Be happy!

This time I managed to throw away the figure drawing block and drew a clown! I was happy and concentrated on using happy colors in the background. The ink colored pencils helped with the intensity, I really enjoyed it.

Then I wanted to satisfy my design obsession and create a whole pattern from the original drawing. I added another clown and some party stuff, but the real challenge was the color palette. Finally, I stayed muted because of a lot of shiny little things. 

I am quite satisfied, but I miss the spontaneous joyful energy that I feel in the original picture. It’s more like a party than a happy time. What do you think?

Love and hugs,

Ivana

What holds you back from creativity?

The pandemic hit the whole world a few years ago and everyone has their own unique memories. One of mine is the path to watercolor. I picked up a brush and looked for suitable tutorials. I got lucky and discovered Jenna Rainey’s channel. She charmed me with her attitude and positive energy as well as her art.

Today I know that pure watercolor is not my path. Still, I follow Jenna and read her wise insights about art, business, and life. Today, her Creative Recovery course started. I had no special expectations, maybe just to get a little inspiration from the outside.

In no way did I expect the force with which the short audio and related task hit me. What holds me back from full creativity? What are the obstacles deep in the subconscious that hold back my creativity? Sounds like therapy, right?

I was surprised how quickly the old myth jumped out of my subconscious. The myth that you are either intelligent or an artist, intelligent or beautiful. Even as a small child I voted for intelligence and left art and beauty to others. Who told me that this is a choice?

My own pride seems to be a much bigger obstacle than the fear of imperfection.

Although in real life I had abandoned the holy grail of intelligence many years ago, it still controlled my subconscious. I was shocked to discover that being an artist meant to my subconscious mind the same thing as selling intelligence below cost.

So I am grateful for today’s lesson for this insight and guidance.. I am looking forward to the next few days of the course. Thanks, Jenna!

Love, Ivana

We will frog you!

About a year ago, I drew one of my first digital drawings – the frog parliament. I was learning to use the tools and was very focused on the method and not so much on the joy of drawing. Now I see the rookie mistakes and all the useless stubbornness.

Recently I have been drawing frogs again. With a different technique and with a very relaxed approach. At that time, I didn’t even think about my inadequacy in figure drawing. Inside my head, I saw frogs performing on a lake and heard booming rock. Over and over “I will frog you!”

It was obvious that the ordinary drawing must become a seamless pattern. I added a little effort and eureka, here it is! This time I am happy because the whole process made me happy. I’m not afraid of imperfection, I like to show it off! 

In case you would like to see how the frog pattern looks on the products, take a look here. Thank you in advance!

Hugs and Love,

Ivana

Color of the year 2024

First of all, I am not a trendy person. It took me work to find what works for me, so I’m not going to let any trend ruin that work. On the other hand, I fell in love with creating surface patterns and became part of the design community. That’s how I learned that the Pantone company regularly announces the color of the year. I pushed the context out of my mind as well as questions like “Why would someone set the color of the year and the whole world follow that decision?”

It sounds crazy and creepy to me at the same time. As someone who grew up behind the Iron Curtain with too many restrictions on a daily basis, I may be oversensitive to the possibility of free choices. But that’s another story, back to the color of the year.

While last year it was a beautiful magenta (according to my taste), this year the trendy color is called peach fuzz and it looks like it. And as if that wasn’t enough, Pantone released a series of recommended colors to combine. All sweet as candy! I can imagine that many girls and women will experience ecstasy in this peachy world. Not me. I prefer dark chocolate in the world of sweets as much as in the world of colors.

Anyway, I took part in the challenge to create a design with a limited spectrum of colors, where peach fuzz will play a dominant role. I reached the goal and chose the path of the mainstream. I actually quite like the result, but at the same time I feel it’s not me. Which brings me back to the question – how much do you have to sell your soul to trends for success to come?

I need to try new things in my life, but I also need to identify my soul within the results. From this point of view, I am grateful for the experience I had with the color of the year.

Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts!

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Tarot reading for 2024

The three cards show the theme of 2024, where to draw support for it and where to expect challenges and obstacles.

The theme of the year is assertiveness in the material aspects of life. Defend your interests in work, health and property issues. Be fierce and goal-oriented, yet authentic, true to the principles of the heart.

Don’t be carried away by resentment and hatred, but also don’t let yourself be humiliated. Step out of the comfort zone, don’t be afraid to show vulnerability, which can only be done if we are aware of our inner strength. Stand up for yourself at all times, but don’t be arrogant. And vice versa – don’t stand in a corner for fear that someone else might consider us arrogant.

All the small routines of everyday life will support us. Realize that big goals are achieved through small things. Don’t forget that the main theme is gaining ground in the material aspects of life. What to focus on the small routines and how to distinguish useful from ballast? The connecting line is self-esteem. A big word that can be divided into practical boxes, full of everyday routines. Separately, they may sound boring and worthless, but together they create a solid foundation and support for true prosperity.

