Books, children, and a book for children

For some reason I couldn't make myself blog these last weeks - just plain didn't want to do it...
So a quick post while I'm in the mood : )!

A wonderful Binchy novel on the left. I love all of her books, this one is one of my favorites. The marvellous twins Maud and Simon are in it, and they're so funny and adorable, I'd love to know them in real life!
On the right a very pleasant read, full of charm and fantasy, poetic ideas, feel good ending. Just what I needed!

These two drawings are vignettes from my illustrated album project. I'm about halfway through for the drawings. The coloring is way behind. And for the moment I have no idea how I'm going to add the texts...

 

And of course, a lot of drawings will have to be redone. Anyway, I'm still enjoying doing it, and learning from it. It's the first time I really commit to something long, structured, related to drawing/art making, and that in itself is interesting, whatever result I get in the end.

2 books, 1 dog, 2 kids

Last reads! On the right, the fascinating work of Carl Jung. I haven't finished reading it yet, as it's not a book you can read fast. I frequently have to get it back to the library and pick it up again a few days later! Luckily no one else seems to be interested for the moment...

On the right a strange book that has stories within stories. I liked it. There were awesome moments, and some a bit boring. Overall a good read as I was unable to quit even during the slower passages!

This is Jack, my little dog. He's dead. He ran away and got hit by a car the next day. I found out thanks to a man who took him to the veterinarian, but he didn't survive. I had him less than two months, but I can't believe how fast I got attached to him. I'm still sad.

On a much merrier note, here's another little vignette from my illustrated story project. I have done 36 drawings already, four in color. I will have to redo some of them, probably. The shadows on this one are not very good, for a start. Still, I'm enjoying working on this project.

Books, flowers and various animals

So I've been reading... (what's new?) On the right, a lovely book about a little boy whose father is severely depressed while the mother has gone to Australia for work and never calls her son. The boy is cared for by the fun grand-mother. It could be sad (and it is, at times) but it's mostly funny and poetical and slightly magical, all things I love in a book.

On the right is a book whose American original title is "Happiness sold separately", which is the exact contrary of the french title. It happens often, I really don't understand it. Anyway, it was a great story, I got drawn into it, began to care for the characters, to think about a lot of things while reading.

This is something  friends brought me when they came for lunch the other day. My table isn't red at all, but I wanted colors!

This is a final, colored version of the rabbit in a basket I talked about on another post. I'm not too happy about it, but it'll keep, for now. (and I realised I forgot to darken the shadow near the sock on the left... well,   that can be arranged).

And finally, this is a small part of a much bigger drawing, from the story I'm currently illustrating, one drawing at a time. I'm really happy with how it came out. I'm really surprised (and overjoyed) that I was able to conceive the whole scene and draw it. I didn't think I would be able to do it.

So I'm beginning to feel like I can make this storybook. Only thing is how long it's going to take - and I've already have an idea for another one!

Well, at least I don't have to worry about ever getting bored...

Two books, fushia flowers and a kid.

Books again! On the left another one by Anita Shreve. It was very good, very emotional, but I don't think I'll read more books from that author. I like when books give me a little something that helps me grow, or see things in a new way, and here, I don't find that. It lacks magic, in a way.

On the right is a book by Haruki Murakami, and it has all the magic I need, and more! It's pure Murakami, everything smooth and normal in apparence, strange and slightly disturbing underneath, with symbols and thoughts and images very precisely inserted because everything has its purpose and is well thought in his books... it could be read 50 times and still give.

I drew some fushias I bought recently and made this page for collecting a few prayers. Spirituality is a new territory for me, and I'm fascinated with the many ways people everywhere express it.

And finally another drawing from my children story book project. I'm working on it regularly, with more or less satisfaction - some drawings I'll probably throw away and do again when I'm done with the first round of creating the vignettes. I have about 36 drawings of various size to make, probably more, to fit with my story.

Anyway, and whatever the result, it's interesting, and new to me to be focussed and regular with a project like this one, so I'm glad for that alone!

A fish, a prayer and a rabbit in a basket.

This is my psychedelic sardine. I had this image in my head and just had to draw it - please don't ask me why, I really have no idea...

This, I made for a friend. It's a prayer. I had made one a bit like that one for myself, and she wanted one too, so here it is. 

