Month: February 2016

be yourself

I was planning this entry as something positive and optimistic. The week went quite well, I opened up a bit at work and found out about an interesting possibility of combining my time at the university with doing something that might help me in the future and would probably make me feel proud of myself for once. So I was preparing this picture and wanted to say that this is what is important, and life is actually not bad. Haha.

lettering

And today was supposed to be just a nice Sunday – reading interesting stuff, drawing a bit. Haha. And then I found myself at nyidanmark website – to check how long the processing time for the residence permit I was planning to apply for a few years now is. And then I found out that making plans is really the most stupid thing I can do. I am so annoyed, I can’t even put it into words.

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asian girls and cats

Well, that’s not new information, but somehow I’m very fond of the ways asian girls look and I love cats. And trying my new (now favorite) brush, I realized that it’s a lot of fun to paint in one layer with no pencil drawing underneath. So this is what I’ve been doing a bit. Maybe I’ll try to make a small series of these cute ladies in different seasons.


A funny observation about asian girls: when I commented on a nice skirt my Chinese colleague was wearing, she said that she likes it, but it’s not beautiful, it’s just cute. And then she went on about how asian girls like looking cute, and beautiful is something about european girls. And now I’m thinking, about cuteness, is it really something in the same line with beauty or it’s just a sort of different quality?

søde

ice1Recently I found out that paper is the most important thing in watercolour painting. No matter how good you are, you’ll almost never like what you’ve done on cheap paper (omg, is it me saying it?:) I’ve heard other people saying it before, but I thought I knew better. So I finally fought my stinginess and bought Windsor & Newton coldpressed block. Well, 10 kr per a4 sheet, I’m in tears…of joy ^^. It doesn’t dry too quickly, so I can add colour without getting sharp edges, it tolerates as many layers as I’d like to put, it even doesn’t look dirty when I’m trying to wash something off. Windsor & Newton, be my Valentine 😀

Another thing I was successfully ignoring for quite a while was a good natural hair paint brush. I was loosing temper quite a few times when I couldn’t get the line right, – especially when I was finishing a piece and it was something like eyelashes or other small details. Apparently, clumsiness like this is quite successfully cured by a good brush. The trick is in the sharp tip – it has to point well. A weekend of discoveries.

So I was testing my nice new things, and it turned out literally quite sweet 🙂doughnut

And.. I ordered a couple of books at the library and try to create a habit of reading at least an hour a day, so I’m not just fluent, but very good. Besides, I’d really like to be able to keep my focus longer, my social media addiction scares me a bit. And talking to Nastasia on Skype today I realised that learning a new language every five years could be a very nice and useful thing to do. Maybe one day I’ll be speaking French then ^.^

 

 

 

brain yoga

pishmaFocus is not about me today. Was trying to paint a bit, the result was reminding me of my attempts when i was 5 or 6.

So I just ended up playing with paint, putting some stains, adding more colour, trying to at least learn how it behaves when I do this or that. And then I rem
embered a couple of things I wanted to try, so I ended up with these tansy flowers and a (I believe) Japanese girl and her cat in the rain. This sort of technique is like brain yoga, seriously.

mew1
And I like the result more or
less, I think it’s a bit less boring then just trying to paint in a realistic manner. Some improvisation and small sharp details on one sheet seems like not a bad idea.

wake-up call

Today I’ve got one moretulip
wake-up call. This time from Agathe. I still cannot believe it, life is so unfair to destroy people like her. I’ve hardly ever known a more energetic, curious, lively, humorous person, who had opinions, knew what she wanted, was extremely brave and strong. And this all now in the past tense. It just sounds like a very stupid joke.

When something like this happens I realise how insignificant and superficial my occasional whining is. How unthinking I am, because I totally have no excuse to be down.

It is quite a paradox to realise that you should be happy and celebrate life when for someone it is over.

Tonight I’m drinking for you guys, for you, who are going to stay young forever. Юра, Julie, Agathe, thank you for teaching me these lessons. I hope you are having fun up there.