My creative space...

After getting myself this book- ( oh it is so brilliant!! I am still speechless, once I regain the ability to talk about it rather then just drool or get hysteric I shall tell you more) -
I have been playing around with watercolors.
But I am still busy with the throw... 294squares done... 6 more to go

Watch this space there will be at least a couple of finished projects sooooon! In the meantime visit kootoyoo for more.

Weekword

AROMA

This weeks word was Aroma. And the first thing that pop in my mind was coffee- so thought i'll take a photo of a good cup of steaming coffee... that clearly didnt happen
Then suddenly yesterday I remembered my student years- we had to make flavourings- or as we called them aromas- like fish or onion, my worst was strawberry, because it doesnt smell or taste like strawberry and the sweet smell makes me feel sick. And worse having to learn all those formulas- most of which i have forgotten
So today i painted- the bottom thing- stands for the cup (aka coffee), the funny bobbles is an imaginary formula- but the colours are for the aroma and its nature. Aroma travels and unfolds spreading itself... opening up a world of experiences and memories .....and then slowly vanishes.

If you want to get more aromas visit Caroline, she has a list of wonderful wiffs!

Weekword

CAMPING

my rather abstract and terribly late contribution to the weekword... 

If you wanna go for some more camping click here!

Happy Camping!

Weekword

DETOUR

What's life but strings of wonderful detours?


Aimee chose the word this week and she's posted the list of the other blogs who participated.
Ejoy your detour!

Weekword

WANDERLUST

The word was chosen by me this week. And it was inspired by my own yearning for travel, which quite frankly is and always was a constant in my life. I love wandering about the surface of this world, discovering and admiring its astonishing diversity and beauty. I had so many ideas for this, but i was sick most of the week and really not in a let's be productive state. So i doodled this quickly this morning...


I am off to see what the others have done with the word... care to join me? then look here: aimee, fruenswerk, frayedattheedge, alexandra, sandra, linda sue, valentina, anairam, e, cindy

should you have participated and are not in this list, leave me a message and i will correct it.

Weekword: REINVENT

  

This weeks word was REINVENT

After a week of baffling about this word- and drawing a complete and utter blank- I woke up this morning and felt like I needed to reinvent myself- went to cupboard and voila! I know that's a bit superficial but it made me feel a wee bit different. Am off to work on the deeper issues

For more reinventions visit Valentina, she has chosen the word and also listed the participants
Have a great weekend!
xo

Reminders

Dandelion

After painting fun and girly pictures I decided to be explore the medium a wee bit more seriously. So what what else to paint than flower? My first attempt was the dandelion, and i couldn't resist the tags, hence it came out a wee bit girly again- but through all my fun and trial pieces I have learnt something.

Blossoming

I am quite happy with it- except I managed to make a smudge (again!). And serious watercolour is not quite as much fun as my earlier doodles- the sense of achievement (despite the lack of greatness) is huge though. I guess I will do a bit of both?
Due to my errors I stopped painting for a few days, sat down and thought about my watercolour experience.
I have build up a few tips for my self, which I hope will help me to get better. Since I seem to stumble the same errors each time:

Asiye' s Watercolour Reminders

• Be patient
  
• Don't hurry - let the paint dry when needed, you will see the end colour and won't smudge as a result!
• Be patient
• Plan you painting roughly before you start
  
• Be patient
  
• Paint from back to front
  
• Don't take it too serious
  
• Enjoy it
  
• Don't be too much of a perfectionist
  
• Be patient!!!
• Have fun and keep going

Do you have any tips for me?

ps: the weekword this week is REINVENT, in case you would like to join it!

Last of Girly Watercolours

Watercolour is done last week. (Thursday)

I am really pleased with the bird. And this might be the last of the girly paintings for a bit. I decided to paint more seriously...
And will share what I mean by that later this afternoon
Have a great day
xo

Weekword: TIME

In those rare moments in life

when time stands still


take a deep breath

and enjoy it



because when that moment passed

it will be rushing by again!



This week the word was chosen  by Anairam and she has posted a list of all the contestants. It's  realyl fun! So take the TIME  & enjoy it!

Autum

just a quick post of sundays watercolour...

