a Dawanda shop! :D since I am looking for a job, I decided to open my shop and see what I could get. Also a nice way to have another project going on. I will post the link later, but if you are very curious it is called Curly Sketches :P 

Thank you for reading and I promise a decent update at the end of this week!

Leaving Merida

As inspiration of many sketching blogs that I follow, I tried to make journal-style page. I don't think I can use my sketch book as a journal... maybe because I like to show my drawings, and I guess it will be uncomfortable if there are very personal things written (although drawings can be also very personal, but that depends on how people look at them).

So this is a very simple page with a good-bye to Merida. Yes, we have left. I maybe want to add some colour, but didn't want to take too long before an update :)

My second sketch is a EDM #3 : Draw a bag :) this is my fav bag when I come to Mexico. I always use it! I borrowed it from my mom but never gave it back haha, its a good size bag made of leather and, if i'm not wrong, Guatemaltecan weave as decoration with many earthy coulours.

 As a final remark, thank you again to everyone that visits :) comments are highly appreciated!
I have realized that i never use "Tags" and after visiting other people's blog I have realized how useful they are :P haha, so I will try and start adding those!

Prints, again dogs and EDM challenge!

As promised, today I want to share with you my prints.
Back in high-school, when I still had the dream to become an artist (before my mom, rest in peace, basically told me to get a "real" degree in the brutal way that mom's can be...) one of my favorite disciplines was printing. We had a huge printer-roller and not only linoleum, but wood and plastic/glass. It was great! Actually, I found a picture of my prints that I send to England at the time for the A levels. (So yeah my mom did put everything I did up on the wall :P)

I never really thought I would do prints again. I had learned of course the classic way with oil based ink and the whole printing machine.. you can't really buy those hahaha. Now in Mexico I refound my tools and found out that its actually very easy to buy linoleum haha, and you can get water based inks! Yay!
The printing machine is still missing, but a good bottle or can has worked as roller.

For those who don't know how this works: (maybe i'll make a real tutorial next time)
- You make a drawing design, preferably on paper (very hard to draw on linoleum)
- Put the drawing face down onto the linoleum and scratch the pencil drawing.
- Start carving!

Here i'm showing you 2 styles, the tricky thing about prints is not only appearing like a mirror image, but you have to think hard as what will be "black" and what will be "white". How do you want to make volume or distance? Thickens of lines and separation are key.

And finally a continuation of the dog comics! We are really excited about it, reading, researching etc about different subjects in having a dog. We have decided on the breed and already have asked for information at their offical association, and we are now on the "list" :) but well, I know we will have allot of comments of people around us thinking we are nuts.

Finally, as you know i was having a bad case of drawings-block. But I must say I found inspiration in the EDM challenges and decided to draw one that I had "added" previously in my sketchbook :) so yeah good idea!

NEW JOURNAL!

Thanks to the encouraging comments on last post, i decided to pull up my trousers and begin my new sketch journal!

So here i present to you my 1st Moleskine journal! I still have to finish my recycled paper one, but I think i'll be working happily on both.

OK so i know the foto is not very sharp, but it is still a WIP ;) I decided to decorate it with the two countries I feel most at home and where I've been traveling back and forth for almost my whole life.
Since sometimes I do get a drawing block, i decided to use the EDM list of drawings! So in every 8-10 pages i decided to put a challenge:

Next the first 2 skecthes! Yay!

Many journals i have seen have inspired me allot and since I love food I decided to follow the food-journals for now. I might want to add some real stories on my pictures, but i just don't know if my handwritting would ruin everything.. well that's just me rambling about. 

Lets move on! The first drawing is of my breakfast at my local market here in Merida :) and the second one was made at my favourite lunch place: Cafe Creme (calle 41) its just amazing place! The owner is a very nice french man called Eric and he makes the most delicious salads! (its strange how with so many vegetables and ingredients, you can never find decent salads in Mexico)

Below are the coloured versions. I used water colours and maybe for the quiche drawing i will add some more things. That's what happens with colours.. suddendly white is really WHITE haha. I don't know if colour is my thing, but i guess it does give more life to these food entries ;)

Every Day Matters (329)

Hello everyone!

This week I became a member of Every Day Matters, which is a group of people who like to draw-paint be creative and share their stuff (see some of the blogs i'm following). The idea is that there's a "weekly challenge" and everyone can join and make their own version of this challenge. It's not obligatory or anything, but i think it keeps you from going into drawings-block haha. It motivates ;)

So this weeks challenge was: Draw Something with Buttons on it (#329)
And this is what I made of it.

1-2: Since the dark-sea fish was so well received last week, i decided to make a new one, another type of fish but with a small detail- the decorations are "buttons"! Normally they would be like small pearls that give off light as well as the big light they have.

3: That's a variation of the kid with the owl mask o one with a cat mask. I'm trying some new things for a picture for Sorada, who loves cats. I'm sorry that its lying on its side, i can't get my comp to recognize it should be vertical :S But you get the idea.. i'll try to change it this weekend.

Finally, someone asked what i use to draw.. my pens say pigment liner, but i think they're just ink pens, 3 different sizes and a big permanent marker :P