Remember how I complained last week that the pace that I set for myself in January is unrealistic this month because of all I have to do with kids, at home etc… Well, turns out it didn’t matter much because I managed to drop some activities and pick up new ones instead. Maybe I am a maniac.

And the funny thing is that I was sick all this week, didn’t leave the house until Thursday (thank you, my dear husband for stepping up), so instead of  errands I drew. Still, some beloved projects got dropped and I hope to pick them up again next week.

So, in the 2nd week of February I did the following:

Watercolor– some interesting subjects from doodlewashed challenge. I felt more productive in the morning and light felt right too.

My favorite works this week are – yellow flower with a bee (a memory from the late summer 2016), silver pendant  and the whale

 

For 52 weeks illustration challenge I did a fun experiment with gouache and white gel pen. The theme was “Garden” and, although I am not one to normally draw tons of details, I decided to give it a try this time and I must confess I love the result

There was a lot of Markers this week. I have completed the travel sketch challenge with new drawings of Norway and Malta

 

The entire challenge:

I also did two more marker drawings for another sketch marathon, the themes were “food that’s delicious because it’s cold” and “plants that like winter”

 

Pastels! Both were done on one day this time, my usual Tuesday drawing with an instagram group and then I went through a webinar to draw a fox.

 

 

I finally got to my colored pencils this week. Mind, it was just a small sketch for Sketchflashmob task, which was “Buttons” this week (we are drawing from life only for this one)

 

Now to my Inspiration and a new project. I stumbled across the article about 1 year of stitches project and was immediately inspired to give it a try. The truth is I love embroidery and used to have at least one large project per year up to probably early 2015, when my vision started to decline and I dropped it altogether. But one stitch a day is pretty easy. I immediately got my thread out and 5 days later I love it. It benefits me in two ways at least so far. One it gives me a sense of accomplishment  with every little motif finished every day (on average it’s probably no more that 10-15 minutes a day), and two- makes me pace myself and wait a year to complete this project. Usually I am restless until a job is done, but this is a year-long project and I have no choice but wait until it’s done. Also longer time to think things through.

I am going for “Secret Garden” theme, we’ll see if it lasts ok through the year.

Finally, my illustration journal. I tried to do some folk art following Dinara Mirtalipova’s book I talked about a couple of weeks earlier, then two of my worst sickness-wise days and finally, I began to feel like a person again and drew our life- my girl’s big event, a creature from the movie and finally a very tired collage today.

 

I also did a digital painting for a very special project. I am not showing it just yet, because I am not sure if it’s supposed to be a secret, but I am excited to reveal it soon.

 

I didn’t do any paper cutting this week. But I will definitely go back to it next week, I haven’t done my studies either 😦 I also forgot about art course that I was supposed to do with my kids, it all is moved to the next week.

Again, I hope to space things out a little bit better. I also need to work on some new illustrations to make into cards, now that spring is approaching.

Hope everyone has a lovely week!

 

Love,

Anya

 

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