Studio Snapshot

I'm trying to keep up with daily blogging, which is not easy when there is nothing new to show. Today was a wonderful and full day but no time for art. So I'm sharing a quick, very candid shot of one side of my tiny studio. Oh what glorious mess! Can you relate or are you very tidy and organized?

Journaling on iPad mini in March

I know it's May, but I just realized that I didn't post my digital pages for March or April. Not that anyone will miss them, but I count this blog as one of my journals, so I need them here. I also hope that they might inspire you to do some digital journaling too (if you use any type of notepads).

Just glancing at these pages shows me how life was rich in March. Nothing big, just regular home stuff - sicknesses and birthdays, flowers and snow, lazy mornings, long walks, work, art.... My March was 32 days long, not 31. Our son ran his first half-marathon and I was so proud of him that I decided that I can choose to add a page just for that (as he was sharing the "real" date page with some furniture that we got on the same day). One of the pages shows that there was a school lockdown, when someone with a knife hid in my daughter's high school (or maybe not - it ended without the police finding anyone). 

I tried my hand at digital painting using app called Procreate. I love that app because it allows the option of layers, which can then be combined in many interesting ways. I used it as the background for my 03.02. page.

Played with a different app to desaturate the image. Love the way it looks like that. 

There is one more page that I want to share with you, but this post is getting too long, so I will leave it for some other time.

My studio wall

Shonna recently wrote a post "Where Women REALLY create", and I thought that was really interesting. I am not brave enough to show you everything (disaster area), but this wall should do for now. While skyping with my parents this morning I noticed how cluttered and untidy it looks. I guess it might motivate me to straighten up things a bit... but only after I finish a painting I've been working on :)

An armful of happy

"I saw these beautiful sunflowers and thought of you..."

What a way to steal a heart that's already been his for ages :-)

Digital journaling

Can you believe that it is the last day of January? It always goes so fast... I didn't have too much time (or energy) for art this month, but that didn't stop me from doing something creative every day. I received a mini iPad last year as a birthday gift, and it instantly became my favorite toy. Not a day passes that I don't use it. If you are interested about what I like the most about it - ask - and I'll write a post about it. 

 For now, I wanted to share how I use it as a daily journal. I love the convenience - if I have minute, I will snap one picture and post it on my digital notebook page, but if I am stuck somewhere waiting for an hour - I can easily spend that time creating something (doodling, writing, even painting). I didn't miss one single day in December and January, and now it's fun to flip back through pages and see snippets of my days. And that is exactly how I call these digital notebooks - Snippets of my days.

I'd like to know if you use modern toys for art play...

My brushes

At some point not cleaning the studio becomes harder than cleaning it... that's where I am.

I started by taking a good look at my brushes.

A really good look... I almost wanted to count them, but stopped myself. Instead, I gave them a place in one of my journals.

After that - I organized them. Some brushes went to the place of no return... The following photo is before organizing. The "after" doesn't look much different.

 What can I say - I love my brushes, new ones, old ones, crisp, ragged, big, small... I think I need them all. How about you?

Happy flowers

- watercolors, ink and sharpie liquid pencil in my sketchbook-

Preserved Memories

I wanted to preserve some memories in a little book.

I made darling pogo prints of photos that captured some of my favorite moments.

I gathered some of the supplies we used and splashed them fearlessly on pages.

I picked an adorable photo of her.

Wrote a delicious recipe that she made (not from the adorable creatures in the photo bellow). 

And I wanted to show it all to you, but I can't.

In my hurry to send the little surprise, I forgot to scan or take pictures of all pages...

I was sure I did it and confidently opened my scans folder today to prepare them for this post.

Imagine my surprise when I saw only 4 images...

Oh well.

You get the idea. 

 Pogo prints, tons of texture and paint, and memories preserved in a little book. Fun project!