I read too many books on WWII lately. Some beautiful but very, very, sad books...

Drawings of soldiers.

Snippets inspired by books

Since lately I've been immersed in books, the references for the sketches that have made it into my sketchbook have been inspired by some of the books I've read. Experimenting with non-permanent ink, and washes.

1. Shells. Inspired by "All the Light We Cannot See".
An amazing book whose main character is inlove with whelks(snails), among other things.

2. Circus Tents. Inspired by "The Night Circus."
Although not a great book, it had some great imagery.

Where in the world is Dominique?

...Lost in books. And that is a true story.

I jumped on the whole "52 books challenge" a few weeks late, and pretty soon found myself doing a backflip off that wagon and on to the express train not wanting to get off. Here's a sketch that shows the 26 books I got through in March alone. Needless to say I'm close to nearing the end of my challenge or rather extending it indefinitely since I'm about 6 months early. That is what happens when you listen to audiobooks at double the speed. Some people speed read, I speed listen. In case you are wondering sometimes it did feel like the book was being shoved in my brain. I listened to them while cleaning, walking, doing production at work, or before sleep. Quite surprising to me I found out that shopping while listening to an audiobook is nearly impossible. Also do not listen to meditation books at double the speed: it will backfire and give you anxiety. Regardless, now I cannot listen at normal speed ever again. Just like in real life, in books I need and like things to move faster.

I read fiction, but also children's books, art books and nonfiction. Some were extremely moving and some forgettable (obviously not mentioned in this post). I feel in love with the genre of historical fiction with books like The Painted Girls based on Degas' ballerinas, and Z: A novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. That lead me to reread The Great Gatsby and The Paris Wife, a novel about Hemmingway's wife. I read books on creativity such as Creative Confidence (5stars) and books on the way the brain functions such as The Power of Habit and the Wisdom of Psychopaths.

I have always hated biographies when I was younger - perhaps because I always had to use them for history book reports, but now I've developed a bit of an obsession for them. I read Open, a biography of Andre Agassi which was quite good and much better than expected (the first chapter alone is phenomenal). One day, I came home to tell my husband I finished Chanel's biography (Sleeping with the enemy) so he could respond with "you mean Audrey Hepburn's"? Please, keep up that was so yesterday-literarly. Some biographies like Audrey's make you idolize the person more, while others like Chanel's makes you question ever wanting to touch anything she ever made. I am hoping my brain won't turn to mush and I can keep all these stories, experiences and beautiful things straight.

The most bizarre and random book I picked up was Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. Tom Mueller is a fantastic writer and he made olive oil so exciting I bored everyone I knew with the details I learned in the book. He turned me into a person who would not stop talking about olive oil, so I'm not sure if I should write him some fan mail or some hate mail.

I'd say I've always had a reading problem and there are days I would rather sit in bed with a book and forget to eat. Being an only child, books were my siblings and at times my friends. I can still hear my mom "No reading at the dinner table!". She's the one to talk since I inherited this reading addiction from her, and my father the book collector hoarder. They met fighting over the same collection of art books, so it's only fair they would produce a book nerd.

But how can anyone not love reading? George R.R. Martin said it best: "I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read." And that is where I disappeared these past months - in the world of forgotten histories, living other people's lives and feeling their joys and sorrows and it has all been a wonderful adventure. I just want to keep reading more fantastic books, learning more and time traveling!

Leaves

Drawings of leaves, a theme I've always enjoyed. I have a lot of leaves pressed between pages of books and sketchbooks. Sometimes it can be embarrassing to take out a notebook to take down a note and have leaves and petals fall everywhere. But usually it is a joy and a pleasant surprise to turn the page and find a perfectly preserved and fragile memory.

Be merry and bright!

Happy holidays!

Coming to the end of this series. It's possible this will become a holiday set of 10 cards for next year, so there might be two more additions at some point, although it's hard to work on things offseason since you need the holiday spirit.

Winter Birds

Making cardinals look cute was a bit of a challenge, since they are just naturally angry looking. I should've gone with chickadees, since I've always loved them. I remember when I was little I always felt bad for the poor chickadees freezing out in the cold and was so confused why they didn't migrate with the rest of the birds. I thought maybe they were really smart and stayed behind so they could have all the crumbs to themselves without sharing.

Holiday cheer

Here are some cute deer tangled up in lights.

Time to get a Xmas tree

Yes, yes... I like foxes. And they like Christmas :)

Polar Bear Monday

Just some polar bears having fun in the snow.

Caroling Chipmunks

Here's a family of caroling chipmunks for you... and before Thanksgiving? How dare they! The sketch had 5 of them, since I love groups of 5, but I'm an only child and I decided to make it my family of chipmunks.

Sketch. The other two from that will have to make it in a different illustration.

Skating penguins

I don't send holiday cards anymore, but if I did, this would be it.
Some fancy figure skating penguins.

Winter fun

Winter themed illustrations continue: Snow bunnies.

Bundle up

It's that season, of scarves and accessories. when the cold is setting in...
Quickly colored in a doodle from the other day, trying some new brushes and a looser style.

Shadows

I love photographing shadows.
While organizing some older photos I came across this image: cat vs window washer.

Owls / Whoooo has big eyes?

Working in the children's publishing industry means every animal you ever come across has to be happy and cute. Not only happy, but intoxicatingly happy. The whole cute owl trend is everywhere, and while I think they are cool and interesting looking, I don't think I would've labeled them as cute. Creepy is the word I would use.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday: the very first illustrations I did in Illustrator.
Somewhere there was a map of Transylvania, Romania and garlic as part of the series.
Vampires etc. Circa Jan 2005.

Bang!...Mechanical drawings

A friend of mine who is doing his own drawing trial, was curious what my drawings would like with a more technical theme. Challenge accepted! I have a deep admiration for people who have the patience to use a ruler and compass and draw insanely accurate drawings. I do not anymore. I like graph paper, that's about it. I took out my rapidograph to do the gun, only to remember how much I hate the darn thing and how drawing a smooth straight line with it was not happening - it's probably clogged somewhere, or the tip is toast, cause the lines are a mess. I was also bored. I feel like Illustrator was invented because someone like me was failing at manually drawing gears :) It would be so easy now to go and vectorize the gun drawing to be accurate and sharp.

I did find cross sections particularly interesting, and enjoyed seeing how things were shaded and crosshatched to represent different surfaces. I ended up quickly reviewing "Mechanical Drawing Self-Taught" a very comprehensive guide at Project Gutenberg, a nice resource for online books.

So after this week I don't think I'll be spending much time on themes I do not like.

Faces

Some quick portraits done on the bus. Not of actual bus people - they hate it when you stare.
Been quite a while since I've drawn faces, accuracy will hopefully come back one day.

Fun with Fruit

Had a very random, and somewhat unsuccessful drawing week. Since I've been drawing at such a small scale the switch to full page is proving tricky. Overall, it was also just an odd week interfering with the proper focus I needed for drawing. So instead, here are some goofy photo/drawings I did in the beginning of the week.

Hipster raspberries.

Strawberry talk.

Fashion Week

Last week's drawing theme: designer collections from Paris fashion week. I love polka dots, but the Valentino one gave me a headache. I keep seeing the collection everywhere in magazines, or maybe it just stands out more. There's only so much pattern I can take. I am a sucker for Elie Saab, Dior remains one of my favorites, and I can always find something from Galliano that I love. I did not do the Versace fabrics justice, and Gaultier will always be Gaultier (I would wear the short Union Jack dress). Sometimes I do miss the fashion design days, and the hours of FTV.