And this is a part of my storybook project. I'm in the process of coloring that one and not happy with the colors I chose, so you get to see it before, when it was still nice and promising...

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend! 

A fish, the Moon, 2 books, fuschia flowers.

I had this picture in my mind as I was lazying on the beach and it came out exactly how I wanted it, which is very very unusual for me! It's probably strange and it's rather naïve but for some reason I love it and often look at it with contentment.

I photographed it, as it's too big for the scanner, so the lines aren't as they really are in my painting, perpendicular to the page...

Last two reads - the Choquette book I read/worked with for months, actually. I love Sonia Choquette, I discovered her books following Julia Cameron's bibliography. I'm opening up to a lot of things I never would have even considered, a few years back.  And it really helps.

The Coelho book was good, and interesting. I'll reread it, I think. I read only one book by Paulo Coelho before, when I was very young, about twenty. My best friend had lent it to me, it was The Alchemist. I liked it, but since, I never wanted to read Coelho again as I feel he's a bit commercially oriented (but who isn't?)

I bought myself a fushia and I'm in love with that plant. It's beautiful and to me it's linked with a personnal promise.

Two books, four faces and a messy bedroom

Books again because I'm predictable that way... On the left a nice read by Anita Shreve. I picked it up for its cover, in fact, but I liked the story, too ; )!

On the right is "If you could see me now" by Cecelia Ahern and I loved that one, it gave me a sense of enchantment and hope and I felt happy everytime I had it in hand.
Some faces, as usual :

First one on the left is a not very good portrait of fabulous dancer and actress Sridevi. I'm not happy with the likeness, but I enjoyed trying to draw her face!

And this is the first colored picture in my little illustration project. I don't know how far I'll go with this but I'm working on it regularly, if slowly. I won't show everything here, as I'm hoping that maybe, maybe, I'll be able to make a kid's book out of it... One can dream!

Three fish, two books

Three posts in three weeks, incredible!
This is a drawing I did just for fun, because I wanted something easy to make and colorful. I like the way it turned out.

These are some of the last books I read. Murakami writing about his life as a writer and long distance runner. Very interesting. The Ahern book was okay, but not what I was looking for. It's about a teenage girl, and I have enough teenagers around already - I love them but I don't need to read about them on my free time!  Fun cover to draw, anyway:

Back to work now. I have begun to work as a sophrologist (kind of a relaxation therapist) and I have regular patients every week on top of my first job. That's great, but it takes time, especially as I'm new to it and spend a lot of time preparing.

Wishing every one a fine week!

Bulls, rat and cinema

I made this for my friend Michèle. She wanted something with the Taurus, her Zodiac sign, and a surprise. She's also from the Year of the Rat, loves cinema and has a strong and resilient personality. So, here's the thing, and I hope she'll like it. I know I enjoyed doing it!

I also hope I'll be able to post on a regular basis. I draw and paint, it's the internet part that's posing me problems! I'm trying to find a good balance, to be able to blog and share without it taking too much time...
Thanks for the comments on my last post, especially in regards to my little dog. I miss him.

Books, mice and faces

Last books I've been reading. The Franzen book took me a long time, it's big and I read slowly, often wondering why I wasn't leaving it for another book, but for some reason, I wanted to finish it, know where he was going with the characters.

The day I finished the book was the day I got a phone call from the vet saying they had found my little dog, who had escaped, and he was dead. He's been with me for only one and a half month and I was surprised how hard I took the news.

Now that I've darkened the mood... on a more fun side, here's a little picture from a project I'm working on :

I have some ideas for an illustrated story. I'm slowly working on them. I'm concentrating on the process and quite enjoying it.  Some pictures are difficult because I need reference photos to draw from, and sometimes I have to use several and complete mentally the missing parts to create the picture I want, and it's a little (a lot!) above my skill level...

And faces, because I try to practice regularly those.

I've not been blogging for a long time. I simply didn't have the time. I'll try to do more but I'm not sure the next months are going to be much better.

Anyway, best regards and thoughts to everyone passing by!

About fish, a dog and a cat

I'm sorry I've not been online much lately, I have not blogged at all, and it's been a long time since I've gone to admire my EDM friends' blogs... I'm busy, and trying to keep away from the internet as much as possible - but I miss blogging and being inspired by other blogs.

