Santa's little helper

Santa's little helper, making time go slower so Santa can deliver all those packages in time.
Des Weihnachtsmanns kleiner Helfer, der die Zeit verlangsamt, so dass sein Boss all die Geschenke rechtzeitig liefern kann.

ATC: Spring Spirit

Looks like I'll also do Summer and Autumn some time soon!
Sieht ganz danach aus, dass ich auch Sommer und Herbst demnächst male!

Like a fruit tree in winter

“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.”

"Manchmal sieht das Schicksal aus wie ein Fruchtbaum im Winter. Wer sollte bei dem traurigen Ansehen desselben wohl denken, das diese starren Äste, diese zackigen Zweige im nächsten Frühjahr wieder grünen, blühen, sodann Früchte tragen könnten;
doch wir hoffen` s, wir wissen`s."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For Carol.

IF: wise

Illustration Friday: wise
weise

size/Größe: 6.4 x 8.9 cm
watercolours / Aquarellfarben

ATC: Winter spirit

Trying out something different today.

Probiere heute mal was anderes aus.
(Artist Trading Cards = Originale, die Künstler untereinander tauschen; Kärtchen in der festgelegten Größe von 64×89 mm - ansonsten gibt es keine weiteren Regeln, die man beachten muss.)

Caroling

Weihnachtssingen


I had it scanned today and with a few adjustments it doesn't look that bad at all.
Ich habe das heute scannen lassen und nach ein bisschen Anpassarbeit sieht es gar nicht mal so schlecht aus.

Painting again

Wieder am Malen
This is just a photo, a proper scan will follow.
Das hier ist nur ein Foto, ich lass das Bild bald scannen.

Kittens and mum

Kätzchen und Mama


10,5 x 14,8 cm / 4,1 x 5,8 in
Hahnemühle watercolour paper, rough
250 g/m² / 120 lbs

I struggled a lot with the roughness of this paper, but it was the only postcard block with a decent amount of sheets in the shop. I'll most likely do another one once I'm finished with a bigger painting and the board is free to stretch paper on again.

Ich habe mich mit der Körnung dieses Papieres sehr schwer getan, aber es gab nur diesen einen Postkartenblock mit einer anständigen Anzahl von Blättern im Laden. Wahrscheinlich male ich nochmal ein anderes sobald das größere Bild, an dem ich gerade arbeite, fertig ist und das Brett wieder mit Papier bespannbar ist.

Sketches

Skizzen

IF: sugary

Illustration Friday: sugary

Illustration Friday: zuckrig/zuckersüß

Autumn

Herbst

Poland trip sketches

Skizzen vom Polenaufenthalt












I didn't draw as much as would have been good for me, but that language course was quite intense.

Ich habe nicht so viel gezeichnet wie es wohl gut für mich gewesen wäre, aber dieser Sprachkurs war sehr anstrengend.

Summer University

What I couldn't have known at the beginning of the summer semester is that I would get a scholarship to go to Summer University to Warsaw, Poland, this year to learn the language!
Otherwise I would've taken more time during studies to sketch and doodle a bit.
So, I'll be gone for 6 weeks but I'll take my camera, my sketchbook, watercolour sketchbook and watercolours with me and I hope I can bring back some nice images.
I might only manage to do something like a travel journal, but the important thing is that I'll use my pencil for something other than writing.
I am also not taking my laptop with me, so my major source of distraction won't keep me from doing artsy stuff.
Till September!


Website Polonicum (en)

Was ich am Anfang des Semesters nicht hätte wissen können ist, dass ich ein Stipendium für die Sommeruni in Warschau, Polen, bekommen würde um die Sprache dort zu lernen! Sonst hätte ich versucht, während dem Studieren ein wenig mehr zu kritzeln und zu krakeln. Ich werde dann für 6 Wochen weg sein aber nehme meine Kamera, Skizzenbuch, Aquarellskizzenbuch und Aquarellfarben mit und kann hoffentlich einige schöne Bilder mit nach Hause bringen. Vielleicht wird es nur so eine Art Reisetagebuch, aber das Wichtige ist ja, dass ich den Bleistift wieder mal zu etwas anderem als zum Schreiben benutze! Meinen Laptop, den Quell der größten Ablenkung was das Künstlerische betrifft, werde ich nicht mitnehmen. Ich hoffe, das hilft, ein paar Seiten mehr voll zu bekommen. Bis September!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not much today - I'm in the middle of University exams and supposed to be studying. However, I put myself under so much unnecessary stress that I am too tired to sit at the desk and read all my books. I also think it's better to be rested and concentrated than pulling an all-nighter 'studying'.
So... I am reading articles about chocolate chip cookies - and I must say, that is almost like eating one!
Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie (en)

Es gibt nicht viel zu sagen heute - bin mitten in der Uniklausurenphase und sollte gerade lernen. Leider mache ich mir selber allerdings zu viel unnötigen Streß, so dass ich mittlerweile zu müde bin, um am Schreibtisch zu sitzen und zu pauken. Außerdem will ich lieber ausgeruht und konzentriert sein, als die Nächte durchzu'lernen'.
Also... lese ich Zeitungsartikel über Schokokekse - und ich muss sagen, das ist fast schon so als ob man wirklich einen essen würde!
Auf der Suche nach dem perfekten Chocolate Chip Cookie(en)

EDIT:

• Das eingedeutschte und kommentierte Rezept für Chocolate Chip Cookies (de)
• Original recipe by Nestlé
  http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476
  

IF: hoard

Illustration Friday

I tend to hoard all kinds of conveniently sized blank notebooks - and sometimes I manage to fill them with sketches or notes, but I can't think of one I have really filled up to the last page. I am addicted to them. And I really like Moleskines!

