Progress

I am about to go into full panic mode now that the deadline for The Sketchbook Project is very close. I had already planned every page of my book, but have found myself still changing some of my sketches. It's something that I tend to do in the midst of the creative process, but this constant fiddling has resulted in my sketchbook taking a lot longer to finish than I expected.

I've also had to stop myself from looking at the other participants' pages because that just fires up my inner critic who takes immense pleasure in telling me that my pages are nowhere near as good as the others'. Sigh. There are so many wonderful artists participating in the project and when I've posted my work, I'll take the time to look at theirs. In the meantime, however, I shall keep my mind and energy focused on finishing my own pages.

Words to live by

I've decided that one of my goals for this year is to devote some time to some of the things that I've always wanted to try. One of these things is calligraphy. I'm a big typography fan, and I've been making cards with fancy fonts, but I haven't really sat down to study calligraphy properly. Yesterday, I got my Pilot parallel pens out and just started scribbling and doodling away.


I think the one thing that has stopped me from pursuing calligraphy seriously is that it requires a lot of patience, a virtue that I sorely lack. The calligraphy below was done without any measurements, hence, you will notice that the sizing and spacing are a bit askew. I still have a lot to learn, I know.

Doing this has got me thinking about new projects involving calligraphy. I'm really excited, but I know that first I must learn to be patient. :)

Bookmark bunting

I had been looking to put some sort of decoration on our downstairs toilet walls for a long time. I didn't want to put personal photos up (although my husband and I are friends with a couple who put up a collage of their friends' photos on their toilet wall, which we found comically sweet) so I spent a long time trying to find posters or art prints that would fit nicely.

Then it just hit me on New Year's Eve whilst cleaning the house yet again for another batch of guests: Why not use my own little prints? At first I thought I'd frame my postcards, but I wanted to take action right then and there, so I decided to make a little bunting using my postcards instead.

I tied a length of raffia on to a couple of those nifty 3M hooks (of which we have an abundance all over the house, to my husband's agony) and clipped ten little postcards on it with miniature wooden clothes pegs. Et voila! A mini bunting on my toilet wall!

I then put a little crocheted flower on each end to cover the hook. These flowers came from an unfinished table centrepiece that I started working on about five years ago. I think I got frustrated because I couldn't find the right shade of green cotton for the leaves. I recently rediscovered the flowers (there were about ten or twelve) while rummaging through my stack of wool. My head is now filled with images of garlands and mobiles. :)

In case you'd like to make a bookmark bunting of your own using my bookmarks, or simply to just use the bookmarks as they were designed to be used, you can get them from my Etsy shop. Just click on the link on the right!

New year, new projects, old inspiration

Happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Ours was filled with a lot of crafting, baking, getting together with family and friends, and eating, of course.

There's nothing like the arrival of a new year to get one's creative juices flowing. I'm planning to spend a little bit more time on making new things for The Art of Whimsy. Easier said than done, I know, but I really need to try harder as my head and sketchbook are bursting with ideas for new projects.

I'm leaning towards fabric projects these days, mainly because I had a lot of fun making dolls and fabric ornaments last year. My sketchbook is slowly filling up with ideas for teeny weeny dolls and ornaments. Here's a quick glimpse of two of my latest projects. I've just made the patterns for them and I'm hoping to do a lot of sewing and embroidery in the next couple of days. I'm giddy with excitement over these and I hope you'll like the results.

All my illustration time these days is devoted to my contribution to the The Sketchbook Project. The deadline is very close now and I still have a lot of work to do. I know, you'd think that at my age I'd know better than to procrastinate, but I can't help it. Sigh.

Anyway, as I was looking at picture books this morning for some inspiration, I found myself being drawn once again to Chihiro Iwasaki's art.

I chanced upon Ms Iwasaki's work at our local library a few years ago. I was looking at books to borrow for Lucas and Sofia when two beautiful Japanese books caught my eye. Both were about a little girl called Momoko. The stories were short and told simply from a little girl's point of view. The accompanying illustrations were breathtakingly beautiful--watercolours that perfectly captured the different postures and facial expressions of a young child.

Here are a few illustrations from Momoko and the Pretty Bird:

The brush strokes look deceptively simple, but it takes genius to vividly portray a child's face the way Ms Iwasaki did. 

Momoko and her teddy--extremely cute

The little hand kills me every time I see it.

And so does this painting.

Needless to say, I have been hopelessly in love with Ms Iwasaki's work since.  I've been constantly borrowing the two books I found at the library that no one in our family is surprised anymore that the books seem to be in our house all the time. (I know I should just scan them, but I enjoy the physical act of turning the pages to study each picture.) Unfortunately, I haven't found any of the other Momoko books in the libraries in our area. There are some on Amazon marketplace, but they're quite expensive. I just hope that someday someone will reprint all of Ms Iwasaki's books as the world shouldn't be deprived of the chance to see her wonderful art.