Colouring pages

Everyone seems to be obsessed with adult colouring book these days. And to be honest some of them are so beautifully drawn that it is a bit intimidating to even start colouring. Considering my love for gardens and flowers, there are two books that I particularly recommend:

Art therapy: extraordinary gardens by Sofie Leblanc; and

Secret Garden: an inky treasure hunt and colouring book by Johanna Basford.
Inspired by these books and by some vintage fabrics I had around I gave line work a try and made two colouring pages.

I printed them out using different types of paper and had so much fun using different colouring techniques. Even Olivia gave it a go and asked for more copies a few times.

If you want to give it a go yourself, feel free to download a copy and let me know how it goes. Tag me along if you are sharing your coloured pages on Instagram (marina_cerra) so I can see it too. 

 Happy colouring!

Remembering our first day at the beach with a quick watercolour sketch in my weekly art journal. Happy Sunday!

Weekly art journal #1 // January to March

I started documenting my weeks this year through little watercolour illustrations. I didn't set any specific plans for it, just painting whatever comes to mind and adding some notes here and there. This is how the first three months look like. Enjoy!

NOTES

The notebook I'm using is homemade (read more about it here)    

I will keep sharing each week on Instagram (here)

Happy Easter

Wishing you a very Happy Easter. xxx

wild rose // botanical collection .01

Working on a new series of botanical subjects. I have chosen to step away from true botanical illustrations for a while, to see how it feels to tackle a painting without having to worry about correct proportions, colours and details.  I have found this new style liberating and the entire process a bit more enjoyable considering the limited time I have available for painting these days. And truly excited about having both flora and fauna in the same plate. What do you think?

Spring in a jar

March's project has been all about bulbs and spring flowers. I love looking into gardens and parks, and roadside edges to spot little green leaves sprouting through the ground and colourful flowers peeping through. This time of the year is full of surprises if you know where to look and what to look for. 

I have been indecisive for a few days on how I would create a spring garden, and then it finally hit me. I have fallen in love with Jeninne Zlatkis's terrarium, and tried to recreate something similar.

Of course the results are not as pleasing as her illustration (nowhere near!), and I'm still thinking this painting is missing something, but so far I have not been able to figure it out. Maybe is the colour scheme or that red-ish frame (which I'm thinking of taking out). What do you think? Suggestions are very much welcome!

30 drawings in 30 days - Last set

#21/30 - Parco archeologico Scolacium, Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#22/30 - Pen & Wash exercise, from Cathy Johnson Art Tips  

#23/30 - Golfo di Squillace, Italy

#24/30 - Anthurium

#25/30 - Hosta

#26/30 - Torre Cavallara, Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#27/30 - Sedia di vimini, Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#28/30 - Athelstan Recreation Ground, Kingston upon Thames, UK

#29/30 - Summer Trees

#30/30 - Il porto, Catanzaro Lido, Italy

The last 10 drawings have been a completely different story. Say that the motivation begun to fade away, say that we came back home, say that I went back to work, say that the last 10% of a project takes 90% of the time to complete...I finished the last drawing this month! Shame, I know. I managed to do drawing #29 at the end of October, but really lost any motivation to do drawing #30 until the new year. But I finally did it and along with a new scanner I was able to put an end to this torture (this is what does to me any unfinished project!). Overall I'm glad I did it, even if it took more than 30 days. I will do something similar again, but maybe joining some group projects this time to keep things more interesting.

You can find the previous two sets of drawings here and here.

30 drawings in 30 days - Part 2

#11/30 - La Capanna - Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#12/30 - Spiaggia - Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#13-14-15/30 - Doodles

#16/30 - La Terrazza - Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#17/30 - Living Room - Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#18/30 - Hibiscus - Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#19/30 - Wet-on-wet excercise

#20/30 - Golfo di Squillace, afternoon mist - Catanzaro Lido, Italy

I was hoping to get a new scanner soon, after my old one broke down a long while ago. But since that hasn't happen yet, I got my drawing scanned at work. Here is my second set of drawings which were done back in August. I loved the challenge of finding the time everyday to do a little sketch. I must confess we were on holiday back then visiting my parents, and it was not much of a time issue, more like getting the inspiration going...trying to fight the apathy that comes with doing (almost!) nothing all day and a 40degC average temperature! But I stuck to it and I'm glad I did.

These were mostly on the spot sketches, with the exception of #18 which was done from a photo I took in my granddad's garden and #19 which was an example exercise from one of Cathy Johnsson mini classes. And the doodles of course are pure imagination...

30 drawings in 30 days - first 10 drawings

#1/30 - Municipio - Pescina, Italy

#2/30 - Various plants from the garden - Pescina, Italy

#3/30 - Pescina (old town), Italy

#4-5-6/30 - Various subjects - Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#7/30 - La Tonnina - Catanzaro Lido, Italy
#8/30 - Pineta - Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#9/30 - Strada per Pescina, Italy (from photo)

#10/30 - Colline sopra Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

And the first 10 drawings are done, almost as planned! I have been using my Moleskine watercolour notebook (21 x 13cm) as I'm planning to complete all the sketchbooks I have lying around the house by the end of the year. I have used different page layouts, so far: portrait, landscape, landscape with 4 horizontal inserts and landscape with 3 vertical inserts.
The first batch contains different type of sketches, some of them were done on the spot, some others were done using photos I had taken with my phone. I managed to do one drawing a day, except for drawings number 4, 5 and 6 that were done on the same day...you can tell by the size of the drawings and the lack of details.....

Note: In the UK the hash # isn't printed on the Apple Mac computer keyboard, so just press "alt"+3.