A little something I did this afternoon - first time in a long time that I take out the watercolor!
It's from a photo I've seen on the internet (not mine at all).
I think I will paint the background in black as in the original photo.
I've played a little with paint.net to see how it could look :

And I think I like it. That second one is watercolor + digital coloring.

Well, that's all for today, I'm afraid... I've done a few other things, but nothing finished yet.
I've got a new dog. He's 6 months old and quite adorable. My cat hates him (that is one of the things that keep me very busy!)
He's called Jack (I didn't chose the name). I'll probably try to draw him soon!

2 books, 15 faces, one tree.

I've been reading the Binchy book for almost over a month, before, during and after my move from my old appartment to my new rented house. It was an incredible support as everything that could go wrong did during that time... But I had my book to go to everyday and it'll certainly remain one of my favorite books of all time.

The kids in Maeve Binchy's books are wonderful, so funny and natural, and the warmth and humor are just what I need these days.
The other book on the left was nice, seven little stories happening in as many countries. I tried to read a book  by Douglas Kennedy before that one, and quitted after going painstakingly through 180 boring pages. As soon as I got time enough to go to the library, I happily quitted. I don't think I'll try another by this author, it's just not my cup of tea.

I'm still practicing drawing faces, more so these last few days. Here are some I did between august and now. Like always, the more I practice, the easier it gets.

And this I did today. I'm not very happy with it but I needed to do something new, use colors, anything. I'm a little sick and able to stay at home and rest for the first time in ?? so it was great to take out my watercolors again. They were dusty!

3 books, a coffee grinder, keys and a bell

(Long post today - I will totally understand if you skip the words and look at the images only : ) !! I do that when I "read" Elle... )
I've got the internet again, and to my great surprise, I didn't really suffer from the lack of it - I was too busy to be bored, I think... I had it at work and it was almost enough.

Always time enough to read books, though. That's like breathing, I can't live without it!
On the left is Women who run with the wolves, by Clara Pinkola Estès. I've been reading it on and off for years. I like it, but I'm not sure I really get it. Maybe I will, in the long run.

I didn't like the illustration, until I tried to draw it. It's a Picasso painting and I don't like Picasso very much, generally. But it's funny, I started to feel really moved by these women and their ample body as I tried to follow their lines and feel the movement. That made me want to try with other artworks I don't get, see if it happens again. Because I love this painting now, I feel both the vulnerability and the power in these women, and I think they're beautiful, and this came only from reproducing them.

In the middle is a book by Arto Paasilinna, a Finn author I like a lot. I didn't like this one much, though, it was more a history of Finland, and not as fun as his usual novels.
On the right is a story that's hard to describe. I was attracted by what was written on the cover, I knew I needed to read it. It could be translated like this : "the little girls at the end of the road do you justice and they keep the fire." It's about women, rape, and fitting (or not). It's disturbing, , hard, often poetical, and it touched me like I knew it would because of those words.
The book title is translated (in french) from a poem by Voltairine de Cleyre called "We are birds of the coming storm". (I didn't know that poet at all, she wrote it in memory for the Haymarket Square martyrs, which I didn't know about either).

A few things I drew from my new place, which is nice, even if I don't have a kitchen yet, and some water damage in my living-room. But I'm so glad to have left the old place, I don't care (yet).
I even invited friends for Thanksgiving, and it was the first time I celebrated that, for it's not a tradition in France. But I've always loved the idea behind Thanksgiving, and I feel grateful to have moved at last, so we had a great microwave dinner! I'll do better next year, when I have a kitchen...

The coffee grinder in the drawing, I use to grind black pepper, it's a lot more tasty that way!

And I have a garden! It's very small, made of bad earth and rocks, and I'm learning that small is good, when you have to dig hard ground and break stones all over the place. Small feels very big, suddenly.

Now I'll shut up, and I'm going to have a look at everyone's blogs, now, I guess I missed a lot!

Clair de Lune

I waited to post this because I really hoped I'd have something else to post with it... but it didn't happen. I'm moving out of my flat in 11 days, selling it a few days later, and I'm up to my ears amongst card boxes and piles of stuff. (is it among or amongst? I never know) 

So in the pic is an older drawing, now colored (view from my current place), and leaves I found in the neighborhood, some kind of wild grapevines.

Going back to filling boxes, now... See you next month, I hope, when I have the internet again... I still have it until the 9th, so I'll try to keep in touch with the EDM blogs!

