Weeks 39 to 44 and a half :)

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Be. Don't rush it.

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Ha, time speeded by again, but only relatively. Loads went on and I had troubles fitting 5 weeks on my cover photo here :D So let us see what happened creatively... 

October is the month to be drawing with inks as it's also called the Inktober. The idea behind this project is simple - draw something every day and thus grow your skills. But since some enjoy a more challenging approach a list of prompts is also given - not a simple one I must add. But as it happened our big art store decided to do their own version of this project and I decided to play with their prompts - admittedly in hopes of getting a prize but only IF I succeed to post all 31 prompts on time and IF I get randomly chosen :D  They haven't posted the winners yet but I won in my eyes as I managed to draw every single prompt on time no matter where I was and I pretty much like all of them. So a big YAY for me! :)

I made all my Inktober/Artober pieces on the same sized paper and in the same size circle so that they would end up being a cohesive group. I also had the idea of binding them all into a simple book - let's see if I end up doing it.

I also visited Vienna with two of my dear friends - Andrea and Liezl - and it was a lovely almost week. All was great but the afterwards math. I shall write no more but I will say this - being totally misunderstood sucks VERY much! ​

Immediately after Vienna I had to dive hard into creating for ex-tempore Bled - time to hand in the final piece was on 13th of October and because of Vienna I lost 2 days already. Well, kinda three but it happens. I got a really nice idea for the topic of "Celebrating the Bees" and I went straight for it. On a paper I never worked on before and which really challenged me. I was going with watercolors this time (not the usual acrylics) and this paper - 100% cotton mind you - hated the masking fluid AND the eraser. Oh my, I still can't believe I managed to pull it off anyways. I think I had a lot of help from above so here's a huge thank you to all my guides and helpers - Thank You All so, SO, much.

Above is a photo from just before I finished it and the finished image I submitted. I can happily report it won one of the prizes and I was really, really proud. 

After ex-tempore Bled the Inktober was still happening (meanwhile too) and my morning pages as well. I think my "25 days of tea coffee" really pushed me through some kind of artsy barrier because I have been doing something every day (morning really) since then. 

At the moment I am using the smallest Moleskine's watercolor sketchbook and after a bit of the struggle at first, I got used to the paper and can now paint quite freely in it  I am actually 2 pages from finishing it! Which is another milestone for me - I have never ever fully filled a sketchbook before! So OMG I think I can be proud of this as well! :) Here are two of my favourite images from it:

Another creative thing took place in October - a special watercolor workshop with the artist Minh Dam. I haven't done such a workshop before but I must say it was really interesting. We all painted the same scene - a yellow tram on busy streets of Milano. I was lucky to have Mr. Dam's help with my poor beginning so it looks quite cool now :D It's still not finished but I certainly caught a glimpse of a different type of watercoloring and I too love the way my tram came out :)  Looks like I just really can't stay away from rainbow colors!

All in all a lot of creating got done in these four and a half weeks - just like I wished for and I am very happy about it. I also sewed a tiny wee bit and made a few little fishes filled with polyfill and cat nip so that they can be auctioned at the upcoming online auction together with a few of my Kitty Cards. So here's my last collage for this post and a wish for a peaceful and creative November!  

Read you soon I hope :)

With much love,
♥
​nini