Go Wild

Happy PPF and Friday Sketches!

I was in doubt on what to show today, but that was untill I saw Dion's suggestion. Tea/Coffee cups/mugs is always a good alternative, and there is so many fun to choose from. This specific one is on my wishlist.

Now, why don't I just buy it, you might think. Well, I have to go to the gallery that sells them, and that's far away from where I live. But, I hope to be able to visit there one day. This mug might not be available at that time, but I'm sure there will be others that I may want to buy.

I have seen many different mugs, and quite a few I wish I had. It's so fun to have extraordinary mugs/cups. This black and yellow Zebra mug is so much fun, and the tail as handle. What's your favorite cup/mug?

As I decided on sketching this one I felt for making jungle like border to match the theme of my mug. I'm not sure who the designer is, but I have the name written some place.
I really don't have time to write this post, there's so much gardenwork to do right now. Handyman is out there weeding already, I better go help him.
Thanks for visiting, I appreciate all of you!

Daily routines messed up.

It has been an odd week.

Handyman free from work and my days have not been as usual. Isn't it strange how one can't get the routine to work properly with another person around. It's not that I don't like to have him home, I just notice how things change.

Just a little sketch I did, the text says : They told me it's summer, but I don't know, it's cold and no nests here.
I have come to use my sketchbook alot more than I thought I would. I often use it for testing out things that I'm going to make larger pieces of. Next photo shows such a test.

I had made a piece with birds, but didn't like it much because the birds, kind of, just sat there. No life in the piece so to speak. Therefore I decide to make another one where the birds were "alive"  The finished piece below is called : The Angry The Brave and The Curious one. This is a much better one, and one can almost hear the noice from the birds.

I have been doing quite much arty stuff this week, even with handyman around. Much testing, failure, but new ways of using my result and so on. I'll have to show you some other time, today I finish off with a journal page done in acrylics and twinks.  It was quite a job to paint the fence, but I had to because of some very dark photos in the book.

Finally, let me tell you that I was one of the lucky winners of a free spot in Dion Dior's Watercolor Pencil class. Yayyyyy!! Starts in September, I think. She has lowered the price of this class till the end of May, so why don't you consider a spot for yourselves. Dion is a very skilled artist AND teacher. I so much look forward to this.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy Friday everyone!

I'll link this post to Friday Sketching and Paint Party Friday

Some old tools

For many many years

these were among my most used tools, together with a bunch of different sewing machines. I'm a trained tailor, and when in school, we were forced to use a thimble. It was a hard job to get used to it, and now I can't make a single stitch without it. No matter what I need to stitch, my thimble is a must.

That's the reason I have three, one quite small if my fingers are cold, one for warm hands and the fancy pink one were bought last summer in the US. I think that will be a good one, but I don't sew much these days.

My left hand pair of sissors is an important tool too, and as a tailor I do keep my fabric sissors away from all kinds of different use. I have one for paper use, one for kitchen, some fabric sissors and a couple of thread cutters. All for left hand use or universal.

This sketch were done with black pen only and watercolors.
Thank you for visiting and have a wonderful weekend!

I'm linking this post to Friday Sketching and Paint Party Friday.

Tiny garden house.

 HappyFriday Sketching.

This weeks theme isn't excactly my cup of tea. I find it so very hard to sketch houses, and houses were the first thing I thought of when reading the theme.
I tried several times to sketch our house, but I had to let it go. Instead I made this little sketch of our tiny garden house. It's wonky, but still, it's a sketch.

Handyman built this house for us some years ago, using some windows which once belonged to our house. Together we planned the shape of the house and he built it.
Normally these little houses are painted white, but I didn't want it to show off that much. With this green color it flows with the rest of the garden.

We have some outdoor furnitures in there, and this time of year it's lovely to be there having some coffee. One gets closer to the garden this way, and many times I can sit out there watching lots of different birds. I have a bird bath on the deck, and the birds love it.

Notice the little lace border hanging down from the roof, I spent quite some time to design it, and handyman spent equal time to make it. We've had lots of positive feedback from our neighbours regarding this little "garden palace" of ours. The door is from somwhere in between 1900 and 1910, and was given to us from a neighbour. He changed all the doors in his house, and this one were the only one original from back then. I'm glad I did this sketch, but I'm not sure I'll do it over again untill I'm better doing it.
Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend!

Friday Sketching

My kitchen table didn't show anything interesting, so I have chosen to sketch a part of my kitchen instead.

What you see is where I cook our food, baking cakes and so forth. The house we live in is a hundred year old beauty, which we've restored. We've kept the intire house as close to the origin as possible. We did find some original kitchen parts, but they couldn't be of any use. 

