I need a little challenge to get me back into the groove of being creative daily. I chatted with my online friend Ilana today and neither of us heard about one that would sing to our hearts - which is when this idea came to mind... We draw/paint/doodle on a little piece of paper for 25 days in a row and then make a lovely collage out of all these pieces. We can display it as it is or take it further and paint over it. We could also make a book out of them. Or a garland. Or just toss them into the bin. No pressure for perfection here, just a bit of art time every day because these minutes are a life changer. They certainly put you in a very different perspective and ease of mind. So, what say you? :) Now, I put "art on the go" in brackets up there. Why? Because I know we don't always have a lot of time on our hands to be creative or to sit down behind our desks and make. "Portable studio" is a wording I heard many times before but never really went for it. My creative and dear friend Liezl mentioned it just the other day so I took a look at the video she linked to. Now the girl in that video packed a really big box for her portable studio but it was full of things she loves using the most for her art journaling. I decided to go much smaller for the sake of this challenge alone. I created a little package that contains everything I need to make these 25 pieces of coffee/tea art and I do plan to use it! At home or while I'm out for that tea with a friend of mine. They can have fun drawing too as I prepared more than enough papers :) The most important thing for making art on the go is a solid surface to work on especially for the times one does not have a table near by or when we want to work on loose paper. There are a lot of things we can use for this and I am sure we all already have them at home. I use a small bamboo cutting board when I do my small sized watercolors. It's portable, I can tape the paper to it so it doesn't wrinkle up and I can have more paintings on the go at once. For this challenge I made a sturdy board myself because I needed a smaller size. Here's how I went about it: I took two matching pieces of cardboard (you can use any type of cardboard but do use more layers as it makes everything sturdier) and glued them up really well. I left them to dry while going for a walk and when I returned I prepared my surface to work on: I covered both sides of cardboard with white paper and then I taped clear tape over it to make it waterproof. This way I can easily washi-tape my paper on and off the board and mix watercolors on the surface as well (should I need to). My "portable studio" contains a zip-lock bag of pre-cut watercolor papers (I went for cca. 10x10 cm), my drawing white board, few pens, eraser, small set of watercolors, two aqua brushes, washi tape and some paper towels. And it fits in a lovely tin box that was a gift from my dear friend Mo. Quite perfect I'd say as I can very simply toss it into my bag :) I could even put all of this into a bigger pouch but I love the idea of using a box. This challenge will start on Monday, 7th of May and will run for 25 days. I shall post my pieces on Instagram daily (hopefully) and then do a re-cap post here on the blog showing you all the pieces at once.
I hope you join me for a bit of daily art fun spinning around our favourite tea or coffee. I am very keen on seeing what you guys come up with. If you share on social media please use the hastag #25daysofteacoffee so that I can see your works. Let's have fun with this! :) ♥ nini
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Seriously? Writing down a log for the past four weeks? While being in the fifth one already? Well yeah, why not. I was busy :D Spring arrived which means it's time to spend much more time outside - hiking, climbing or just walking. One gets a bit too tired for art making which is not exactly good, so with today, I am setting up a new challenge to get back into the groove of creating again. Hiking, climbing and having time for my friends is still ON though, because friends and the like minded souls out there are what makes everything SO much better. I'll post about the challenge in my next blog post - let's keep it to itself :) I really wasn't creative a lot in these four weeks but I did do a fun collaboration with a friend of mine who makes dog collars and accessories - here is her beautiful site GALGINA. Because I was visiting my dear friend Mo this month and I wanted to surprise her with a new collar for her little furry friend Simona (from Galgina) suggested I paint the fabric myself. I loved the idea so I made it. I went with green because it's Mo's favourite colour and I knew it will look awesome on her Snoopy :) I wasn't wrong me thinks: I managed to make myself a My Pages inspired travel journal a day before leaving but I did a different type. The size is the same as the original book but the pages are not treated in the same way and the craft paper I used was a different one. I wasn't exactly using it but I did a few test pages in it and loved it very very much. Here's one spread on which I tested Mo's oil pastels which turned out to be just simple crayons. But in A LOT of different and yummy colours. She gifted them to me so that I can keep on experimenting with them ♥ So sweet! Now that I'm back from my very relaxing week with dear Mo and after a week of getting back into my reality it's definitely time to start doing my work again. I miss being creative a lot and it really is time I put a bit more effort into squeezing art into my days.
