Color me brightly
It’s Monday. The start of another long week in the office. But the weather is beautiful warm and sunny and it makes me happy. I hope it stays like this until spring 🙂
Here is the Black Book entry from yesterday:
I am totally in love with this circular pattern on the outer part! This morning I started another one that will use the same pattern. Yay!
Have a good Monday (as much as Mondays can be)!
As I said yesterday, it is time for a She Thinks Positive Journal update. I haven’t done much, only three pages since my last post, but never mind, there is no deadline only the goal of completing the journal one day. Which feels very good!
I also like the idea of having a dedicated journal for a theme, so there is no pressure and whatever I feel like creating one day, I just reach for that particular journal… Takes a lot of pressure from me… Don’t know if some of you have the same feeling and if you understand my ramblings 🙂
Enough talk, here are the pages I did:
As you can see, I did two half-turned faces, which is a new thing. I finally learned an easy way to do them from Jane Davenport, that is why they definitely have a touch of her style, especially in the hair. Never mind, I am happy that I can finally do it decently. I need more practice, so more will follow 🙂
I also bought two Ecoline bottles: bluish green and turquoise (used in the hairs of the two half-profile girls). I love them and will definitely have to get more. Unfortunately, they are a pretty rare find in places I visit and these were only two colors that belong to my favorite group. We will see what I can think of in terms of finding a decent source of them…
I am off for a walk (and possible ice cream) because the weather is too nice to stay indoors. Have a happy Sunday!
It’s a beautiful Saturday here and another entry into my Black Book:
Of course if the photo is made in natural light, the shimmer from metallic pens is gone. Here is a close-up made in artificial light:
Actually I made another one today, but I could not make a photo because it’s already getting dark, so I will post it tomorrow. I worked in my She Thinks Positive journal too and will have a few pages to share. Maybe I do that tomorrow and leave the Black Book for later. Ah! So nice when there is lot to post 🙂 Have a beautiful weekend!
And here is this week’s lesson from Life Book. It was easy to make and I am happy with her. It’s good that some lessons are quick and easy because you quickly get to catch up. On the other hand those are lessons where you don’t learn much, so hard, slow and painful is also good 🙂 Important is that there is a balance between the two, and there certainly is in Life Book.
I am back to Hungary. Today is errand day, grown-up day, deal with people day, paperwork day… Ugh! Wish me luck!
In spite of my resistance, I did finish the last week’s lesson in Life Book 2016. Today I plan to finish this week’s one and then I am all caught-up with Life Book and I am sure it will feel very good.
I just posted her on IG and commented that she looks weird. Actually, I do like her a lot. It’s funny how she just appeared, I did not paint her particular face, I did not imagine her, she just came. The lesson with Annie Hamman was intimidating for me. It’s acrylics and I am not particularly excited about painting with acrylics and it was uncomfortable to paint the dark colors first and then go over with the light, but it gave her this loose painterly look, which is quite nice I think. The collage in the background was supposed to be visible, but somehow it disappeared 🙂 I used die cuts as well, and they are visible and I think they look good.
Due to a sudden problem that I mentioned on Tuesday, I have to drive back to Hungary this afternoon. I am far from happy about it, but it has to be done, so no use to think about it at all. I do have a weekend to look forward: full two days in one place, which happens only rarely because I always travel on Sundays.
And that’s it for today. I feel much better obviously – I managed to get some rest and to sort out my priorities and everything is ok, at least at this moment. It makes me wonder how my mood is changing depending on how I feel physically and what happens to me and around me, how fragile the inner peace is and how easily it can be lost. Most probably I can do something about it, meditation, whatever. First step though is to become aware of it, right?
I feel better today. The rain stopped, but the weather is cold and cloudy. I went for my morning run and then did some more watercolor doodles. They are easy to do and help me relax. Here are the two pages from today and yesterday:
And this is the close-up of the one on the left:
Even though I decided to rest yesterday, I did manage also to start last week’s lesson in Life Book. BTW next year’s Life Book is announced. I am allowed to get it, but only if after 1st January I am done with this year and at least one more of my courses. Otherwise it will not be open for consideration 🙂 Ok, I said it, and you are free to stop following me if I break my promise…
Off to make some pancakes for breakfast now… Wish you a nice Wednesday!
It’s raining. It’s been raining for two days. I am confused. I have too many things to do. I do not feel like doing anything. I am tired. I do not know what to do. That summarizes it.
This one I worked on during our company retreat:
The retreat went well, but left me exhausted. It was too much. I needed time to come back to normal. But I did not have time. I needed to travel and work. And then a problem appeared which needs solving, and more travelling and it unsettled me. Hence my feeling of not being able to do anything. And the rain does not help.
And then I am thinking about catching up with the courses I took. Why did I take 5 courses I cannot possible manage to follow? I knew it would be impossible, but I still tried. I am a bit mad at myself because I always think I can do more than I can. And it creates anxiety. Like I do not have enough of it anyway…
So I am paralized. Frozen in time. Cannot get going. There are too many things to do and I know I cannot make it. So I choose to not do anything. Does it make sense? Instead of enjoying the courses I am taking, I made myself miserable and started thinking about the lessons like something I have to do. Like work that needs finishing, like obligation that needs to be fulfilled. Look, it’s crazy!
This morning I painted with watercolors. It’s drying, I will post it tomorrow. I did not do any of my outstanding lessons in my five courses. They will have to wait and I will need time to recover. From today until December 31 I am enforcing a ban on buying art courses. On January 1st I will reassess the status. There is only so many hours in a day and there are limits to what I can achieve and stay sane and happy. That’s what I wanted to say today.
I am a bit unsettled because today I am going to a company retreat. It will be nice I am sure but being who I am of course I do not want to go and I am nervous and restless.
Anyway… I am taking my Black book with me so I’ll have something to calm me down in case I will need it. Which will be the case 🙂
Here’s the page I finished today.
Another update from the Black Book:
These things are hard to photograph… I applied a filter on IG so it looks quite ok. I remember my frustration with this from January. Maybe I should try with a real camera and real photo editing software. Maybe the phone is not really the best solution here.
Anyway, you get the idea… I used sakura metallic gel pens, sakura white glaze pen and acrylic ink for fine details. I really like this one… Think I may frame it one day 🙂
Here’s a little video I posted in IG too. I tried to film the white part, but it was even more out of focus than this 🙂
I was so excited to get back to my Black Book. I started a mandala two weeks ago, and then travelled and decided not to take it with me because I wanted to devote myself to catching up with courses. Yesterday I finished it.
It’s such a pleasure for me to do these little doodles and dots that fill up shapes of my mandala. I used Liquid Pearls, sakura glaze pen, sakura metallic pen and white acrylic ink.
This morning I started a new one. I don’t have much time before going to work – I can devote only some 20-30 minutes and they fly so fast. I make myself a cup of coffee and I sit and doodle and sip my coffee and 30 minutes is gone. But I feel so recharged and so happy (and so looking forward to the following morning).
Little moments of happiness.
Lucy’s coloring book 