So I did went and had a hike with Alexandra and the group that was staying at the gorgeous place that week. I must say it was the best decision I could have taken. People I met there were all awesome and I had the most wonderful and exciting conversations. Pretty much all of them were creative or spiritual and I learned so much. But what I learned the most was about myself and things I need to pursue and continue with. This hike was a huge eye opener and I am so very grateful for it. Thank you guys! From the bottom of my heart! And thank you Big U for gently pushing me forward ♥

Autumn reached us for sure and it can be seen in a lot of things - cool and foggy mornings, different sunsets, gorgeous golden afternoon light, leaves turning color and mushrooms growing everywhere :) M and I picked up so much goodies like never before. Yummy too :) 

And it felt so good to be on a hike again. The one I had with Alex was beautiful and it reminded me of the ones we used to go on and that I actually missed them. My favourite type of hike is the one where the majority of the trail is in the forest because I just love seeing all the greenery and little things. And ideas just start pouring in and if I am not too tired afterwards, I definitely feel like creating and that's the best after effect for me :D

I also started watching my favourite watercolor teacher's new e-course called The Art of Bonsai and it sparked a whole avalanche of ideas! Oh I am so excited about diving into a real mixed media project - like a real mix of different materials mixed media. Nothing done at the moment as I am, well, busy with other things, but I am still very excited about this particular idea.

These three pages are from my little Moleskine I chose to work in for my morning pages. They took much more time than anything I did before (splatters of color for example) but I enjoyed every minute. Except for the paper :D I need to get used to it; it's a good paper but still very different from the one I worked on before. 

There is just so much going on in my head I can't possibly keep up with all the ideas. Good thing but kinda exhausting!

I started making "My Traveling Pages"  - an older sister to "My Pages" project - because I am traveling next month and I will have the best opportunity to test these pages out. I am meeting two on-line friends in Vienna and I can't wait for it. I have been in Vienna many times as I fell in love with the city so it's always a pleasure to return and discover something new. I have a feeling this time will be extra special though :)

And because of my travel I decided to sew myself something new to wear there. It has a lot to do with Liezl's dress/tunic she sent me back in July as I have been wanting to sew something similar ever since I saw her wearing them. In NYC last year! Ohh, the awesome memories! I digress.... 

So I kinda copied the dress she gave me and made one out of a pumpkin fabric - it was an ok attempt but too big and weird. So I fiddled with the pattern just to make my dress no.2 even poorer! OMG, I need to learn how to draft a pattern from scratch. I really do. No excuses anymore. 

​Note to self - I need to start with keeping up a Project Journal. or more of them. One for sewing would be very useful as I seem to forget about mistakes and then I tend to repeat them. And having some sort of notes about the a-ha moments in a notebook would be, well, useful to say the least :)

Oh and just because I can, I started altering a magazine I found in Ljubljana when I was there with Alex. At first I wanted to have it for a special travel journal but when I trimmed it and reinforced the spine I so very much disliked the result I just wanted to toss it and not spend a minute more on it. But then I changed my mind. Currently I use it as my "getting the noise out of my head" kinda pages and I might add to them later on or I'll just leave them like they come out. It is therapeutic to just throw color on the pages without much thinking or just doing what I really like doing - making colorful splashes with acrylics :)  Who knows what will come out of this weird book in the end. 

I feel like I forgot to write about something but if I did, I'll add it later. I'm just soooo incredibly all over the place but it does feel good and I love all the creativity pouring out of me. I hope it doesn't stop anytime soon :D 

I hope I'll have more things to show next time. "My Traveling Pages" for sure! :)

See ya guys and have a great time till then. 

With much love
​♥
nini

These two weeks flew by quite fast but I did quite a few things too! 

Firstly I felt the need to do some loom knitting as I wanted to test out an idea. It was about making little kitties to stuff with kitty grass and have for animal auctions but it turned out it's not such a good idea to use knitted fabric for such a thing. Way to delicate for their little claws :)

I finished with my kitty illustrations for now and this was my last one. It's called "Fare Well" and is in my Redbubble shop with all the others. There is also something very exciting going on at the moment connected to these illustrations but I need to keep my mouth shut until it becomes more ... ehm.... real :)

This time of the year is also the time when Ex-tempore Piran happens and I have been part of the last two. It's an annual painting contest in which you have one week to make the painting. You go in and stamp your substrate and then you bring it in for the judges to judge. It all happens very quickly and it's this fact that makes it so interesting to be part of. At least for me as I do love a good challenge every once in a while :D

Not all of the paintings get accepted into the exhibition so to be a part of it is quite big too. And my first two times I don't think I got in this year either but at least i am not surprised :D

Here's what I made and how  the stages evolved - I always love seeing process photos.

And just today I finished with my fifth batch of "25 days of" that I keep making in the morning, before breakfast. Here's just a few of the squares:

I am thinking about taking on a sketchbook for this from now on but am so unsure about it. I think I will wait with the new one as it doesn't have watercolor paper in it so that the transition won't be so painful :D Looks like I made up my mind. The tiny watercolor Moleskine it shall be!

Oh and I met with my online FB friend Alexandra! She flew over from Washington for a hiking vacation at a place called Pri Lenart but she had half a day to spend in Ljubljana so I met with her and took her around. It is just so awesome to meet online friends whom you know for years but a real deal is just so much more. What a lovely person she is! I think I'll go and have a hike with them!
​
Thank you for reading, all comments are greatly appreciated and see ya in a week or two ;)

With much love
​♥
nini