2 cute round boxes!

Being sick never stopped me before, I must have been really ill, because I couldn't get myself together to post during the weekend, and I ALWAYS do that.However, I hope you would forgive me easily when I appease you with 2 quite boxes that I did at the time I was working on the large plates.

Box number 1, a mandala design again, very dramatic:

And box number 2, a delicate daisy design:

I want to take the opportunity to thank Nana for the wonderful award! Thank you Nana, I am really flattered! If I am half the inspiration for you that you are for me, I would be extremely happy!

White on black - more Mandala drawings

Most of you know that being sick sucks. What you don't know is that sometimes it helps too. 

For example since I 've been sick and frustrated that I am sick and can't work, I made one of the most beautiful mandala drawings I've ever made. Why is that, I have no idea, but it's working somehow. 

So, now while I'm still trying to fight off this virus and while my head feels as if it is 10 sizes bigger and heavier then usual, I'm distracting myself with scribbling mandala doodles all over the place. 

Let us get back where we left off before with the rest of the white on black mandala drawings.

As I mentioned in my previous post about these drawings, I don't use any kind of ruler etc, I draw everything free hand!

1. Very "constellation" like :-), but I like it!

2. The EYE :-) It looks like " Lord of the rings" kind of picture, don't you think?

3. Here it comes, the "Frog prince" :-) I know these might not look like mandalas to you, but to me they have the same feeling, the same elements, it's just a different view.

4. This one I absolutely love! Click on the pictures to see the details, it's really the details that count!

5.This one I made after I watched "Avatar" 3D

It is difficult when you can't see them in person, but the details are the ones that "take you in" and tell the story. See the pictures in my Flickr album enlarged and I am sure you'll agree with me.

And the same question again- which ones would you like to see as stamps?

//Кои бихте искали да видите като печати за фон?//

Valentine's Day cards 2009

With all the other work that I have on my hands, I just couldn't manage to get to the cards.

However, my son asked me to make some for his school...and I went a little overboard and made 26 cards in one night.!



Granted they are small, (5.5"/4.5") and not complicated designs, but still, they took some work. I started with very simple designs with the paper that I had but now I am thinking they a too fancy for 1st graders. I still haven't decided what to do with them, so far my son says he wants to try and make all 29 that he has to make himself ( something I really doubt he is going to have the patience to do, but I'm going to let him try of course).



I still have a  back up plan, because I'll definitely need more cards anyway. I am planing on making at least 30 more, but bigger and fancier, which wouldn't be possible in a day of course. And if I can finally get rid of this virus I am fighting right now, I might be able to do even more.

Since 26 cards are a lot, I wont post pictures of them all her, just a couple. If you want to see the rest of the cards, go to my Flickr album. 

// За да видите останали картички посетете Flickr албума ми.//

So, what do you think? Are they fancy for 1st graders or not? Let me know which are your favorites ( each card has a number) 

// Как мислите, прекалено ли са "специални тези картички за първокласници?Кажете ми кои ви харесват най-много( всяка картичка има номер за улеснение).//

Тези картички направих оригинално за училището на моя син, но в последствие някои от тях ми допаднаха доста и реших, че ще са твърде "специални' за първокласници. Сега се чудя още дали да ги дам за училището или не. Така или иначе ще имам нужда от още картички, мислех си да направя малко по-големи и по-изпипани от тези, no rазбира се, това няма да стане за 1 ден както тези 26, които ще видите сега.

Синът ми реши, че иска да се пробва да  си направи неговите сам, (той има нужда от 29 картички), no aз мисля, че няма да му стигне търпението за да направи толкова много. Все пак ще го оставя да се пробва, а пък ще си приготвя план Б. Стига само да се оправим най-после цялото семейство, че всички са болни, може дори да направя повече от 30 картички.

White on black- who knew it would be so magical!

Out of nowhere I developed the desire to draw white on black. I got myself some black drawing paper and a lot of different white gel, ink pens and even markers.

I started and I couldn't stop!  I have so many now that I am not even sure what to do with them. One idea was to frame them, another to make them on stamps and use them as backgrounds.

What do you think?

I call them Mandala series, because after I finished the last mandala plate, I just started drawing these, every single day, at least one a day! I wouldn't be able to show you all in one posting, so I'll show you the rest in the course of the week.

1. This was the first one I drew. I was exploring the possibilities of a white marker. As you can see, by the end of the drawing the marker grew more gray than white.

2. This is the second "mandala". I draw them in one siting, absolutely no idea what I am going to draw when I start, I just go with the feeling. I don't use sketches, I don't use rulers, just my hand, the pen and the paper.

3. I drew this one talking to my mom. Very emotional one! 

4. This one came out very different than I expected. I drew with the white marker, then covered the little white dots in the middle with fountain pen red ink and it looked absolutely stunning. Then the ink dried....and it faded so much, as from bright red, now it looks rather orange.

