A doodle a day // October

At the beginning of the month I joined a doodle a day challenge created by the talented ellolovey. There are plenty of these type of mini projects over the internet, but this one seemed fun and also some of my IG friends were doing it too.

I made myself a teeny tiny sketchbook using a collage cover I made about a year ago and never used, 32 pages of watercolour paper and a 25mm ring. I printed out the October list, glued to the first page and I was set to go!

 

You can find the overall set on my Flickr page (here) or on Instagram (here) with the #doodleadayoct tag.
If you fancy join in for the November challenge, click on the November list. Happy doodling!

Autumn harvest

 

 A new seasonal illustration available on my etsy shop (here).

Leaves pattern

I've started putting together two of my favourite subjects: nature and pattern. Let's see where this will go.

On a Sunday afternoon

The good thing when my little falls asleep in the car, is that I have time to sketch, read and do all the relaxing stuff that would otherwise be neglected and replaced by cleaning, tidying up and so on. As long as I have what I need with me, which is fortunately 99% of the time, I enjoy these rare moments very much.

Yesterday afternoon, we were on our way to Heathrow airport to pick up a certain someone from his weekend away in Rome...

We left home early, she felt asleep, so I stopped in a residential road nearby the airport and did some sketching. Apart from the constant noise of plane engines (I do wonder if people who lives here are used to it!), it was a perfect sunny afternoon.

October

Happy October! Feeling a lot inspired this month and treating myself to some painting time.

A new illustration

I have been obsessed with hot pressed paper lately. And with some illustrations sketches I've been working on. I'm still experimenting with large washes, but love the added texture, particularly to the clouds.

The illustration is available on my Etsy shop.

Botanical illustration notebooks

These cute new little notebooks are now available on my Etsy shop. 

September

 

Watercolours on HP watercolour paper

  

Pen outlines on HP watercolour paper

September always brings a renewed energy with it. The days start to get shorter, the evenings are cooler and it feels like you have a second chance to start something new with a fresh and relaxed mind. September it’s the month for planning the rest of the year, thinking about Christmas, deciding which new tv shows to watch, having a wardrobe makeover and a house spring-clean. And it’s the month when you start to slow down again after the hustle and bustle of the summer months.

The House Garden

Just finished this House Garden illustration inspired by one of my mum's kitchen towel from her dowry. I decided to use Arches hot pressed paper, and although is not my favourite brand, I think it was perfect for this subject. And I'm already planning to make some more on a similar style.

The original painting will be up on sale on my Esty shop sometime this weekend. 

Happy weekend to all!

Moleskine Reloaded

I can honestly say that I’m pretty obsessed with sketchbooks. As it stands I have about 8 of them going at the same time, and as I said before this year (or was last year?!?), my resolution is to complete all of them before buying a new one. But that has proved to be very hard, both the not-buying part and the completing-them-all part. So to satisfy my craving, without compromising my intentions, I decided to make a new sketchbook using an old moleskine diary.

I have made sketchbooks before, and I love how they look once they are finished. And I noticed I have different feelings when using a homemade item, than when I use something I bought brand new.

I don’t feel the pressure of having to make things look perfect, to follow a certain style, to make no mistakes. If I have made the item once, I can sure make it again and that somehow gives me the freedom to experiment a bit more and put the pressure off. And I believe this is the reason why my homemade sketchbooks look nicer and more cohesive than the once I normally buy.

Another good reason for making my own sketchbook is that I can choose the style, the format and the paper that goes in it. To be fair, I have loved the moleskine watercolour books since they came out, and that is what I use the most. However, the sizes available are not my ideal choice.

I love the pocket size of the moleskine, as it goes well with my pocket size watercolour kit, which is just perfect for outdoor and travel sketching. But the landscape format sometimes has proven not to be ideal. I feel like it is too narrow for some subjects, and to make up for it I normally carry some spare watercolour sheets in a different size.

To cut this short, I used an old moleskine daily planner and re-filled it with watercolour paper (I used Fabriano Accademia, natural grain, 240g/m² // 113lbs), giving me a 48-pages pocket size sketchbook in a portrait format. I have followed the very detailed instructions found on the Trumpetvine Travels website. They are absolutely well written and so easy to follow.

The sketchbook came out pretty well; it is not perfect, I didn’t trim the edges of the pages, so they don’t align perfectly and, although I rounded the edges to match the moleskine cover, somehow I managed to trim some of the side edges of each sheet as well (I’m still mastering the art of corners rounding!).

But I absolutely love the overall look. I promised myself not to start using it until I finish at least my two moleskine sketchbooks, which fortunately have only few pages to go.

Shop news :: As I tend to get carried away with repurposing old moleskine diaries, the above pocket size moleskine reloaded is now available to buy on my Etsy shop (click here).