Tag Archives: Ornaments

Black Book January: Update #6

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Today we travelled to Slovenia, so there was no time for art at all in the morning, but I plan to squeeze some mandala time in the evening, after blogging and before Netflix. I can show you now a work in progress, the one I started yesterday:

It was very cold in the house when we arrived, so we just quickly unpacked, got the heating going and left to have lunch and spend a couple hours in a local mall until the house temperature reached life supporting level. Of course, there was a visit to the local art store and I got me some pearl pens and black gesso (I want to try twinkling H2Os on black, as a part of my Black Book challenge and the paper in my book is too thin, so I plan to cover watercolor paper with black gesso and see what I can do, I’ll do it tomorrow and let you know how it goes). And then I also got some metallic pain markers which are supposed to work on black paper, so I will also try them at some point. Lots of plans, as you see. In addition, I need to try to catch up with course work this week. I cannot believe I am actually saying this, the year has just started and I am already behind. That is obviously because I am doing so much of my own drawing, so I am wondering why I needed all those classes again.

Anyway, detachment… also from stressing about course work I cannot manage. Last year I challenged myself to do all Life Book lessons, and it pretty much worked, but I ended up not finishing a few pieces and doing a couple that I did not really enjoy. This year I am not doing that. I will concentrate on doing lessons I really like. There will be less done, but that’s ok. Do I sound like I am not stressing about it? Today, there was no time for quiet time and examining my feelings, so tonight I will try to have a bit of reflection time before going to sleep. Speaking of which – I will finally have my room all to myself and I hope for a great, deep and refreshing ZZZZZZ….

Black Book January: Update #5

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I have finished another mandala today:

 

This one was quick and easy. I used Sakura gel metallic pens and white Uni Ball pen. I was sitting by the swimming pool and drawing. It was a great day: swimming, sauna, art and resting all day long. I really needed it. I also started some meditation exercise to practice detachment – it basically consists of exploration of my feelings and attitudes towards things and people that are causing me pain. I knew before that it’s all in my head, and consequently it should be easy to dismiss. However, I notice that whenever I am actively observing my feelings, I am fine, but I don’t seem to keep it up. Once I slip, I am on a downhill slope and if I do not make a serious effort to contain the emotional spillage, it all gets messy again. So, obviously what is needed is constant attention. Let’s see if it is possible…

It’s our last night here. I am happy in a way, because nights are hard. I am not used to sharing a room with another person and I am having troubles sleeping (Mother snoring, coughing, tossing, breathing, just being there…). My sensory antennas are so finely tuned that nothing escapes me even when I sleep. And that’s never good, not even during the day, because it’s so exhausting and distracting. So, I am gladly giving up sauna and pool for a good night’s sleep in my own room.

Black Book January: Update #4

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Today I finally completed this mandala:

The yellow parts are actually gold gel pen, but it’s not photographing well. Yesterday we went to Austria to that outlet, did some little shopping, had lunch and came back to our hotel. We spent the afternoon in the pool and sauna. It’s good, there are other guests, but nobody is really noisy, so it’s actually possible to relax by the pool, which I really like.
Today the weather is funny: there was sun in the morning, so we headed out for a walk in the park. By the time we came out, the sun was gone and it started snowing, so we cut our walk short, because it was cold and windy. By the time we were back to our room, it was again sunny… we decided to get down to the gym and do some exercise, which was quite nice, as the gym has big windows and view to the park and it was very calming to exercise and look out at the snow falling (it started again). Now we are resting and contemplating a visit to the pool and sauna. Life is good.

Black Book January: Update #3

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I’ve been working on this one mandala for several days now. I used white posca pen for contours, and had a lot of trouble with it.

It did not want to work and I started to shake it and then the paint came out of it on top of my drawing. I managed to clean it up with black colored pencil, so it did not do much damage. But I am rather upset with posca pen. Why does it stop writing when there is still paint inside? It’s not that I abused it, such as dipped it into the wet acrylic paint or used it over a particularly rough surface, no, this one was used only on paper or on top of coloured pencil, it should not have cause damage. Anyway… I get upset because these pens are expensive and I am pretty sure that the cost-benefit analysis is not favorable for me, and I get even more upset because those pens are not easy to get in shops, I have to order it online and I did not have a spare because this one was new and, you know… I wanted to finish my mandala and the only thing I could do is press the tip to the paper in order to get paint out and then dip the tip back into the paint and use it as a dip pen on my drawing, which produced uneven lines I was not happy with, like this:

 

This morning I started doodles on top of it, but could not finish, this is how it looks now:

I had to stop and pack because we travelled today to a place close to Austrian-Hungarian border, which is called Rojtokmuzsaj. It’s a village with a most amazing old castle spa hotel. We were here last winter too, and decided that we need to come again.So, it’s four days of swimming pool, sauna, walks in park and a shopping excursion (because an Austrian outlet is close by, so we can’t miss it, right?).

Of course, I have my Black Book and my pens with me, so I will continue with my mandalas during our stay here, of course.

Black Book January: Update #2

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This morning I finished the mandala that took several days to do:

 

There were large areas to color with color pencils and then doodles also took awhile. Color pencils make the surface waxy and slippery, so doodling with ink on top is not very easy. I made lots of mistakes, but I am rather happy with the end product. It looks quite good.

