October just flew by. I got a little overambitious and took up so many art projects, it was starting to stress me out a little, but most of them were successfully completed and I learned a lot from them.

First of all I wanted to share some October beauty, which was such an inspiration for me, all those warm colors that only come out this time of year can not be missed:

The challenges I did this month:

• World Watercolor Group one  was so much fun, thanks to Charlie from Doodlewash for setting it up

I did all 31 and a quick flip through can be found on my instagram, here are my favorites, the automn-y ones 🙂

• I also did a whole month of Inktober! It was also rather fun exercise, I didn’t do anything elaborate, but rather simple doodles in flowy ink. A quick flip-through here 

My most favorite ones:

 

• I took a sketching course taught by Anna Rastorgueva and learned a lot about drawing hot beverages and cafe atmosphere

• I participated in Lisa Krasnova‘s challenge for the final two weeks of October and made a few illustrations with Halloween in mind (check out my Halloween post for all that came from it)

• I am getting serious with drawing with soft pastels. @Artpfpastels on Insta inspired me with their lovely references and overall support. Somehow I never had much luck with them and oil pastels always seemed more friendly. But the time has come for me to get better. I did three weekly drawings with art of pastels and 2/3 turned out great. The other one not so much. I have just finished the first drawing in November and I liked every minute as well as the result.
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• An finally the biggest step- I opened my Etsy Shop. Please stop by and take a look. I am still learning the ropes, but some of my most popular cards are already up and a couple of holiday ones are there as well. I have been selling in my favorite coffee shop for almost a year now, I wonder how the online shop will do.

November plans:

• Another Doodlewash challenge- this time it’s all about food, just the subject I want to draw better and better. One of my dreams is my own illustrated cookbook, so the time to start making it is now!
• More pastel practice. Once a week worked great in the beginning, but I hope to add at least one more practice to it
• More colored pencil drawings, I haven’t really worked with pencils for a while now and I hope I can find time for them this month.
• More free practice, doodles and aimless exercise.
• I want to really get into visual journalling and do more of “My Day” sketches.
• I will do a few more holiday drawings and turn them into cards, I am still debating if I want to make a calendar for the loved ones, and if I do, I might offer it to general public as well.

Hope everyone has a lovely arty November!

Please find me on Instagram,  Facebook, Pinterest and Etsy