5. This is definitely not the ordinary mandala, but I feel it that way. My daughter said it looks like germs. LoL

You can see some more tomorrow!

I would really appreciate it if you share with me which ones you would like to see as background stamps!

Ако ви харесват рисунките, споделете кои от тях бихте искали да видите напавени като печати за фон!

12" Mandala plate- the bigest I ever pyrographed!

 

For quite some time I have been meaning to try to pyrograph a large 12" wooden plate. I have always found challenging and fascinating the woodburning of large wooden pieces, mostly because I like to finish the art work in one sitting and large pieces don't allow that.

The moment I saw this 12" plate I was sure this is going to be a challenge.I broke one of my woodburning tips and for the purpose of small details I have to use the thinnest ( like a needle) tip which takes at least twice the time and 4 time the concentration to get it right. For some reason I couldn't find woodburning tips in our Michael's store where I usually buy them and I didn't have the time to order some ( it can take up to 2 weeks!!!) so I decided to go for it anyways.

Let me tell you, it was a colossal work! It took me 14 days ( around 6 hours a day work) to finish it! This is more than 80 hours!!! Now that's a plate!



Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of the drawings on the plate, because while I transferred them to my computer I accidentally deleted them.

This is the beginning

But I took couple of closer looks to the plate, I hope this helps!

And another closer look

I like this plate and everything, but I was thinking...I would rather make the smaller ones. Yes, this is most impressive, but I love to finish what I start in one sitting and sometimes with the woodburning this is a challenge.

That's why I started making white on black mandalas on paper. I'll show you tomorrow the ones I've finished, my idea is to use some of them as rubber stamps and I would really appreciate the input which ones would you like to use as stamps.

TaTa for now!

Annie

Ellipse mandala

It turns out you can make mandala on ellipse wooden plaque!

I was looking at the piece of wood and I was wondering, what can I do with it...what can I do with it...and then it dawned on me! It doesn't matter it's ellipse, I can still make a mandala out of it!

So I started with a simple sketch as with all of my pyrographed pieces. If you are interested how I prepare the wood and do the sketches, I have explained the process here. 

I just love how the mandalas grow! First you create a center and from then on you just add new elements and it grows, and it grows..it's amazing to see the finished product at the end! i

It's like the mandalas are born, not made!

If you want to take a closer look, click on the pictures and you'll see the Flickr version of the pictures enlarged and if you liked this mandala, you might like to see the mandala plate I made a couple of days ago.

Second Mandala Birch plate

The process of creating this mandala is exactly the same as with the previous one, so I would not repeat myself, but I just wanted to say that although the process is the same, the actual creating of a particular woodburned piece can be so different. What I mean is that whenever I start, I don't have an idea how things are going to look like at the end and that turns the process of creation into a journey of discovery. This makes it even more fun to do, because every time I surprise myself with the results and this can be very rewarding.

So, without further ado, here is the second mandala. 

This is how it started, from the center as usual, free hand drawing and then woodburning dot by dot. 

The center is always so much fun to create! It opens up the whole thing like a blossoming flower!

And this is how it looked like at the end.

This was a very emotional mandala, I was quite distressed when I drew and woodburned it. It strikes me how much emotion can the mandalas represent! Stephanie mentions the same thing, whenever you are full of emotions, whether happy or sad, the mandalas become even more more stunning.

This is a very interesting fact indeed! Have you noticed anything like that with your work?



If you liked this mandala, check out the first one here.

Inspiration- a subconscious game or true magic?

I often wonder, what makes one thing more inspiring than other?

I can be inspired by a picture, by a song, by a book, by a person...and I never found the logic of it. All these things I find inspiring are so different...and yet the same!

What actually is the reason to be inspired by something and why one person can be inspired by one thing, but the same thing might not be inspiring for another?

I guess it's more of a subconscious call of our imagination, of what we find attractive and close to our understanding of beauty.

Have you found a pattern in the things that inspire you or is it just random? What things do inspire you?

I have found a new passion of mine that I hadn't talked about  here, not because it is a big secret, but mostly because I needed the time to finish what I started. It is so powerful feeling when you start that it is  almost overwhelming! I just HAD to finish the first mandalas and then to concentrate on showing them.

Browsing though Flickr I found couple of pictures of Stephanie's work ( or Buffybeans as she call's herself on Flickr) and was just mesmerized by them! If you take a look at her album, you'll see what I am talking about!

So I started reading about  her blog, about how she creates an image...and I just fell in love with this way of drawing! I started and I literally couldn't stop! I have so many mandalas now and  I am going to show them to you...but let's take one step at a time.

The first mandalas I woodburned on wooden plates, I even took pictures in progress, which I don't think I've ever done for a pyrographed items before, I hope you find it interesting.

Let me tell you couple of words about the process of woodburning for me.

*Have in mind, that I've never read about pyrography, or went to a class or something, so my way might not be the best way. I am self-taught  and I am constantly discovering new ways of making pyrographed items.