Fantabulous

Fantabulous dancing on a hippopotamus

The Word of the Week was Fantabulous! Kirsti chose it and she has a list of the other participants as well. Enjoy the different interpretations of fantabulous... I have added it as a favourite to my vocabulary.

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Wednesday Painting

I am convinced that it was the coldest day of 2009 yesterday!
This is what I painted as a result, I am sure it snowed on some mountain in South Africa yesterday (?)
Been dreaming of snowboarding and snowmen lately... maybe I'll visit Heidiland in the winter, haven't seen snow since we moved to Cape Town!
I like the painting except the snowflakes didn't come out quite like I wanted, they would have been nice in iceblue or icegrey. (another reason to go to the Art shop ;))
Back tomorrow with the Word of the Week - it's FANTABULOUS (in case you wanna join in)
xo

Watercolours

Berries

For an entire week I had tasked myself with painting one watercolour sketch a day. It was really fun, and I decided to keep it going. But because the watercolours got more and more elaborate and detailed, i will just spend time on them every day, which might mean that I only will do one every couple of days at times.
As usual I got to a stage where suddenly all my insecurities kicked in and I got all worried about the fact that I don't know much about watercolours- I got no technical knowledge whatsoever- and no art training... but then I got nice comments and i thought it doesn't matter I enjoy doing it, it inspires me and kept on going. I discovered that my little moleskin watercolour book has paper I like, doing the Word of the week sketch on my (otherwise beloved) sketch paper was a nightmare!  Am a selfconfessed artshop fetish ; I love looking at pens, paints and papers. And now I got a reason to go and get somethings, I am sure I will make use of it very soon ;)
Mostly I loved trying something different and feel great that it worked out not too bad. Reflecting on it and looking at my sketches I feel that the whole experience unlocked something new in me, and I am looking forward to explore it more. I got quite a few ideas already. So watch this space!!

Thank you for all your support!

Have you done anything new lately?
Oh you must check out this post- it made me smile and really be grateful this morning! A bit of sunshine for a rainy day

Fruit tree

Just a brief post. It's yesterdays water colour
Am tired, so will be back tomorrow morning

Todays skecth

Autumn painting... and I posted the last of the photos of oak leaves at the Viewing Glass

You will be pleased to hear, that Oak week is over, just one thing left- tomorrow's Review of the Week
ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

Laziness

I finally overcame my laziness and joined the week word. I have been admiring Amiee's version of countless words for weeks now, asking her every now and then what the word was, just to chicken out or get lazy, and now I finally did it! 

Well here is 

laziness

Simply how I felt this morning- to lazy to get out of bed... when it is rainy outside it makes me lazy and I feel like cuddling up in bed under a heap of duvets.

Nathalie chose the word this week, and she has published list of all the participants. It's really fun to see the different results...

Quick Post

Todays painting, much better much happier with it.... am back tomorrow
night night
xo

Frustrations, Ranting and smiles

This photo makes me smile! I feel it sums up all that I love about the oaks in autumn...

Thought I should start with something positive, since honestly I had such a frustrating day. NOTHING worked out somehow.
As you can see on my water colour today:

I really hated it, since I actually had something different in mind, but made tons of things wrong. Contemplated to rip it out, but then I decided to leave it.
As a reminder!  There are bad days!
So I just threw on a cardigan and ran off in to the park. I decided that I needed a break, from this frustrating day. As I walked (or more marched) through the gardens I watched the leaves dance in the unusually warm winds, the squirrels obsesivly digging and running around, the birds fly... it dawn on me, maybe its ME! not the universe?
I woke up after way to little and restless sleep. And felt on edge and restless all day! I just was in a bad mood and simply in a bad state. Arriving to this conclusion didn't make me feel better, but I felt at least at peace with the world.
So when O arrived home the first thing he heard was: I am in a bad mood! Me, too! was the reply. We then went quietly to get some groceries for dinner, and he bought me a cookbook. I cooked langustines in a herb, garlic reduction with aioli and salad. And now I feel all right.

O's reaction to the painting by the way -OHHH this is really great, i think its my favourite! (but then he is biased) - which made me look at it again and even though it's not how I wanted it, I guess it's ok enough to get posted.

I am just glad this day is soon over, hopefully it will be followed by a better one
good night!
xo