Ich tendiere dazu, alle möglichen handlichen Blanko-Notizbücher zu horden - und manchmal schaffe ich es sogar, sie mit Skizzen oder Notizen zu füllen, aber ich kann mich nicht daran erinnern, jemals eines bis zur letzten Seite gefüllt zu haben. Ich bin süchtig nach ihnen. Und ich mag Moleskines unheimlich gern!

Nature Goodness

Can Nature get any more green or yummy?

glimpse

Sometimes you walk through your daily life with your eyes shut, you are deeply absorbed in your thoughts. Then, something catches your eye -
Last week when I walked home, thinking how bad public transport is on Sundays, I got a glimpse into another person's life. It was a very small glimpse, and it was enough to make me smile. All I could see were the brushes and the quills through the window above me but they already told me so much about the person living there.


Please feel free to ignore the fact that all the shadows are cast in different directions. I had to go with the flow of the paint ;-)

Joy of Spring

Thanks to this picture by faestock on deviantart, this is how I express my joy about the greenness outside taking over!
I live at a big lake, and so its very grey and foggy throughout autumn and winter. Everything is coming to life here, plants and people!

And I recently bought an Alphonse Mucha poster "Moon" (I love his stuff!), so that played into it as well.

IF: wrinkles

an old drawing of mine of a MTV ad in a newspaper

IF: Fail

This is a very current issue for me - I took Polish I at University last semester and I still don't know the results. Tomorrow it's the first session of Polish II and then I'll know. I hate to be left in the dark!

EDIT: I forgot to sign my exam paper, so my teacher didn't know who she was grading. But I passed and all is well!

You've got a friend in me

IF: heavy

For this week's Illustration Friday: heavy and for Easter.

Done with coffee, watercolours, and little bit of watercolour pencils.

13.5 x 21.2 cm, Canson's Montval 300 g/m² watercolor paper

I encourage those of you who celebrate Easter to reflect on it just as you do during Christmas time.

Coffee, anyone?

I had an already-stretched leftover paper to make use of, it was enough for 5 ACEO sized somethings but I had no clue WHAT I should paint.
Then I remembered a friend of mine will help opening a coffee shop this summer and I recently read this wonderful book about friendship and coffee "The Secret Blend", so I did something with coffee. It took me 2 1/2 hours to come up with that though. What a day!

Easter

Easter is coming up next week.

IF: Garden, a Secret One

This is my version of Dickon, Colin and Mary from "The Secret Garden".
They were a bit tricky because I wanted to try out the Artist Trading Card format 2.5x3.5 in.
Then again I suppose it's even trickier to do full A4 portraits.

IF: Garden

This is not exactly a garden, but you would find it in one.
More garden paintings to come (I hope).

X-Ray

Those two little buggers....

Yet another wedding card

Whenever my mum is invited to a wedding, she commissions me to do a card for the couple.

Spring

Spring awakens.
Inspired by [link]

Flavour of the Month: St Ursanne

I wanted to paint those two "elders" of St Ursanne who were observing the happenings around them on that sunny afternoon. They just seemed to be so much part of that town that I had to take a photo of them as well.

IF: multiple

.... on wikitionary [link] the word "multiple" is used in context in the following sentence:
My Swiss Army knife has multiple blades.

So here it goes.

Goodbye Mr Snowman!

Let's all say goodbye to Mr Snowman, because I think winter has already left my part of the world for 2008.

Allergic reaction

.... but to what?
This is exactly what happened to my bad hand on Thursday morning but I haven't got the faintest idea what I am so sensitive to??!?! This kind of freaks me out, it just itches and within 1 minute it's red and swollen with lots of little bumps and then those bumps unite themselves to form about 3 huge bumps...

IF: Sedna the Sea Goddess

This was done some time ago for another monthly kind of creative outlet:



The legend:

http://www.arctic.uoguelph.ca/cpl/Traditional/myth/sedna.htm

Teddy

Done left-handed. And with coffee!

Chipped wrist bone

Been to the orthopaedist, and the x-ray shows that there are 2 or 3 sharp little chips of bone that cause rhe pressure and pain. He told me to leave the cast on for another week. Supposedly they reattach/regrow to the main bone? Yeah right. I don't think they are going to do that. I'll be back I guess

Latte macchiato, home made

I always get excited about my lattes when they turn out like this (AND all of that with only a left hand!), just look at the different layers!

Left-handed

I will be left-handed for a while. My right arm is/will be in a cast for at least 3 weeks I fear. Current diagnosis: tendosynovitis.
Maybe I can come up with a few 'interesting' left-hand pictures.

Birthday Girl

Medieval Christmas Market chocolate

A forum friend from www.john-howe.com sent me this from a medieval Christmas market:



And now that I have been to the dentist and had a hole refilled, I can eat that stuff no problem!!!! Har Har Har :-D

Inkling

balloon