1. First I find myself a nice wooden piece ( often a box, this time a plate). I prefer birch wood, it's soft and it's a pleasure to work on. The woodburner's tip just slides on the surface, there is no pressure, no strength applied as with the other wood and it smells better when burned. Unfortunately, birch is expensive...So I often use other wood, which makes my work that more challenging. But, for the purpose of the mandalas I decided to use good quality wood ( a.k.a birch wood). It was a real pleasure working on these!!!

2. The second thing I do is sanding the wood. This part I hate...If there is a way to find somebody to do it or me...I would gladly give them the opportunity to help me! All the dust, all the pressure you have to apply with your hands, .my hands hurt like hell afterward.

3. After I make the wood ready for woodburning, I grab a pencil  and I draw free hand whatever I decide I'm going to draw.

II use a regular BIC pencil #2, 0.7mm like these:

 I found that some of the other pencils are very hard to clean up later, but BIC #2 works just fine for me. 



There is no premeditation, no stenciling, I just start at the center, often I don't even know how the whole thing is going to turn out until I am finished. Often when I start woodburning I change things in the course of work, so the finished piece might be slightly different from what I drew beforehand.

Here is how this plate started:

4. I try not to think about the whole image but to work on the details, so it is always very rewarding to look at the whole thing afterward. Sometimes I just stare in amazement what I had created and I can't believe my eyes. 

Here is another closer work:

 You can tell it's work in progress. 



This is what came out of it at the end:

In my opinion this is very different than what I've done before. It is more time consuming, because of the way I do it, like a lace, dot by dot. These I created as pieces of art, not so much as items to work some purpose as the boxes before.They transform more emotion and feeling in them.

 It would be very interesting for me to read what do these pictures make you feel? What do you think about when looking at them? 



If you liked this mandala, check out the second one here.

I need your help- Update

Hi all,

I am just writing an update to yesterday's post, to let you know about my decision which watercolors I will use for the art show IF I have to choose! I am saying IF, because I got some good news yesterday from the person organizing the event ( Thank you, Don, I'm very happy about it) that I might  be able to actually show all of the watercolors!

However, I still have to be prepared to cut down to 4 if I have to. So I decided on :

No. 1, No, 2, No. 4 and No.5.

Thank  you  all very, very much for taking the time to help me decide! I really appreciate your opinion!

 

In Bulgarian/ На български

Включвам се с ъпдейт на постинга от вчера, за да ви уведомя за решението си кои  акварели ще представя на изложбата АКО трябва да избирам.

Казвам "ако", защото вчера получих добри новини от организатора на изложбата, който ми каза, че ще направи всичко възможно, за да мога да представя всичките картини. 

Аз разбира се трябва да съм готова с избора си, ако се наложи да отрежа няколко, затова реших да използвам номер1, 2, 4 и 5. 

Благодаря от сърце на всички, които отделиха от времето си да ми помогнат да реша! Оценявам помощта ви безкрайно много!

My paintings finally got frames!

I can finally show you most of my oil paintings! I admit I have couple more, that are either drying up or are in the store for framing, but I think you are going to like the look with frames!I have been meaning to do this forever, and finally ( mostly because of the art show) I decided to frame them and see how they look like. It is very difficult( to me at least) to judge the paintings appearance without a frame.

It's like a good meal without a wine. If the food is good, it still would be good without the wine, but a good wine can compliment it in such a way as to leave you palate in awe!

So, here is what I have for you today!

1. " Apples" - What a better way to start the day than with an apple? :-) Believe it or not, white is the only frame I could find for 9/12 painting. I guess I'll have to stick painting for more popular sizes, so I can find frames easier.

2.This one I call " Bulgarian spirit"- I was thinking about Bulgaria and the traditional handmade clay plates.

3. "Lilacs" you have seen before, but without the frame. I think it looks much better with it, don't you?

4." Rose of Prey" is another one you've seen without a frame. I am thinking of submitting this one for the art show. It's not oil, it's acrylic though.

I can't wait to see how the " Koi Fish" looks with a frame ! I hope to get it next week!

I need your help!

I am totally going bonkers today!

I am trying to figure out which one of the paintings should I have for the art show...and can't decide. I want to have for sure 1 with flowers and one landscape. Overall I have to show 3 ( or 4 if Don is so good to let me) watercolors. 

Please, please, please help me out to decide!

So far I am down to these:

 No.1 " Briar in a vase"

 No.2" Flower branch"

No. 3" Bird of Paradise"

No.4 " Flower Basket"

No.5" Landscape with trees"

No. 6 " Winter forest"

No.7. "Field with birds"

Which 4 of these do you think I should show?

In Bulgarian/На български

Не мога да реша кои акварели да представя за изложбата и се нуждая от вашата помощ. Изберете 4 от показаните акварели и ми помогнете да реша!

Благодаря на всички!