Books, and books.

New books! I don't have time for anything else - the search for a place to live in took all my free time lately. Everything where I live is so expensive, and most of the rentals are seasonal. But I've found something, at last.  I'm almost done with all that moving stuff.

On the left is a book by Anna Gavalda, awesome french author. This one was ok, but I really recommend her best seller "Hunting and gathering", it's so wonderful, when you finish it it feels like saying goodbye to good friends... They made a movie from that book with Audrey Tautou and Guillaume Canet, and it was great.
On the right is a book by Erica Bauermeister. I didn't get into it easily, but found myself slowly taken in the stories, and in the end, I liked it very much.

Serious stuff, for a change! On the left, a book by Jean Hatzfeld about the genocide in Rwanda. He interviewed the killers, in this one, in the prison they were in. It's not a pleasant read, but it's useful, if you're interested in understanding what makes normal people transform into soulless killers...
The two other books I've been reading for my sophrology training and thesis.

That's all, for today! I'll try to go and see everyone's blogs, but I'm not really going to have much time until mid november. I can't tell you how glad I am to be moving from my noisy flat!

Fish, squares, collage, blabla

These are a few things I made this summer, while I was discovering and experimenting with acrylics.  I forgot to post them and since I have nothing new to show you, here they are.

Some of these fish vaguely look like real mediterranean fish, the first one is all wrong, nothing I did could save him.

Testing colors and working with tape.

Collage - it's a lot more technical than I thought. The paper doesn't stay flat. Need to work on this. Had fun with it, anyway!

I wanted to thank all of you who commented on my last post, on the boat painting I made for my father. I was really nervous about it and you helped a lot!
I don't know if he liked it. He seemed to appreciate it, said it was nice, but then, he also said my hair was nice that one time I had a problem with my color and it turned orange. I learned later that he really thought it was particularly ugly and unfitting. My father is polite that way.

I sold my flat = great. I still haven't found a place to rent and I'm out of my place in  33 days = a bit nervous right now, and I don't have much time or desire for drawing...

Books, a building and a boat

So I made this painting for my father whose birthday is today. I'm going to give it to him on tuesday. I really don't know what to think of it. 

Will he like it, do I like it, is it complete crap? I usually don't have this kind of problems with my drawings. So any feedback will be welcome, critics included!

Easier, for me : books! On the left is a book I'm currently reading, by prolific french author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. He imagines what could have happened if Hitler had not been refused the entry of art school in 1908.

It's a fascinating read, I'm devouring it very fast! On the right is a book by Maeve Binchy who is not at all well known in France, so I tried this at random when I found it in English in the library. It's awesome. I read it too fast, though I didn't want it to end! I'll look for her other books, next time!

And this is what I see from my balcony. I'll be moving in one month and 20 days, not one day too soon. I hate the place I live in now with a passion. It's noisy, my neighbours love to cook and burn garlic since 9 am, I can't sleep, can't rest, can't not hear them all day and night long. I'm glad to go to work so I don't have to hear them for a few hours a day.

It doesn't seem that horrible, in drawing. Well, it is. Luckily, it won't be very long now until I move out.

It's my dad's birthday today, and also ten years after for New York, so I'm thinking about all those people who die each year because of terrorism, stupid, blind hate, not only in New York, but all over the world.

Abstracts, books and faces

I had friends at home all week last week and couldn't post. Here's some stuff I did the week before that.

I spent a lot of time adding layers on this one. I may be the only one, but I like it! 

In my head it's called Veins (probably inspired by Julia Cameron's Vein of Gold!)
Books, of course! On the left, awesome story from awesome Sarde author Milena Agus. She's unique, with a very original mind, and I love her books.

On the right is a best seller by James Redfield. A friend advised me to read it, but I didn't like it much. I thought it was a bit "easy". Some things were interesting, but not really new to me.

Faces, because I try to practise regularly. Each time I forget for too long, like more than a few days, I regress.
A lot. I like this practise because portraits are completely unforgiving : you've got to be accurate, so it's a great exercise.

And finally these are small squares I experimented on for hours (days!) before I was a little satisfied (less dissatisfied...). Well, I learned a lot even if the result isn't very interesting. The process was great!

Hope everyone is all right, especially those of us who live in the US East coast.
See you soon for new adventures!