Today was another freezing cold and beatifully sunny day. I went skating anyway, because I felt like going crazy from inactivity. It was very nice on ice, not cold at all and not crowded, probably due to low temperatures. Now, however, I can feel the skin on my face burning and I have a mild headache. I hope the headache will not develop into a migraine. That would be really bad, because I want to go skating again tomorrow.

Yesterday we went to the local tropicarium and watched sharks and fancy fish. It was very pleasant distraction from the winter outside. Afterwards we had coffee and cake and then we had trouble falling asleep because the coffee was big and strong. But it’s all fine, because we do not need to get up early or be anywhere.

That’s it for this Monday. I am off to make buttery popcorn and install myself in front of the TV. Orange is the new black is on.

Black Book January

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I did this challenge last year in January, I was probably inspired by #carveDecember and wanted to try something new and do it for a whole month. I called it Black Book January. Even a friend from Instagram joined and did several pieces. The goal of the challenge is to create something on black background. I bought a Derwent Black Book and did the challenge for the whole month last January. I did not create 31 pieces, because these are a little bit more complicated and time consuming than carving a stamp every day, but I quite enjoyed exploring what can be done on black paper.

This year I am repeating the challenge. I will be doing mandalas, because I am currently inspired to do them and I have already tried some supplies that can do wonders on back paper. I finished two mandalas until now. The first I did with white UniBall pen, Carad’Ache Luminance 6901 pencils and Liquid Pearls.

 

For the second I used UniBall pen and Sakura Metallic Gell pens in gold and bronze.

In parallel I am also doing the first lesson of Life Book, actually not the main lesson, but the warm-up. I did the meditation and for the first time I actually saw a symbol and an animal. I decided that I would include them in the painting, so it’s not really a simple warm-up exercise, but a whole thing, with the animal and the symbol. So I am a bit stuck, because my animal (which was actually a fawn in my meditation) does not look anything close to what I saw, meaning that it’s as far from the fawn as at all possible, but I am accepting it, as there is no choice, it’s either that or nothing at all. I think I will finish during the day… I keep wondering why I cannot draw cute animals… Maybe I should make it a challenge… Maybe in February…

Anyway… The weather is beautiful and sunny, but so horribly cold that I think I will not go out today. Last two days I went ice skating and enjoyed it enormously. Yesterday was also nice and sunny, but very windy and the day before was snowing and that day was actually much more to my liking even though it was cloudy, because the snow made it so calm and charming. So, off I go to nurture my muscle fever and wrstle with the ‘fawn’ 🙂

Have a nice day!

Mandala: 27 December

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Finished coloring the mandala which I made using one of my stamps:

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Sorry for the light… It did not want to be photographed under natural light: the whole piece had a blue tone, including paper, and I could not get rid of it. The artificial light actually helped in this case… Weird…

Anyway, if you would like to color this one, please go here and download it.

Mandala: 6 December

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I am sitting at the car service, waiting for oil change. I was supposed to be here at 8.00 am, but was more than 45 minutes late, due to incredibly dense traffic. I got up at 5.20 am and got around half an hour of mandala coloring and doodling while drinking my coffee. The photo was made under the lamp, so the colors are not right at all. These days it’s impossible to make any decent photos, as I go from home before daylight and I come back at night. But at least they are authentic and you get a pretty good idea of the conditions…

So, four more days to Saturday. After I finish with the service, I am heading to work for a second day of audit. Step by slowly step I am putting the unpleasant things behind me. I can do it…

Mandala: 4 December

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This is the mandala I was working on for past several days. I finished it yesterday, but could take a photo only today.

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I am very pleased with it. It was done in my Black Book with white Posca pen, black Edding marker, Luminance6901, Sakura gel pens, and Rotring Isograph with white acrylic ink.

Otherwise, it was a very good day yesterday – I did not go to the gym, but I did something even better – I went out for a run! The weather was great, sunny and not so cold, so around noon it was perfect for going out. In the morning I went to the market to buy food and had breakfast and coffee in my favorite cafe. In the afternoon we cooked dinner and watched Netflix, what else… And I did loads of art. Beautiful day. I hope to repeat it to a great extent today…

Play Journal Update: 14 October

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I had a very long meeting on Wednesday, so I did some doodles in my Play Journal.

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I used only ballpoint pen. The photo is not so great, I took it this morning when it was still dark outside, so it’s under the lamp. You get an idea of the conditions under which I create in the morning… I hate cold and darkness. Maybe it’s time to find my light therapy lamp.

It’s been quite a gloomy week here. This morning I woke up at 5.30, so I had plenty of time to draw before going for a run and then to work. In summer when it’s light and warm outside, I go for a run first and then drink my coffee and do art. Now it’s too dark to go out at 7.00, so I either sleep longer or do art  before the run. It was a pleasant morning today and I worked in my play journal on a coloring pencil doodle I started few days ago. I started it with the crappy pencils and today I finished it with my new luminance pencils. What a difference! There are just a few finishing touches and it will be done, tonight or tomorrow morning.

Oh, and it’s Friday today! Happy Friday people!