The challenges and obstacles can be summed up in one word: authority. We will constantly hit boundaries in relationships. We will be put to the test of deciding what is and is not our territory. Perhaps we have voluntarily ceded some of our territory to others, either out of fear and a desire for harmony, or out of a good heart.

Now we will be asked to stop being cowards and take personal responsibility for our own territories. And vice versa. We will be forced to admit that we often occupy the territory of others for the sake of good faith and desire to help, and we should leave these.

The reading was done by me from the Crowley tarot deck on 1/1/2024.

Have a beautiful and successful 2024!

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Beauty of geometry

Even though I like organic shapes and inspiration from nature, I also create geometric patterns from time to time. I’m going to show you some and would appreciate comments and suggestions for improvement.

Mandala

Mandalas are an integral part of geometric patterns and I have posted some of them before. The new ones are more simple, I played with colors instead.

Plaid with texture

The challenge was to create a simple textured pattern and here it is! Since I didn’t know anything about textures, the pattern was created by trial and error.

Navy stripes

Intermediate texture, simulated water waves, in simple navy stripes.

Bicolored stripes

I invested a lot of energy in hamsa, but in the end I prefer stripes without hamsa, but with texture, simulating knitwear. I was happy when I managed to create such a texture!

Monochromatic geometry

It’s basically a geometric pattern, although I’ve sneaked organic shapes into it. The challenge was to stay monochromatic. This one belongs to my favorites, probably because of the gradients.

Thank you for your attention and support! I hope I pleased your eye and I look forward to your next visit!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

Leaf variations

I bring the promised group of patterns, today with foliage as a connection. They were all born this year because of my current obsession with seamless patterns.

Philodendron

Digital drawing on handmade sketches, hours of coloring in different ways. I still doubt when and how to use gradient properly and when it is better to layer semi-transparent colors of irregular shapes. I was only sure that I needed to keep the basic border in a contrasting color. In general, I find this pattern too heavy, there is no room to breathe inside.

Pastel colors

Hand drawn leaf shapes colored digitally using watercolor texture. I wanted to create foliage in pastel colors and in the end, I don’t know if I’m satisfied. The colors are probably good and, in my opinion, stand out better on a dark background. I am confused by the combination of metallic and velvet look. I welcome any comments or recommendations on it.

Easy drawing

This time I focused on easy drawing and gradient coloring. Horizontal mirroring makes it more interesting, hopefully.

Dancing leaves

Unlike the others, the dancing leaves were shaped together from the beginning. I focused on their movement and overall playfulness. Last but not least, the background texture was incorporated, which unfortunately is barely visible.

From death to life and vice versa

The message was to show the close connection between life and death. As a herbalist, I perceive the healing role of plants, including those that are poisonous. So I created two tiles on the same concept, but with a completely different vibe.

Not to overwhelm you today, I will keep other patterns for next time. Looks like I’ve been creating pretty hard. Hopefully you like at least some of my attempts!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

Not only patterns

Before uploading a bunch of waiting patterns, I’d like to confirm I keep drawing and painting just for fun, free of frames and patterns. I still consider that relaxing and exciting at the same time.

Unlike in the past, I occasionally try to draw and paint digitally as well, with mixed success and disappointment. I look forward to the moment when I can be as relaxed with a digital pen as I am with a regular pencil or colored pencil. I still feed belief that it will happen one day!

With few exceptions, the time consumption of both is about the same for me, mostly because of my limited digital drawing skills. I’m learning and improving, but I feel that my digital drawings have an artificial or metallic look to them. Which I hate.

I tried to compare the drawing of roughly the same scene digitally and by hand. Although I was happy to put all the cheerful petals digitally, I find the empty tree with a colorful background to be a much nicer drawing. Somehow, I feel more truth in it. What do you think?

To be fair, there’s a digital drawing that I’m almost happy with. It fulfills the basic idea quite well and the execution corresponds to the achieved capabilities. So, I’m satisfied!

Sitting in a frog parliament

I have much more to share next time.

Hugs and love,

Ivana

More involved into patterns

It’s been a while since the last post. I spent that time making more patterns and learning techniques how to do it better. I believe that commented images tell better story than words alone, so here they are.

Trying to keep symmetry in asymmetric pattern (and vice versa) and simulate embroidery.

Creating color harmony and using that palette in combinations. Diamond frame of pattern.

Overworked. I would do it differently today.

Flying movement easily achieved by spraying.

Digital simulation of watercolor, clipped into predefined shapes.

To be honest, I am quite proud on the last one. I would probably prefer the vertical version over the horizontal today, but I still like it. What do you think?

I am going to bring another bunch of patterns soon!

Love and hugs,

Ivana