As you see below, or actually you won't be able to see it, I have chosen to hide the ventilator behind a tiny curtain. At first I frightened it would be very fatty in a short while, but it works fine. 

My kitchen is a very small one, but we have all we need, and all the modern equipment have been embedded. 

Even though each room is quite small, it doesn't feel that way because of very high celings. All over the house we have lots of beautiful details, the carpenters, back then, worked in a completely different way than today.

Well, that's all I had for you today, enjoy your weekend!

Friday sketches, sliced fruit.

Banana, handymans favorite fruit.

I was so glad to see this weeks challenge were sliced fruit. I knew I had bananas, so I would use one for inspiration. That was what I thought, but handyman had eaten the last one for breakfast this morning. Therefor, my sketch is improvised.

I used ink for sketching, and water to to let the ink bleed a bit but it doesn't show much in the photos. I've never liked messing up my pieces, but I can feel my resistance against that fading away. I made another sketch yesterday, much more messed up and I really liked it.

I'm so excited these days, my brand new set of Sennelier aquarel paints are on their way to me, and I can hardly wait for them to arrive. I've only had some old pan watercolors that aren't much good.

I'm so happy for this Friday sketches challenge, it makes me sketch alot more. I've even found myself thinking, oh, I'll have to sketch this. And also, I use my sketchbook to try out things I'm going to make in the future.

It has always been hard for me to make backgrounds in my paintings, but I find that's much easier too. The sketch book allows every entry, and there's nothing to be afraid of.

Find your sketch book and join this challenge you too.

Well, not quite a street view.

It's Friday sketching again,

although I've been sketching all week. I have chosen to show you a sketch of my highly treasured horse. I found him in a second hand store and couldn't love him more, even if it was a gift from someone I knew. As a matter of fact I think he's a donkey, but I call him a horse.

He sits on the table in our hallway, and each time I pass him (several times a day) I can't help smiling. He seems so happy to rest on the shelf under the table. He's made of ceramics and has a smooth surface. I used twinkling H2o's to paint him.

I'm a newbie to sketching, and it truly amazes me that I can achieve fairly good results. It must be the fruits of all my art making during the last three years, and from all the useful stuff I've learnt from Dion Dior during Twinks 1 and 2. So, thank you Dion I'm sure I couldn't have chosen a better teacher. I so much enjoy this new found way of making art, and if my sketches are not that good, much can be done during the painting process.

The next photo shows my stretched horse, I can't do anything but laugh and you're allowed to laugh too. I'm not used to draw/sketch one subject over a spread like this and that confused me. All the same, I like the horse as is.

I have told myself to let go of all expectations, let it be what it is and be happy. It's not always easy to keep that in mind, but I'm trying. I hope you'll be patient with me, and I promise to do my very best. Also,  remember I'm a Norwegian and English isn't my main language, so please, bear over with me if I don't write/express it all correctly.

I forgot to put in some shadows, but it doesn't matter. In fact, I like the look of him flying over my spread, looking like a happy free horse.
Well, that's about it, I hope you're leaving with a huge smile on your face, it helps the mood and my horse has done a little magic for you too.

Thank you for popping in and if you left a comment, thanks for that too. I love to read what you have to say and each comment is much appreciated.
I'm looking forward seeing what the rest of you have been sketching too.

Be sure to make this weekend good for yourself and those around you.

Sketch Friday

Finally I found

some useable sketch books, and now I'm going to sketch alot. Sketching has never been my thing, proportions and perspective never lived in my pens/pencils. No matter how hard I have been trying, my results were nothing but trash.

Now, on the other hand, it seems they ( perspective and proportions) have come to collaborate, and I'm thrilled. The fact that I'm taking the class, Mastering Twinks part two, and newly found my sketch books of a certain standard, does help my inspiration. These are my books.

Last week in February I was in Majorca, and while there I took lots of photos that now will be turned into sketches. Below is an abandoned spanish house, partly falling apart. The lovely old spanish architecture is about to disappear, as in many parts of the world for that sake. It's a shame, but it's the future.

This lovely site is located along the road between Palma and Luc Major.
I've done many many trips to Majorca, and have lots of photos from every trip. Now they'll come to good use. Lucky me!
Dion Dior invites to participate in her sketching Friday project, and I'm going to commit to that. I'll probably sketch alot more than that, so each Friday I'll post " the best of the week". I'm really happy for this opportunety to practice sketching, black pen only. Perhaps I can turn good at doing it in the future.

Enjoy your Sunday!