Bell flowers - NEW drawings

Here are the bell flowers, that I’ve brought last week from grocery store, they were on sale: with broken stalks and yellowish dry leaves here and there. But they were still beautiful – another eye-catcher in my garden, and I like this reduced colour amplitude, being kind of calm and appeasing, with sun shining through the foliage and sparkling in various shades of green.

Exploring pattern - surface design sketches

This time I’ve started first with pencil drawings outside and made a whole serie of sketches of wild flowers at the seaside, which I’ll post later. I worked with plants with as much different structures and shapes as I could find, and Finland is just amazing country for variety of wild and BEAUTIFUL different flora species on a couple of square feet – I could have spent my whole day at one spot and would haven’t had them all on paper – greedy eyes, I know.

Back at home while my family has been napping Saturday afternoon I’ve been watching the sketches and it suddenly gave me an idea to make a collage with leaves and plants what I had growing around our house and explore pattern. I’ve picked up just several items and made some arrangements, then I’ve let my little girl play with them as well, and it was fun. Afterwards I’ve just drawn them loosely with my sharpey. I’m thinking about using it all in my projects where I need that kind of surface design drafts – pouches, cards, it may become a pillow case, etc. Stay tuned, I hope to come with the results the next week.

Affirmation #5 - embrace change

Lately I’ve been going though many things I haven’t planned or at least not imagined that way. After I got started posting regularly on my blog and working for the Etsy-shop, and after all the time I’ve spent on figuring out which way to go, I have planned to fully concentrate on "Raumalainen" during the summer. And since the beginning of July I’m actually busy with anything except the creative projects that I’ve considered important for me. 

During my being-far-from-the-studio I’ve reflected a lot about my business, but I also kept telling to myself that all the events, movements etc. were not without purpose, even if it’s yet not evident to me. That’s how I came to another affirmation about embracing changes.

I quit my job after three years of maternity leave, in which the perspectives had kept already shrinking over the last years. I’m now going freelance and sometimes it’s sort of scaring. Even if I do not freak out obviously, I cannot help but feeling sometimes like a rug being pulled out under my feet. 

But anyway, recently I’ve seen a quote on my friend’s blog about being later more disappointed by the things we’ve not dared to do, not by the things we’ve done. And that coincides with the motivation I have to continue. I love what I do and the project "Raumalainen" brings into my life, besides of having a family, of course, that feeling of fulfillment, I’ve rarely had before, while having a regular job.

Just like this I’d like to highlight that positive attitude towards any change, because that’s how we can keep the eyes open to see the opportunities. So embrace change.

Zooming in on process - watercolour drawings

This time it’s a focus change – I have been drawing the bell flowers this afternoon and suddenly found it interesting to zoom in on the process and change the point of view. Here we are with a peek into my patio corner where I paint and draw on sunny sommer days. The actual drawings will be posted on weekend.

New drawings - ANEMONES

Here are the drawings of anemones, the last three of them, because I got started already yesterday with them, the weather was changing all the time and I just detailed them too much, and it was not good. And I failed at the beginning. Many times. Today it has been easier despite the disappointment and I’ve managed not to overload my sheets. I love the anemones, and I’m almost quite pleased with the results, though it’s not that much, and it has been one of the trickiest flower to draw so far. I’ve actually expected them to come in red and white as well, but these three shades of magenta-violet-ultramarin blue is all I have right now.

Next would come maybe red carnations, of violet bell-flowers. I’ve also some white flowers, and a gorgeous red dahlia, that might come the next.  And I have to fill a little bit my shop with another products - so far for weekend planning.

Have a nice day !

Work in progress - colouring book

Some work in progress – this early morning and while my little girl was having her breakfast I’ve finished the sketches for the colouring book, I’ve introduced lately. Now it’s about writing a couple of words to explain the story and putting – I don’t know – ink, or maybe something else. I like ink for my affirmation drawings, but it’s too smooth and dense, and elaborated for this kind of work – I’d like it to be more bristle-like, maybe more charcoal, more nervous – have to figure it out in the next days.

It’s sometimes sunny outside today, thanks God, so I have to take advantage of this and sketch the anemones, that are finally flourishing in my garden – I’ll keep you posted.

A blue-bellflower teddy

Here we are with another one teddy bear – in beige and blue. Its characteristics are  similar to the teddy, that was described in the previous post (size, jointing, filling etc.). Different is its character – that’s it that comes out differently each time I make a new teddy. 

As for the rest, I'm getting focused after the week spent far away from my studio: it usually takes a couple of days, sometimes a week, to get going all the projects that I’ve left behind before departure. At this time I may start asking myself about what is actually more or less important in what I do, and what if I’d change here and there a little bit. I’m okay with that, and it comes sometimes to a couple of new projects, or just developping of some new ideas. 

Otherwise I try to get going projects that have come to a standstill recently. Yes, I have a couple of them in my basket. These are non-finished projects, which realisation is beyond my time limits  - spending time on reconnecting with inspiration each time after an interruption on a long-term project is something I cannot afford right now. I prefer quick and short projects, or projects which realization can be fragmented, so that my little girl can wait a couple of minutes till I'm done with the fragment and have my spirit free to switch to playing/reading/etc.

Back to non-finishing, the post-travel slow-downs shake me up to re-think a project, that is spooking in my head and to find another way to get it done. Hope to be able to show more of that by the end of the week.

Here the teddy blue-bellflower. It will soon be available for sale. Stay tuned.