Happy, on the top of the world

My exams are over, I did good ( no, I did great, I'm on the top of the world right now!!!)
More time to read and go outside! My last reads :

On the left is a graphic novel about three girls and their families in the Ivory Coast during the last seventies, early eighties. It's awesome, fun, exciting, and the drawings are fabulous. My daughter and I loved the whole series (6 books) and felt like the characters were part of our lives for a few weeks!
On the right is a book written in 1968 and it was said on the cover it changed many people's lives at the time.
It didn't change mine, but it was still a good read, a bit boring, but in a good way, because I went on anyway and found a lot of things to like. After all, that was about the desert, and deserts are boring, too, but if you're patient, you can see wonders in them.
(You can see the books bigger by clicking on the picture, if you want to see the titles and authors).

And this is one of my orchideas. I wanted to draw the four of them in bloom, but this one took everything out of me and I decided to go back to my usual, fast, fun faces drawings...

 And that's it. Now I'm going to enjoy the fact that my exams are over and take a little break. Then back to work (I mean, homework after work...) because I still have a thesis to do and present before I get my full diploma. This means months of work with patients I need to find. But it's interesting and I look forward to doing it. I'm a student at heart, I guess.

Taking a break, finally

I'm having a little time on my hands today so here I am, blogging again after two months away... How time flies, really. I've been reading, of course, although maybe not as much as usual.

On the left is what has been my favorite series of books for a long time, the Gaïa series by John Varley, great science fiction saga, space opera, awesome and delirious. I'm not enjoying it as much this time, maybe because it's the fourth time I read it, or maybe because I'm getting old and easily bored, I don't know.
On the right is the last Kate Atkinson novel, fourth in the Jackson Brodie series, and it was wonderful, and unique, and perfect as all her books have been for now.

A few portraits, from a page I begun in march, still not completely filled. I draw faces almost everyday, though, some fast and some very very fast (not showing those : ), but they're the most interesting in terms of learning !). I always draw very quickly, anyway, otherwise I get bored. (I think there might be a pattern, here, somewhere).

And this is just an experiment, in writing and putting paint on a page, because I've not been painting much, not been inspired, and I missed it. So I found this forgotten little sketch book under my bed, dusted it and began to fill it with paint and words and it feels good just doing it. Most often it doesn't feel good watching the results, though, but that's not the point.


My final tests, after my two years course in sophrology (kind of relaxation therapy) are in five days. If I'm not ready now I'll never be.

Family, random objects and unruly subjects

Hello! I"ve not been around a lot lately. I seem to be very busy doing many things that lead me nowhere.  Some of these things are enjoyable, though, so it's not as bad as it sounds.
My brother and his girl friend came last week. This is him in the middle.

On the right is his girl friend Charlotte. I drew very quick sketches of them, and then my brother drew a very quick sketch of me. You can see it on the left. I added the earrings but the rest is all his.

These are a few things I drew since the beginning of the year. Things sitting on my table, and things in the street. Yes, I've been sketching outside where there's other people around! I chose the street carefully. There was no one around. Desert place, closed houses.

One of my orchids.

And quick sketches while waiting for my daughter at the horse farm where she rides. Horses move a lot, unlike orchids. Interesting exercice, though, I think I'll try again. When it's warmer, maybe.

Three books and too many faces to count

New books again. I've been too busy to concentrate on anything else than my usual practice with books and faces... On the right is a nice story that reads easily but isn't half as funny as promised on the cover. I didn't believe them anyway. In the middle is an awesome story by french author Tonino Benaquista (that's a pleonasm because he only writes awesome stories). The kind of story that makes you smile for entire minutes in a waiting room in pure jubilation, the whole world around forgotten...

And on the left is an interesting book about dreams and their interpretation. The author mainly says that the purpose of dreams interpretation is prediction. He also says that you cannot interpret your own dreams because the interpretation would only become another dream. You must ask an interpret he calls an "onirocrite" (in french), and the dreams have to be told just out of bed, before breakfast.
I'm interested by the prediction part, but I think I'll leave the rest, because it doesn't seem very practical. Not every body can have his own onirocrite waiting beside the bed every night.

 And faces again. From magazine, daily papers, cook books, travel books...

My new exercise is to draw while watching my dvds. I try to draw the faces very fast, sometimes from memory, sometimes in several takes. For some (unknown to me) reason I really want to get good at that. I want to be able to "get" a face in just a few traits, like my favorite graphic novels illustrators and writers, Hugo Pratt and Joan Sfar.
I'm not posting the results, but I can tell you it's really a fun and efficient way to practise!

2 books, 16 people and a cat

My last two reads. This is the third time I've read Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto, and each time, I've been mourning someone or something. Each time I get something new, and deep, from the book. It's a very special book. Very zen, in a way.

The other one is Fried green tomatoes by Fannie Flagg. Second time I read it and second time I love it. I found it darker this time. Funny how we get things differently as we age and go through new experiences.
Both are great books to read when you need to get through some tough times, anyway, to me they are.

 And more faces from magazines and papers. Some are good, some are really bad, even the second time around! 3/4 faces are the hardest, I think. And animals are even harder than people! You wouldn't know it, but the cat really doesn't look like its model! (but he looks like a cat, I've managed that : ) !)

2 books and 14 faces

I've been slowly reading! On the left book two of "a feast for the crows" by George RR Martin. I love this series, beautifully written and captivating. I liked this volume better than the previous one, but I felt it was long, sometimes. I hate the character who gets the more pages, the horrible Cersei. And I miss Jon, Bran, Aria and Thirion.

On the right is a lovely little book from Iceland and it's a warm and original story, about love, cooking, roses, fatherhood and family, but you've got to read the book to see for yourself, I'm not doing it justice. (title is "Rosa Candida").

And I've also been drawing a lot, from photos, and very fast with my pen. Like always I'm amazed how easier it becomes when I draw a lot.

Faces from various magazines, like "Psychologies", Elle, Geo, and teenager stuff belonging to my daughter ^^!
We've had snow in my area, but not right where I live. I hope we'll have a little bit of snow this year!

January and watery things

I've been extremely busy for the last two weeks, no spare time and almost never at home. So these are already "old" drawings from the beginning of the year.

You can see : my cat, Mia, a litte pine branch, christmas decoration bears, a view of the harbor from the beach (yes! I finally managed to draw outside a little, between drops of rain!), a candle, my paintbrush again (raining, again...)
All this water made me think about fish...

As I'm writing this, we've had a few wonderful, sunny, warm days. We're luckier than some people in Brazil.

It's my first post of 2011, so I'll use it to wish a lot of good things, health, love, happiness , to everyone!
Bonne Année à tous!