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.

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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

Connection

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of connection now and many years ago. I got a lot of pictures from very personal to general ones.

Some of them have remained the same since the beginning of time like a man and woman kissing or a small baby at its mother’s breast. People were always connected at the family and tribal level to ensure security and food sources.

At a certain point, people wanted to expand, seek new territories, which usually did not happen without bleeding. The new type of connection between conqueror and native habitant was established, worldwide, through the whole history.

To reach new territories quickly meant the development of transportation. Millions of new roads and railways began to crisscross the globe to better connect places and people. Later, transport also spread above the earth’s surface by airplanes and space shuttles.

Industry and other technologies were developed hand in hand with transportation, reality has reached the fantasy of filmmakers. I wonder if it was the steam engine that established a new kind of connection between man and machine, the connection where the machine stands above everything else.

It made me think if the pride of connecting to machines is similar to the pride of the people who built the Tower of Babel. I am trying not to lose the truth of my heart, the most important connection.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

The illustration above is made from heart by colored pencils.

Me and books

I grew up in the world, where reading was a kind of standard and books a kind of treasure. We even had to take care of school books, teachers carefully checked their condition at the end of the school year. At that time there was a shortage of many goods, but every small town used to have a public library.

I loved books before I could read them and I remember the heavy bags I regularly carried home from the library. The books and the stories inside were the food I was starving for. I consumed almost everything without prejudice. I often read between the lines and put my own imagination into the written stories, so I used to have different feelings from my classmates who read the same book. And we talked about it! So I became an adult with the belief that reading books is like breathing, everyone does it.

Since then I’ve met a lot of people, even very intelligent ones, who just don’t like to read. It was before the digital boom and much more after. To be honest, it took me a while to accept it and stop judging people by whether they read books or not. And to be double honest, I had to go through the period of prioritizing my career over reading to come to such understanding.

Once I slowed down after 40, I went back to the books. I still read between the lines and often deal with the psychology of the characters more than the story. I love the visions that are born in my head while reading, they are a great source of further inspiration.

Obviously my confession is a little old school, but it fits. How about your attitude to books? There are tons of them and to my surprise even books with major grammatical errors are published! No wonder that books lose their cultural value and become consumer goods and then waste. I am so sorry for it.

With love and hugs,

Ivana

Painting forest

I love walking forest, I love watching little changes every day. Changes that are proof of life. Nobody says which ones are good or bad, everything is natural and alive. Walking forest means a kind of therapy for me, therapy of freedom or therapy by freedom.

What would a professional therapist say about the fact that I like to bring a trophy from a walk? I don’t care, but I do so. A small leaf of interesting shape or color is enough, I can use it later as a reference for painting. Actually I prefer trophies that I can use in some way. Trophies like leafs, bark, herbs, fruits, mushrooms, etc. Why to waste all the treasures?

Painting forest is a part of my personal art challenge for this year, see above. Probably not enough for me, so I joined another challenge in early March. It came to me in response how to improve my watercolor. Paint the same topic every day for a long period of time! Do not spend much time over it, do it as quickly as possible. You will gradually relax and your own style should appear. Yes. I want that!

After a month, I am still at the starting line. I painted without reference picture for the first 5 days and it was a disaster! I hope those scary pictures are not the only image of my mind. Having reference photo is much easier, I have something to lean back and focus on painting.

Do you have a favorite?

At the moment, I would like to apologize to all excellent authors, whose photos I devaluated with my quick painting. I promise not to exhibit them! They are quietly hidden in my sketchbook, thin sheets buckled because I didn’t use watercolor paper for this exercise. I hope to improve next month!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

Anniversary

Two years ago in March, covid-19 came to our country, the first restrictions appeared and then the total lockdown. No one had enough experience, but good enough information was rolling everywhere. At this point, I decided to start with watercolor.

As I have mentioned several times, I have held a mental block to wet techniques since childhood. But fighting this fear was easier than dealing with upcoming pandemic or better to say with scary scenario, served by TV 24/7. So I bought watercolor paints and paper and dived into tutorials. Which really helped, because I discovered a new world.

I didn’t stop living my life except the ongoing restrictions. But somewhere inside me a flame of passion began to burn, and it burns there up to this day.

My painting success is floating up and down, I am still trying to learn new skills and have more practice. Sometimes I push it too hard, but painting is still a great pleasure for me.

I would like to thank all of you, because your encouraging support helps me to overcome weak points. You deserve to know about that anniversary. Thanks for being with me on the watercolor road!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

My watercolor set of March, 2020.

I can hear you!

How many times have you heard that? Don’t yell at me, I can hear you! We have ears, so we can hear, that’s clear. But do we listen to everything and every time we hear? How many people catch the same message when hearing the same?

There are many factors that affect what we actually get. Most does not depend on the ability to hear, but more on the ability to listen. Which means the will to understand each other.

This leads me to wonder if the ear is a tool for hearing or even for listening. Mechanically, it is clear. But why is the shape of the ear so unique? Have you ever observed the ears of people around you? It’s a fascinating spectacle! So many mysterious shapes and turns falling into the depths of the head. You can only guess where and how it ends.

Perhaps the ear is not only used to capture tones, voices or noise. What if all those complex and unique shapes define our ability to listen? I would like to discover the little part responsible for the desire to listen, for the desire to understand each other. In my world of naïve imagination, it would be possible to stimulate this part of the ear and change where we are. What do you think?

Hugs, love and peace!

Ivana

Message bottle

I was in the mood of a castaway and had a painting on the same subject in process. After the situation in Ukraine became terrible, I had to change perspective and gain a little hope.

I felt anxious because of all the people who were in the middle of the shooting, which was destroying their peaceful life and future. At a distance of less than a thousand miles from my home. How is it possible?

I prayed for peace, and if possible together with a democracy option. Then I put my prayer into the bottle, asking the whole Universe for help.

Love and peace for all of you!

Ivana

Musical skill

I’ve never played a musical instrument as I don’t have musical talent. I can’t even recognize a song by music, my only guide are words – if I catch them.

Since childhood, my singing has been more chanting. So I was told to just pretend singing and not spoil the fun of others. I was successful in all so call important school subjects and I couldn’t do something as simple as singing!

I ran from music to the books and remained loyal to them. They have their own rhythm and can also evoke strong emotions and stimulate imagination. When I am inside a book, I often realize a lot of things that the author didn’t write, but it still pops up from the pages. As if it was meant right for me, right for the moment. That’s why I consider reading books more intimate than an intellectual matter.

And do I miss music in my life? I wouldn’t say so. From my point of view it’s impossible to miss what you are not capable appreciate. What do you think?

So far I’m happy with the substitution the little smart girl came with.

Love and hugs,

Ivana