Hi five!

I am making Kalin's Birthday cake today, but I wanted to say Hi, so here 5 white on black drawings that you can enjoy looking at while I'm busy!

 What do these look like to you? I'll tell you the name once couple of people take a guess! :-)

No. 1

  No. 2

 

No.3

These two are pretty obvious I think :-)

See you soon with pictures of the cake!

Noelia and my new easel

I haven't painted with oil for over 6 months and I was little intimidated to start again.

Oil so far is a favorite medium of mine to paint, but I can't use it during the winter, when it's cold. I don't have a studio and as bad as it sounds, I have to go outside to paint during the summer, simply because I don't have enough space for the easel. Of course during the winter I get the most ideas and inspiration for painting with oil, which is very frustrating.

So, recently I got myself a new tabletop easel. I was looking around for some time and I wanted to make sure I choose the best one, considering the price of course.



So I got Heritage Cressida Tabletop Easel  



Now I understand how convenient it is to have one of these tabletop easels! Yes, it would be nice to be able to use my huge wooden one, but let's face it, how many of us have a real " artist" size studio of their own?

That's what I thought too!



So, here are the pros of the easel:

- It is light, easily movable but not light enough to tip over!

- It's metal, so it doesn't stain, very easy to clean!

- It's big enough to hold larger pieces, but it's very comfortable to work on small ones as well!

- it's sturdy, yet not expensive, compared to others!





And here are the cons:

- It doesn't come with instruction how to assemble it. I took me some time and 2 broken nails to put it together the right way. Other than that I love it and I recommend it if you are looking for something similar.



I was thinking what should I paint the first time I am using it....then I saw this picture in one of my Flickr friends photostreams:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34189906@N08/3890911286/in/faves-26588310@N04/



I believe Noelia is one of the most beautiful pregnant women I've seen and I just felt compelled to try and paint her. Don't you think?

Have in mind that I don't want to paint realistic, I've changed things as to how I felt it at the time I painted.

I am fascinated recently with pregnant women and I really want to make other pieces with them as a central figure and with the red scarf as detail...I find it very interesting allegory! I know, I am a little rusty with the oil paint, but now that I have my new easel, perhaps I can do it more often..we'll see! :-)



It would be interesting for me to read your experience with different easels, I am relatively new at this and I would love to hear what you have to say!





Annie

Cute packages for cute girls

Here are 2 more packages with these very easy to make and very effective tissue paper flowers:

I added them as details to the gift bags/boxes and I think they turned out interesting enough to share. 

I have more things to show you, just need to post the pictures later today!

Notes from the notebook - part 3

I am a very organized person, but the last couple of weeks were a real trial! However, I still managed to do some sketching, and though you might want to see.



Please, have in mind that I am learning just now...so it's just student sketches and I am pretty much teaching myself, so if you have constructive criticism  I would appreciate it! The pictures are linked to the album, so if you want to see a larger image, simply click on the picture.

1. Study of eyes

 

       

2. Study of nose

 

3. Study of mouth

         

4. Skull





5. Ear







6. Head movement





7.Figure 

And no, that's not me ( the first question I got when I showed it around), it's a picture from anatomy book)



 





8. Statue 







9. My right foot







10. Face

It's in the bag! ( with cards)

May is usually one of the most hectic months we have at home, a lot of birthdays, a lot of engagements, so I am really really happy and exhausted when it's over.



But what I like the most about this month is all the good things we share with family and friends, all the smiles and joy that it brings! And what a better way to share good things than to create them, right? So, one of the upcoming birthdays is of a girl we all love very much! She is a daughter of my best friend and I always enjoy doing more artsy things for her and her sisters.



 Part of the present for her birthday would be a very special bag.The actual bag I bought at Target and then I decorated it myself.

Picture before: 

Picture after:

Detail 1

Detail 2

Since I know her sister would love to have something similar, I decided I might as well make 2 bags, here is the second one:

And a detail:

I really hope they both enjoy these as much as I enjoyed decorating them!

As a finishing touch, my son and I made 3 cards ( 2 for the bigger sisters, one for the little one). I should say I helped him, but he chose the ideas and colors and did some of the work himself.

Off to make some sugar flowers, since the wedding cake is coming close!!!

Annie

Some white on black sketches!

I am going bonkers over the wedding cake I am making for a friend this weekend but I have couple of sketches white on black that I though you might enjoy!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

 I would love to hear what you think! :-)

Annie

I was pleasantly surprised when my husband told me today that he nominated me for Michael's most creative mom competition!!!

If you think that what I do is worth a vote, you can vote for me and invite your friends to vote for me here:

My husband surprised me with an early Mother's Day present- he nominated me for Michael's creative mom competition! If you want to vote for me and invite your friends to vote for me, you can check my profile at :



http://apps.facebook.com/creativemom/profile.php?id=1656



 It would be really interesting to see the results! :-)





Thank you all!





Annie





Бях много приятно изненадана днес, когато мъжът ми ми каза, че ме е номинирал за конкурса " Най-креативна майка", по повод Деня на майката в САЩ!!!

Ако мислите, че това, което правя заслужава вашият глас, можете да гласувате за мен и да поканите приятелите си да гласуват за мен ето тук:



http://apps.facebook.com/creativemom/profile.php?id=1656





Ще бъде много интересно да видим резултатите!





Благодаря на всички!





Ани

Summer?

Yes, summer!

The hot and humid thing that happens immediately after the snow disappears or at least that's what happened this year. Four days ago we had the heat on, this weekend  we couldn't breath because it was almost 90F.



So, in this weather what else can a person do than to start redecorating and renovating? That was a rhetorical question, don't answer! :-) We almost finished the renovation of the kids' room and I can't wait to show you!

BUT...first things first, take a look at these dry pastels I made recently:

1. "Blue" Синьо/Тъжно

2. "Fireworks"/ Фойерверки

3. "Resonance" / Резонанс

4. Home/ У дома

I am always thinking if I chose the right titles. What do you think?

Винаги се чудя дали избирам правилните заглавия, вие как мислите?



See you soon with pictures of the new room! ;-)

До скоро виждане, когато ще ви покажа снимки на новата стая!







Annie