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

Inktober 3

I am still trying to keep up with the game, even though it’s a little behind schedule.

Here is a recap of my last week prompts, using liner and Inktense pencils again.

Fowl – I decided for the western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) because I wanted to draw fowl that live wild in the forest and it is a possibility to meet it there on a walk.

Tetrao urogallus

Salty – I was out of creative ideas here.

salty

Scrape – Since I sharpen pencils often, I see this kind of scrape in front of me every day.

scrape

Ponytail – No special idea, just a girl with ponytail.

ponytail

Bluff – My version of the bluff looks more like a cheerful spring cake, doesn’t it?

bluff

Bad dog – or better to say a strange dog. To be honest, it was my first time drawing a dog.

bad dog

Heist – My original idea was a time robbery by mobile phones and other addictions. Unfortunately lost in drawing process with no time to fix.

heist

Booger – I skipped this one.

Yes, I am ready to confirm the truth that it is more important to participate (in anything) that to win. The effort to participate is no less valuable, and similarly exhausting. Great respect to everyone!

With hugs and love,

Ivana

P.S. I am sorry but the size of images has a life of its own. I cannot understand why the images do not follow the instructions in the format box.

Inktober 2

Hi everyone and great respect to the artists, who participate in Inktober. I am trying to keep up for the first time and the pace is really challenging. There is no room for second attempts, although I would appreciate them on some topics.

My Inktense pencils drawings for this week of Inktober:

Nest – More like an Easter composition, no bird could sit in these eggs.

Crabby – I was not sure what crabby meant. I did use a bad quality paper 😦

Eagle

Forget – I loved drawing this one. Forget or better not to forget.

Kind – Different kind of mushrooms I meet in the forest just now.

Empty – Out of several sketches, this one won.

Armadillo – Nightmare to draw it, I finished before finishing.

No more talk today, thank you for reading and watching my Inktober drawing.

Have a nice week! We still have a wonderful Indian summer in my area.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Inktober?

I love the idea of drawing different topic every day. But really every day? By ink? Should I try it? My inner voice said yes! Nothing to lose but experience to gain.

I hesitated for the first two days, struggling with doubts and a little bit with translation and understanding what the first two topics mean. But then I dived in, using liner and Inktense pencils with water.

Bat – no idea except literal. Reference picture from Wikipedia.

Scallop – I like this one as I felt much more relaxed while drawing.

Flame – nothing creative, too sharp shapes. I would like flower like this.

Bouquet – quick hydrangea drawing

Trip – psychedelic drawing on a trip

Match – hopefully they will match despite bad coloring.

And hopefully I will continue together with my weekly personal challenge, the second year of which is slowly coming to the end. I love all of this! When I grabbed the colored pencils in my 40s and decided to draw, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Paint a monster

Many artists paint monsters – many kinds of them, so the monster became a part of my artistic challenge too. It should be easy – paint what you want, no stress with the right proportions, it is a monster!

I was looking forward to discipline with no limits, asking my inner child for help. But either I don’t have enough fantasies or the monsters belong to the list, which is better for me to avoid. My monsters are not scary at all. Maybe bored, maybe cute, maybe a little upset. But not scary.

In fact, I don’t like scary pictures, I don’t watch scary movies, I don’t read books with monsters and a lot of blood. I don’t like violence in any form. Until I tried to paint a monster, I didn’t realize how deeply pacifism is a part of my nature. From this point of view I am happy for my naive monsters and art in general.

Have you ever wondered how your nature shapes the choice of topics, techniques, styles? It is not only skills but also our inner essence which define the art. It sounds clear but I should repeat it often for myself to stay who I am. Your comments help me too.

Enjoy the so called monsters!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

Food and plant

Just a brief report about progress in my personal art challenge. To my surprise, I paint faster than I can write about it, which is probably another form of progress.

Drawing a plant, I wanted to created sunflower with a human face, kind of dreamy one. Instead, I got a portrait much more realistic than if I had tried it. The intention and the result did not correspond at all.

Sunflower. Watercolor, black liner, Inktense pencils, common colored pencils. Size A4.

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Painting food, I wanted to be realistic and hopefully it turned out that way.

Burger, Fried egg with spinach. Black liner, watercolor, Inktense pencils.

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I am happy to see that I was able to paint realistic food, but I also find it a bit boring. Not the painting itself, there I still have a lot to learn, but the result – no dynamism or fun inside. I want to believe that such opinion is also part of progress.

Happy days before Holidays!

Ivana

Windows

Nothing to do with Microsoft, just the opening of a second year of personal art challenge. Even made on time, I come to report late.

Since the spring, I had a clear vision of a window, from which a goat looks out over a box with flowers. Specifically, there should be tulips and daffodils. I delayed until all the tulips and daffodils were gone and autumn came. Then I put the window at the top of the new list.

As if I knew, I had a hard time with the goat. Quite satisfied with the sketch, I tried to add more colors and apply a white gel pen, which I just bought. And suddenly a completely different animal appeared in the window!

The first goat may be a little tough in its expression, but the other is as mild as a lamb. Is it still a goat?

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Originally, I sketched the window itself – small in size, colored by ink pencils. Nothing special until I decided to create a seamless pattern from it. Looks interesting, what do you say?

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Hope you have a pleasant time, looking forward to the holidays!

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Obsessed with autumn leaves

I have a few posts in my head and since the first snow has fallen today, it’s the last time to write about autumn leaves.

I love the autumn colors every year, but this year I was completely obsessed. When I was not looking at the overall composition, I carefully inspected the shapes and colors of the individual leaves along the path.

I tried to paint the leaves by memory several times, but finally I kept bringing colorful trophies from my walks, according to which I drew and painted mostly with watercolor or ink pencils.

Hope you will like some of them!

With love and warm autumn greetings,

Ivana