You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November 2010.
Apart from the obvious (no work tomorrow! hooray!), here are a couple of more original answers to the question.
♥ Fridays are perfect for a friendly match
Paris vs New York
A visual duel between the two great cities by amazing Paris based graphic designer Vahram Muratyan. – I am completely addicted to this project. I love its colors, simplicity and quirkiness. Here are a few of my favorite pieces:
Check out the whole collection here.
♥ Fridays are good for scribbling
I have two new girlies for you:
And a couple of color experiments too:
This was part of the same experiment I posted a couple of weeks ago and the original monochromatic version is still my favorite. I guess it’s because I can see more of the original lines and pen work. I still love doing these color tests though. They are fun and can be very surprising at times.
♥ Fridays are good for something truly wonderful
When I first saw the work by artist Jason de Caires Taylor, I couldn’t believe my eyes. One of his many projects is an underwater sculpture installation, 9 metres down on the actual ocean floor in Isla Mujeres, Cancun, Mexico. The results are simply stunning.
These sculptures are so moving. They make me think of Atlantis and Alexandria and lost civilizations. I also feel that there is enormous sadness and hopelessness in some of these characters. They are lost, forgotten and frozen in time, even though life is happening all around them. Brilliant work. This is why I love art so much. Pieces like this feed my soul and touch my heart. I will never forget it. – Check out more images of the exhibition here.
Wishing you a beautiful and inspiring weekend.
Lots of love from Lisbon. ♥
The other day, I decided to take my paints and brushes out of the cupboard and play with them for a bit. I haven’t worked with acrylics for such a long time, I thought it would be fun to snap a few shots to show the illustration as it comes to life.
So this is what I did:
First I drew the outlines of the piece. – At this point I usually have no idea what I’m doing so I just go with the flow and draw whatever comes into my mind. – Secondly, I painted the dresses and whatever else I felt like painting. I very quickly decided that I wanted to use pink, so I reached for the red and white tubes and just went for it.
When I’m painting I usually try to figure out which parts will be darker and which parts will be lighter. I’m sure there’s a proper rule for it, but I don’t know it so I just make it up as I go along.
I like smudging the paint onto the paper with the brush. It creates this messy texture, which I love.
After I finished painting, I put my brushes aside and went back to my beloved black markers. I used them to add details all over: faces, hair, eyelashes, flowers, patterns, whatever I felt like.
And here is what the final piece looks like (properly scanned and everything):
I am sure I could add more details or use other colors but I kind of like it the way it is. When a piece feels finished to me, I stop. (I guess it’s my guts warning me: “Stop now! If you continue you’ll ruin it, girl!” – and so I obey.)
That’s it really. It’s done. I am thinking about getting it framed and give it as a present to a friend who’s about to give birth to a baby girl (any minute now actually, she is huge!). It’s quite a large piece and I think it would look pretty in a girl’s bedroom.
How about you? Have you been working on something creative this week? Show me. I want to see.
Lots of love from Lisbon and have a beautiful day. ♥
Girls behaving badly. ♥
Insanely busy couple of days. A million things to do, so little time. I’m sure everyone’s felling the same thing. End of the year is always this crazy, isn’t it?
I’m currently working on a couple of very fun and very colorful Christmas illustrations. I’ll post them here as soon as they get published. In the meantime, here’s a little red and black marker scribble on recycled paper. I love drawing on “weird” paper. It always gives a different tone and texture to the drawing. I actually think this used to be an envelope of some sort. I probably stole it from someone’s desk at work. ♥
After much deliberation, my boyfriend and I have finally decided where to go for Christmas and new years. We’ll make our way through northern Switzerland (the German part) and also see a little bit of France (Love!) – I promise to post the full route here, complete with illustrations and everything.
Planning for holidays always reminds me of the amazing time we had on past trips. I love looking at the pictures we took and the drawings I made. They bring back beautiful memories and the promise that the next trip will be even better.
We were in Venice a couple of months ago. This is what we saw:
This is me. My boyfriend took this picture to test our new camera lens. :)
All photography taken by us on a Canon 500D.
And here are two new little illustration pieces I scribbled over my favorite turquoise-colored paper:
Fine point black markers on recycled paper.
I have been in love with Venetian masks before and I’m currently planning on a big Venice-inspired piece to give as a present for a very dear friend. I’m not really sure how to do it justice though. Venice is too wonderful and intimidating. It doesn’t even look real, it’s so perfect. I won’t try to reproduce that kind of beauty. It’s an impossible task. What I’ll do instead is use it as inspiration to draw something pretty that will make my friend smile. That will make me very happy and I guess Venice won’t mind.
What an amazing place. Have you been there? I’ll definitely be back and highly recommend it.
Lots of love from Lisbon, wishing you a beautiful weekend. ♥
