On the way to Athens I had a stop over in Ireland for a couple of days. I always love going back there. I stayed with very good friends of mine and as always it was also nice to visit these two old paintings of mine that are on their living room wall. Take a better look at them here.
Sorry for the bad picture quality. I finally managed to buy a new phone yesterday. So from now on I hope photos will be better quality.
Taco stand part II. This time in Polanco in Mexico City.
We went a couple of times to Polanco to eat out. The best place we’ve been to by far was the japanese restaurant called Murakami. The food – sushi, sashimi and other delicacies, were amazing.
Encountered this group of school girls in their uniforms on my way home from the market in the center of Malinalco.
Market day is the best. I miss my daily fresh fruits.
Prompt 4 of Inktober – Spell…
Not sure what he is brewing here, but he certainly has something cooking.
That could be the target that the cup cake girl from yesterday was shooting at, what do you think?
During the last couple of months I definitely got into the positive habit of drawing regularly. After not drawing and painting a lot for the last couple of years I now cannot imaging to do it at least several times a week. They say a new habit takes about 21 days to form. It certainly worked for me. Next step is to try to apply it to my language studies… Spanish next and then back to Icelandic…
I love how this one turned out. It was snowing and I love snow. But it is also time to shovel it up.
I was asked again last year by one of the editors of the 14 Magazin, a magazine from Freiburg in southern Germany, if I like to do a couple of illustrations for two of his articles. Of course I said yes.
The magazine was published a few months ago but I only got my hands on a copy now.
First article is about the revival of vintage clothing and how it came back in style among 20+ somethings.
Second article which I quite enjoyed is about the pros and cons of watching TV vs online streaming. It argues that TV definitely has a surprise factor as you sometimes end up watching things that you would normally not watch. Also it provides a different viewing experience because you have to commit to a certain time if you want to watch something you are interested in.
Online streaming services are the opposite. Available any time and day, instant satisfaction is given. However, the tendency to binge watch is relatively high which might make us consume more than originally intended. Also the surprise factor is taken away as we usually choose what we want to see, therefore you might never get to watch that documentary about the Swiss rail way system that would have aired on your one TV channel at the time.
I also think that online streaming is more time consuming. Sometimes I can spend an hour going through the endless list of movies until I decide which one to watch. And I can definitely relate to the risk of addiction… “Just one more episode of xyz and then I will go to sleep….. damn how come I have to get up in 4 hours already!?!?” But who hasn´t?
Tried to do something different with style this time, but am sticking to the water colours and ink.
Ice cream is still the topic.
“Brain freeze is practically a rite of summer. It happens when you eat ice cream or gulp something ice cold too quickly.”
I don´t know what happened here. I liked the ink drawing and then went all over the place with the water colours, obviously without plan or structure… and then I put on more colours trying to fix it and oh well… Then it turned into this colour explosion. As a consequence I started reading up about colour theory.
I like the image and might try to draw it again to see how it will turn out the second time round. What do you think?
Yes, Icelanders love ice cream. Most areas in Reykjavik have at least one ísbúð – ice cream parlor. The ísbúð we have just down the road from where we live is so packed on a late Friday night that you might think they are handing out free beers.
Ice cream is a year round affair in any kind of weather. I drove home last Tuesday around 10pm, everything white and snow was blowing left and right. I passed a street full of shops, all dark except for the ice cream parlor which was brightly lit and packed with people while the snow storm was blowing outside. How did they get there you wonder? Most locals don´t walk but only go places by car. So if your sole purpose is to drive to the next ice cream parlor then Icelanders even have a word for it – ísbíltúr – ice cream drive.
Cold and dark winter doesn´t stop anyone to get what they want – in this case a sweet treat. From my personal experience, I can openly admit that my sweets consumption increases proportionally with the darkness in winter and decreases when the daylight hours get longer again.
I like ice cream all year round and let´s put it that way, if it is cold outside, then at least it will not melt! What´s your faveourite time to eat it?
I wanted to do something again with more ink as I miss my Inktober challenge. I really enjoyed drawing and painting with it.
So this is what it turned into. Strawberry ice cream.
Do you like strawberry ice cream?
What can I say? Dogs like ice cream. I like dogs.
Some random water color practice while watching a movie. Not a fan of Miley, but I liked the way she was sucking her ice cream…
I actually quite like the way it turned out. Although I still feel like I am using water colours too much like acrylic colours… But I will keep on practicing.
“Datt” – an Icelandic word you will hear uttered especially by children after dropping absolutely anything (when living in Iceland of course). It means as much as “oops fallen”. It fell and I don’t know how it happened…!?
“Datt!”
More water colour and ink.
I wanted to take on a new project for January/ February and first thought about a portrait a day as I would like to improve my portrait drawing skills, something I haven´t done in years. But then I remembered something…
I don´t know for how long I have been thinking about doing a series dedicated to ice cream. I love ice cream and Iceland is a country somewhat addicted to it with ice cream shops open until late at night. You can find just as many people queuing for ice cream on a Friday night as during happy hour at the closest pub for another pint of beer.
So enjoy some ice cream during the weekend!
So 2017 ended rather quietly with a bottle of wine and a plate of delicious Swiss cheese. Best of 2017 was that I finally got back into drawing after many years of not doing anything about it but always having it at the back of my head.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Inktober challenge and am super happy that one of my best friends pointed it out to me (Thank you Elise!). It certainly helped to create a positive habit of drawing regularly. Not every day, as there are plenty of other things I like to do, but about every other day.
Beside ink, which is my favourite at the moment, I am also trying to teach myself how to use water colours. I always had them but never actively used them.
Happy new year!
Went to aerial hoop class tonight. First time I moved since Christmas, and damn, it was a struggle. All that eating left its traces. Perhaps on Friday I will be in better shape again to try this kind of shoulder stand.
I´m not big on all the Christma hype and also mostly missed out on any preparations due to the flu for the last week. So I made my own Christmas card instead.
Happy holidays!
I have been sketching a lot recently, trying out new techniques. Another hoop drawing…
I was thinking to try portraits next, using different techniques, and see what comes out of it. I did a lot of portraits when I was younger but haven´t really done anything for the past couple of years.
Walking man – I think this pose looks really cool but hurts like hell on your feet….
Melanie Franz 