Tulum, Mexico

On April 1, 2018May 10, 2018 By MelIn Mexico11 Comments

So I have been in Mexico for roughly 2 weeks now and I am loving it. I have been here last in 2014 for ca 3 months travelling around the southern parts of the country. I also spent a good amount of time on the beach back then because I had never been to a Caribbean like beach before and it was simply incredible.

So I wanted to start my trip by getting my much needed vitamin D on the beach in Tulum, Quintana Roo, after spending yet another winter in Iceland. I went back to the same hostel my boyfriend and I stayed in 3 years ago because it is a 5 minute bike ride from the beach and it has this beautiful hangout area with a small pool, hammocks and lots of plants.

1803 Lobo inn, Tulum, Q Roo, Mexico by Mel

So here it was that I made my first attempt of sketching with the watercolours and pens I brought with me. I have to admit it partially felt like a struggle as it took me some time, but in pleasant 25 degrees with my morning coffee next to me it was also quite enjoyable.

1803 Lobo inn

Visit at the ice cream parlor

On March 23, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice cream9 Comments

The last picture in my series of ice cream dedicated drawings for the moment. I am pretty sure I will revisit them at some point. I think it was a fun theme to practice drawing and those water colours on.

I was bored the other night at a friends place where I tried out a beautiful set of Japanese watercolours. The inspiration was a photo of the Valdís Ice cream parlor in Reykavik. They bake their own waffles in the back so you always have that delicious waffle smell in your nose upon entering. The ice cream is quite delicious too.

I´ll not only take a break from ice cream but also the land of ice – Iceland – as I ´ll be heading to Mexico for 2 months! To do what, I don´t know yet, but my priorities are to learn Spanish and to get some sun! But I also have my drawing stuff packed and I will see what I come up with while on the road.

Until then, enjoy your ice cream!

1803 Ice cream parlor by Melanie Franz

Sunday brunch with ice cream

On March 18, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice cream10 Comments

Last day of the week and I thought that a nice pancake lunch would be perfect to finish it off. So dig in!

Had a lot of fun doing these 7 day drawing challenge and might do another one soon. I also ended up buying more watercolours last week so lets see what happens.

1803 Sunday by Melanie Franz

Relax and enjoy your Saturday ice cream

On March 17, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

I love whiskey. Especially the slightly smoky kinds like Talisker and the more well rounded ones like Glenlivet are perfect on a cozy evening.

Vanilla ice cream is the perfect starter for this Saturday night.

1803 saturday by Melanie Franz

Your well deserved after-work-treat

On March 16, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

I am really enjoying this themed 7 day challenge. 2 more days to go.

Finally its Friday and what is better than a cold one straight after work I thought?

1803 Friday by Mel

Extra sugar on Thursday

On March 15, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

The week is more than half way over, so you might need a little bit of extra sugar to keep you going until the weekend.

These ones are more of the typical Icelandic style kind of ice creams that you get at most ice cream parlors. Soft ice cream in a box with any kind of topping you can think of – From Mars bars, to Oreos, Smarties, Skittles, coconut bars, biscuits and much much more and everything topped with chocolate and caramel sauce. Don´t forget the cream!

If that doesn´t give you a sugar high then I don´t know.

1803 thursday by Mel Franz

It´s all going down on Wednesday

On March 14, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Art, Artworks 2018, Ice cream2 Comments

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.

1803 Wednesday ice cream by Melanie Franz

Have your pick of ice cream on Tuesday

On March 13, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice cream1 Comment

Day 2 of my 7 day challenge. Monday went well so you can have your pick with your Tuesday ice cream. Which one do you want?

1803 Tuesday ice cream by Melanie Franz

Monday ice cream

On March 12, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

I thought about joining another one of those drawing challenges as it was a lot of fun doing Inktober, but I couldn´t find anything that interested me. So I decided to do my own 7 day challenge of one drawing a day… dedicated to ice cream of course! I will keep the ice cream theme up for another week or so because after that I will hit the road and am off to explore Mexico! But more about that later.

For now, fight the Monday blues with your ice cream of the day – Voilà!

1803 Monday ice cream by Melanie Franz

It´s a dogs life

On March 11, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice cream5 Comments

A spoiled pooch that cannot get enough. When you are torn between a popsicle or scoops of vanilla & walnut ice cream with chocolate sprinkles on top.

What is your favourite flavour?

1802 Its a dogs life II

That´s it? I´m not convinced.

On March 10, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice cream2 Comments

“The girl at the ice cream parlor talked me into getting pistachio. But I am not convinced. Should have picked walnut instead.”

Another watercolour drawing…. my favourite for the colours so far.

Happy weekend! Go and get some ice cream! I am currently in southern Germany were I enjoy 12+ degrees Celsius.

1803 yak

Ice cream party

On March 9, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

“You forgot to give me a spoon but that won´t stop me!”

I did this drawing last month but I only coloured it in the other day. For some reason I didn´t know what to do with it colour wise before that. I now try to think ahead which colours I want to use before creating an overly colourful mess, like I did a couple of times in the past. I think it turned out quite cute.

1803

I don´t want to wait for my ice cream!

On March 8, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

I was told that I can have ice cream after dinner but I simply did not want to wait….

1802 dont want to wait

Sour and cold ice cream

On March 7, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

Another drawing practice with watercolours. I like the background.

She looks slightly sour though. She got her ice cream, expecting vanilla, only to discover that it is lemon sorbet.

1802 cold and sour

It´s ice cream o´clock!

On March 3, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Artworks 2018, Ice cream1 Comment

I realized that since I picked ice cream as a topic, I don´t fall short of finding ideas of what I want to draw. At the same time I try to improve my people and water colouring skills… the later seems to be a somewhat slower process in my opinion.

1802 Ice cream time

In the past I often failed to draw or struggled to find anything inspiring. The process would be something like this:

8 pm I feel like drawing!

8.30 pm Finally assembled the drawing material

8.45 pm Starring at the blank paper…

9 pm Starting a google image search to find inspiration or good reference photo

10 pm Stuck on some artist blog or photo gallery

10.30 Pee break and I need a snack before I can get started

11 pm Finally found what I want to draw

11.15 pm Damn, its that late! But I just started! Need to go to sleep. Will continue some other time…

Definitely doing a lot better these days than back then!

Illustrations

On March 1, 2018March 1, 2018 By MelIn Art, Artworks 20172 Comments

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.

1711 14 Magazin_Faszination Vintage

1711 14 Magazin_Faszination Vintage 2

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?

1711 14 Magzin_ Lineares Fernsehen

Where did it go?

On February 22, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Art, Artworks 2018, Ice creamLeave a comment

Tried to do something different with style this time, but am sticking to the water colours and ink.

Ice cream is still the topic.

1801 Where did it go

Brain freeze…

On February 15, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Art, Artworks 2018, Ice cream5 Comments

“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?

1801 Brain freeze

Do you want ice cream?

On February 11, 2018August 20, 2018 By MelIn Art, Artworks 2018, Ice cream7 Comments

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.

1802 Do you want ice cream

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?