Oh, I did watch quite a few of my online classes in the meantime! Sadly none of them made me pick up a brush but I still felt like I was getting new things into my head. Which is always good, right? Don't forget about my new 25 Days Challenge! Reveal is in my next post ;) Hope you're all good! Do tell what you've been up to. ♥ nini Acknowledge the bad but focus on the good.Going straight to logging this time. I am writing this on April 2nd and when I was contemplating how quickly March flew by and how it doesn't feel like I did anything creatively in the last two weeks it turned out (thanks to my short journal keeping) this wasn't a case at all. Much happened but it's like I get so caught in the pure wonder about time flying by that I forget to focus on the time that is, and the good stuff. So yeah, the message from Big U is definitely one I need to keep in mind at all times. Week 12 started of with a new batch of snow!!! that luckily melted relatively quickly. I decided to make some use of my "words" pages I did in previous weeks and I uploaded three new designs in my Redbubble and Society 6 shop - wish I could buy ALL these things to proudly use but I guess it's ok since I really don't have much space at home :D All the tote bags that I have look awesome so I'm guessing the rest of their products look just as awesome too :) Then, OMG, can't believe I nearly forgot about this :D I finally spoke about my SUPER SECRET PROJECT I kept mentioning for ages :) It's LIVE now and it's all about some very special books! I came up with a really cool design for creative books - creative as in you can use them for writing or sketching - and I decided to offer them to those interested. BUT! I didn't make enough to re-open my Etsy shop just yet so this is something I am still working on. I made and published a special web site just to explain these books that I call "My Pages" - not mine per se but made by me for you to call your own. Have a look here and see these pages and books for yourself. There's a sign up to be notified about the release date at the end of the fist page, so yes, please, have a looksie ;) Then, pretty much on a whim, I made a little design for a contest held by our enamel pots making company called Emo. My mom pointed it out and I said to myself sure, why not, I love these vintage looking pots and mugs and plates so I came up with a small design they can print either just as is or use as a pattern. There were three things to take care of - one color only, small 6x6 cm and it needed to have a dot in it. I don't know why exactly a rather well known cookie came to mind but I guess it had to do with a thought of a full mug of white coffee and the need for a cookie to dip in :) I like what I did and I very much hope they do too. I'll know in two weeks so please keep your fingers crossed (not literally of course :D ). Week 13 brought a lot of family time - two lunches and a trip to IKEA where I finally bought myself the "art supplies" trolley I've been eyeing for years now.
Not much time to be creative in this week but I did manage to finish painting a batch of pages for my books and make a watercolor sketchbook for my dear friend whom I'm visiting this month (already!). I actually finished her sketchbook today, it's still drying and I'm hoping it'll open up well and function properly. The challenge was to re-use her old planner's covers (soft covers) and well, it was a bit tricky to do it. I'll post a photo of it in my next log where it belongs. Now let's see what this week brings! :) Wishing you all a wonderfully full and creative times. ♥ nini What you create, is.Be it with our body, hands, spoken word or even mind. And creations come with responsibility. Agree? Looks like I'll be writing these posts every other week now :) It's so funny how time changes and twists and is in general not very linear at all. So here's my creative log for these past two weeks: I helped my friend with preparing the auction to raise funds to help with animals in need - those living outside or those they take care of in foster homes. The stories I hear about these rescues are heart breaking and I am very grateful for these people. They are truly making a huge effort out there. These two small canvases (8x8 inches) are up at the auction and they will be up till next Sunday. You can find everything that is up on the auction on this link - it's a Facebook album created for this event. I also donated 7 of my wooden brooches, a cute "Spring in a Cup" pincushion and a watercolor I did a few weeks back. My first photo on the blog consists of two images, the snowed in one was taken in week 10 and the second one this Wednesday. I think it's really cool to live in a country that has spring time just an hour away from the winter time :) A bit of creative me time at the sea side - the spring time time :) What a bliss, especially the sun and clear skies.
My Super Secret Project is still moving forward - a bit slower these days but I'll be jumping in full time now. Just need to get my upstairs studio space all cleaned up and ready for some fresh energies to move in. They will help with everything! And what are you guys up to? Drop me a line will ya please and have a great week! :) With much love, as always, ❤ nini We need constant reminders to help us stay on our path |
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