sketch-a-day > week 3 & 4

Dear and welcome all,

I thought it was going to be easier to commit and sketch daily but is not always that easy. Not being able to sketch in the past couple of weeks I feel a bit disappointed with myself!

Zoë, our daughter is already 4 months old and full of life and character. She keeps me really busy plus all the unpacking that we still have after our recent move. Crazy times!!

Last week I only committed to one design for a new competition in two free nights that Zoë allowed me. Here is the entry and link to vote if you would like to support my design for the new Mii SEAT by Mango. Voting starts March 5, 2014. THANK YOU!!

Bye bye for now, time for a feed ... These are the days!! ;-)

sketch-a-day > week 2

Dear and welcome all,

This week I have no sketches to share as my daughter Zoë has been feeling a bit poorly last week as she start teething and yesterday she had the jabs for the 3rd immunization and some fever came along last night.

I have still things to share.

One of my friends, Alice, a jewelry designer at Harriet Kelsall, recommended me an amber necklace to help and release the pain of teething and it seems to work, after all that pain last week!
Here are the details for the necklaces and now there are on sale ;-)

PURPLE LABEL by Harriet Kelsall. Image from their website.

Image from Amazon website.

I started to read a very nice book about COLOUR, which tells the remarkable story of Victoria Finlay´s quest to uncover the many secrets hidden inside the paintbox. On her travels she visited remote Central American villages where women still wear skirts dyed with the purple tears of the sea snails... and much more!

Part travelogue, part narrative history, 'Colour' unlocks the history of the colours of the rainbow, and reveals how paints came to be invented, discovered, traded and used. This remarkable and beautifully written book remembers a time when red paint was really the colour of blood, when orange was the poison pigment, blue as expensive as gold, and yellow made from the urine of cows force-fed with mangoes. It looks at how green was carried by yaks along the silk road, and how an entire nation was founded on the colour purple.

Victoria Finlay worked as a journalist in Hong Kong for eleven years, and was arts editor of the South China Morning Post for five of those. She now lives in Derbyshire.

sketch-a-day > week 1

Dear and welcome all,

Last week I mentioned about a new project: "SKETCH-A-DAY".

I am feeling a bit guilty that I did not succeed to do sketches every day because my 3 and a half months daughter keep me busy. However, I did manage to do a bit and here are my results.

I will keep on going because this practice makes me to be more aware of the things around me and helps me to get back my design capabilities after this period of "maternity leave".

As I say before, you can join me in this project on your own place and pace, and if you would like to show your work within my blog, please, drop me an email.

Enjoy your week and let´s keep on sketching!!

INSpireOn

Dear all,

Sorry for not keeping in touch during the last few months, my life has been like a roller coaster with major events like having birth our baby daughter Zoë at the end of October, moving house by the end of November, then Christmas and finally January went too with lots of unpacking boxes... and the lovely features I got from my winning Kleenex design Limited edition boxes.

Kleenex® New Designs to go Into Production

Now in Stores! Selected Artists’ Kleenex® Box Designs

I am still enjoying my maternity leave but thinking in a project that yesterday strike my attention after watching Zandra Rhodes sketchbooks video. So today I started "my sketch-a-day project". I will try to sketch things that call my attention and keep the sketchbooks for further inspiration like Zandra Rhodes does.

 

Every Monday I will post my weekly sketches to create an INSpireOn movement. You are more than welcome to join me in this venture and get feature your work within my blog. Any media welcome! Let´s get crafty!!

In the meantime, you can pop by my INSpireOn board in Pinterest too.

Have a lovely week :-)

Butterfly Mandala Design

Hello all and thanks for stopping by.

I am participating in a new Design contest with my entry called: "Butterfly Mandala" which I created for the Design packaging for Always Dailies Discreet.

Voting is now open so please, feel free to support my design and share it with your friends and social media.

The link: goo.gl/Qr1d5W

Much appreciated :-)

Zentangles

Hello all,

It is interesting how life plays some times because I have been "Zentangling" for years and years, especially in my younger days and I never came across to this way of drawing as a Zentangle until this morning when I was pinning some dragonflies in Pinterest into my board "LulLabies" and then I came across to Sue Glass Pinterest page which is a Paradise for Zentangles.

A Zentangle is a relaxing and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being.









Characteristics of Zentangle are:

Intuitive: Anyone can create beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is easy to learn and easy to do.   

Fun and Relaxing: Creating Zentangle art provides a fun and lighthearted way to relax and intentionally facilitate a shift in focus and perspective.

Unexpected Results: your creation is not restricted by your expectations.

Ceremonial: Repetitive, simple steps that support relaxation, focus and inspiration. It can be a wonderful daily ritual.

Timeless: Creating designs, manipulating symbols and putting pen to paper is part of our human heritage.

Portable: Everything you need to create beautiful Zentangle art can fit in your pocket.

Non Technical: Your creativity is not directed by how someone else wrote a particular program, nor does it need batteries or electricity.

Empowering: It is an empowering and uplifting experience to learn that you can deliberately relax and intentionally direct your attention while creating beautiful works of art .

If you google "Zentangle" images, you will get a better idea :-)

My Music Zentangle is one example
which I feel so proud of.

Keep on Zentangling!

SHIBORI Inspiration

Hello all,

Thank you for stopping by.

My mind is again with Japan and its culture and its way to make art since last week I discovered a new company called Ôtsuki Sama. I love all the things that they do and as they said in their facebook page:

"ÔTSUKI SAMA are

Creative Crafts and use of natural materials for limited editions of fabrics patterns painted in watercolor shades of indigo fabrics and other natural essences, 

decorative accessories and fashion, hand-made."

So inspired in their Indigo fabrics my mind swift again into the Art of Shibori.

Shibori (絞り染め Shiborizome^?) is a Japanese term for several methods of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, compressing it, or capping. Some of these methods are known in the West as tie-dye.

Inspired by this, yesterday I created a New Inspiration Board: SHIBORI.

You can follow my Inspiration Boards in Facebook and Pinterest.

Enjoy them!