Nini's ATC swap- September

September seems so much shorter due to my holiday at the beginning of the month ;) This month the topic of the ATC is: BLACK AND WHITE. I think it's a nice topic even though I would have loved to use my watercolours again ;) I did, however, had a chance to practise using my recently bought MICRON pen and BRUSH pen. It was quite interesting to see the outcome! It's actually nice to get out of the comfort zone.

This time I had to make 2 ATC so here's the outcome:

Slovenia- happy times

This September I visited a dear friend of mine, a talented artist and a marvellous person who lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I had a whale of time sightseeing, chatting, walking, hiking and relaxing. The country itself is amazing- so green and so inviting. The people are very hospitable and friendly and one feels very relaxed surrounded by all this amazing greeness and beauty.

LAKE BLED-an amazing place

 

the capital city: LJUBLJANA

 

  

 

Shots from our hike

 

 

 

 

Slovenian Coast: PIRAN

 

 

 

 

and... finally... our creative moments:

 

My friend taught me to NEEDLE FELT... it was an interesting experience. I had never done it before, I have, however, seen my friend's creation and was quite amazed you could actually make 'something' from  a bundle of wool...

 

 

My friend gave me a lovely bag with foam for felting:

 

 

 

showed me what needles to use:

 

 

and, obviously, HOW to needle felt... and we got down to work:

 

 

 

I made Mrs. HEDGEHOG and made friend made the Wee Man ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We also made some attempts at whimsical faces following an online tutorial. We ended up with quite realistic faces, though ;) We used pencils and acrylics here. It was quite fun to make even though I didn't manage to make them any 'whimsical' ;)

 

We did a bit of painting while on the road ;)

Then, one day, in the Street we stummbled upon THIS bike with a crochet cover! Amazing!

 

 

 

and, I was soooo lucky to receive whole bunch of lovely gifts most of which were made by my talented friend :)

My absolute favourite is... MR TEDDY -  a needle felted fellow

 

who lives here:

 

 

 

 

 

It definitely was an amazing holiday!

Nini's ATC swap- August

The theme for Nini's ATC swap in August was: KITE. It took me a while to think of what to draw. Since I recently bought myself a pen for illustrations, I decided to use it while making this ATC. I obviously used watercolours :) I feel more and more comfortable with them.

 Here's the outcome:

the Sketchpack project-31 watercolour flowers

A very good friend of mine encouraged me to participate in a 31-day challenge called 'The Sketchpack Project. I was a bit hesitant at first as it sounded really intense and it was about painting or drawing EVERY DAY! I had never drawn or painted every day, but I wanted to take on this challenge and see if I could do it... I opted for watercolours and decided to paint 31 flowers.

 

I made an accordeon booklet (10 cm by 8,5 cm) as indicated by the host of this maginificent Project:

 

 

...and then got down to work:

 

 

day 1: sunflower    day 2: dandelion

 

 

day 3: iris    day 4: tulip

 

 

day 5: crocuses    day 6: king's cup

 

 

day 7: snowdrops      day 8: daffodil

 

 

day 9: lily      day 10: pansy

 

 

day 11: hollyhock      day 12:  magnolia

 

 

day 13: poppies    day 14: rose

 

 

day 15: cactus flower

 

 

day 16: passion flower       day 17: sword Lily

 

 

 

day 18: knapweed          day 19: bleeding hearts

 

 

day 20: Fresia    day 21: no idea what the right name is; we called them 'bells'

 

 

day 22: gerbera    day 23: foxglove

 

 

day 24: thistle   day 25: Daisy

 

 

day 26: aster    day 27: azalia

 

 

 

 

day 28: sterlitzia    day 29: gloriosa

 

 

day 30: anthurium      day 31: nun's hood

 

 

 

 I'm very happy with the outcome and I can tell I have improved. :)  I have also discovered what I feel comfortable with paiting and what areas I still have to work a lot on. I definitely need to devote more time to petals as the more of them the harder it is to paint them. A long way to go still ;)

 

Also, I came to the conclusion that it would be great to be able to paint every day, but life is quite hectic at the moment and I will have to resort to occasional painting. Still, I will be doing it ;)