Do Art

Today this fits, I'm in a rotten mood. Above you see a path on the North Cemetery of Leipzig. I drew the postcard yesterday, the blue is actually a turquoise. Postcard 32/366

Postcard 36/366 A few weeks back at the illustration workshop I got to try Gouache colors, I didn't like them as I told you before. Instead I had a strong feeling that watercolors would be just my cup of tea. After I tried them today I know that I absolutely LOVE them. It's such fun to use them. I love that I can be inaccurate when using them and it just looks great. Postcard 37/366 Those three cards are the first time since art class in school that I used watercolors (that has been at least 16 years since) and I just love those cards. Postcard 38/366

As you can see I went on a shopping spree this Saturday. Initially I hadn't planned to go to the artists supply this early again, but then I snapped. The trigger was my "Ratzefummel", my (kneading) eraser, it was so dirty that I really couldn't or want to use it anymore and my other erasers weren't fit for that kind of accurate erasing that I need to do with my graphic designs. So this lovely white Ratzefummel that you see in the pic above had to be it. Naturally I didn't just buy the eraser, I've also got another Copic Multiliner, with a 0.25 nib. I find that it glides smoother and is much more stable than the 0.1 nib. I like drawing with it. Then I decided that I wouldn't wait until Easter and got myself watercolors, the Sketchers Pocket Box of Winsor & Newton . I'll probably try them today. And last but not least, I bought the cut magazine , which is incidentally not on illustration or graphic art but about clothing design. Now I don't w...

My favourite! Have a great new week everyone.

Tom Hiddleston in Joanna Hogg's sublime film Archipelago The best film of the year is not always the same as one's favourite film of the year. The former is destined to remain a classic, watched and studied (perhaps in film school) for decades to come. The latter is the film you are most likely to pop into the DVD player when you get home on a rainy Saturday night. In the spirit of today's Oscars, here's a look at some of our favourite films from the past year. Archipelago. Posh family tensions crack open over a getaway to the Isles of Scilly. Sounds unappealing as the subject matter for a film? Hold your horses. This film from English director Joanna Hogg was an utter surprise. Very few films are all about pleasure and the senses. This film ravishes, it is washed with such pale and cold browns and greens, it is wind and rain-swept. Every single shot is composed with a kind of sly joy: the film is like one long, extended still-life rupturing ever so slightly via change...

click for a larger image We hope you can join us this Wednesday at 12 noon in the Trapezium Gallery for the 2012 Student Acquisitive Art Prize. Come along and find out who this year's winners are, and join us for light refreshments and a celebration of the achievements of all the exhibiting artists.

What a combination: the glamour of Sanssouci Park and the postcards I drew yesterday. Postcard 16/366 Postcard 17/366 - My favourite Postcard 18/366 Postcard 19/366 Postcard 20/366 - drawn with Copic Multiliner Enjoy your weekend.

Exactly two years ago I started this blog with this post . The blogs name by then was "The Man-Made Project", I had just bought my Lomo Fisheye No. 2 and had the idea to take pictures of normal everyday stuff but with a twist. I soon broadened this blogs horizon. Last year I forgot about this blogs birthday ( blog birthday post 2011 ). During the last two years I truly learned to photograph, specializing in Fisheye and Macro Photography without ever having planned to do so and changed personally a lot (back then I was a platinum blonde). I think it is save to say this blog evolves with me. I changed the layout, name, projects and goals along with my personal development. Two years ago the blog was just for my lomographies, now I share all my photography and my other artistic ventures. In my last post I shared my first ever illustration of a certain topic and who knows what the next years will bring? A wedding gig this summer for sure but aside from that... And I have absol...

Postcard 14/366 What a creative day! I've been enjoying drawing all throughout the day and just a few minutes ago, I've finished my first ever illustration on a topic, for Illustration Friday . As it says on their website: "Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels". I wanted to take part for a few weeks now, but didn't. This weeks topic is "fluid" and I thought it is a perfect fit for my stuff. Postcard 15/366 Nevertheless I've wanted to do something special and came up with the "Fluid Fountain". "Fluid Fountain" It was fun to draw this.

When I walked to my dentists appointment at dusk yesterday evening the Spring birds were singing and the air felt like velvet. I love this kind of air, when everything becomes soft and the light brush of wind feels like a loving caress and as if someone is ruffling lovingly your hair. *sigh* These days I feel like I'm becoming more and more myself. Something is definitely shifting. On Tuesday as rotten as it was, something big shifted. It felt like years passed in hours. I had the exact same feeling on the Tuesday before Christmas. What is also changing are my expenses. For almost 20 years I spent quite a lot of my income on music. But I haven't bought one single song since November. I also don't lend CDs from the public library anymore. In fact I'm starting to listen to my vast collection of music. Currently I listen a lot to Matchbox Twenty , Hootie & the Blowfish , The Goo Goo Dolls and Tom Jones . I'm obviously not running from myself anymore, I'm start...

Even though yesterday was quite a rotten Tuesday I'm proud to say that I drew again and it was pure fun. These are the postcards I drew. The first three pictures are from the postcard that I drew with my new Copic Multiliner SP 0.1. I really enjoyed it, though it takes a bit to get used to it. The other three pics are three postcards that I drew with different pencils.

This is the formidable entrance to the church of the little Saxonian town Wolkenburg. Yesterday I had a really frustrating day, so to boost my mood I went to my local artists supply and got myself a nice little gift. A COPIC Multiliner 0.1 and a square sketchbook. I have been lusting after this kind of pen for 2 years now. I've had come across them for the first time in my Manga phase. Then last year I've had them in my shopping basket time and again, and time and again I put them back on the shelf. Yesterday was the big day. It took me a while to decide the size, but I think 0.1 is just perfect for me at this moment, I can buy smaller later on. The sketchbook was due to the fact that I want to do a certain project and for this I need a square sketchbook with real bookbinding. All my other sketchbooks are ring bound and not squares. I admit I have a crush on square paper. DIN A sizes are just too normal and remind me to much of writing paper. By now I have as much square paper ...

News on the food front: My body voted yes for dairy-free too. I've got mixed feelings about this. On one side I'm happy, because now I know how to get my skin in order and how to lean out effectively until summer skirts and dresses are back in season. But it also means that now I really have to think ahead when it comes to eating and I have to change my grocery shopping too. After just 5 days I'm already running out of olive oil, a bottle that had stood on my shelve untouched for months before because I used mostly butter. Another positive thing from those 3 grain-, sugar- and dairy-free days was that I found that I do have the willpower to fight down chocolate-cravings, that is under perfect circumstances. I would probably succumb under stress. And I need to have a chocolate-free home. Any chocolate in and I would succumb. Anyway, yesterday I shortly pondered if I still should do my Sunday ritual of Caffe Latte (milk), steamed milk with Amaretto-flavour (milk and sugar-mol...

It seems as if Thursdays become my exploration days. This Thursday I was restless again and in desperate need to see something new. Therefore I went out to use the nice weather photographing (it was sunny when I left home). I went by street car to the "Palm Tree Garden", which incidentally doesn't have any palm trees anymore. The garden is situated on the other bank of the Elster river, the bank that I had no memory of ever exploring it. Which is quite ridiculous since there are more than enough bridges to it. Anyway, I explored it and found this playground containing this huge elephant slide made of concrete and the climbing frame. The usual concrete elephant slides that I remember were smaller than this one and had no metal chute.* Personally I always loved those old elephant slides. And the swings. As a matter of fact I still love swings and enjoy them occasionally. "Never lose your childish innocence" Katherine and Fefe from "Under the tuscan sun" ...