karenika

Gratitude PostCards – Week 41

Here’s this week’s card :

It says: smile, you are beautiful.

This card uses a My Mind’s Eye stamps and watercolor markers.

Gratitude PostCards is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and the postcards I use here.

A Book a Week – The Great Gatsby

I read The Great Gatsby before the movie came out. (Yes, this review is a bit late.) I hadn’t read it since high school and didn’t remember any of the story at all. I knew I wanted to watch the movie and I wanted to make sure I reread it before I saw the movie.

I actually listened to it on audio which allowed me to “read” it while I was driving around. And while I liked the storytelling and the visuals and even the interesting characterization, I didn’t actually like any of the characters (maybe except the narrator) and I really didn’t care much for the story and how it ended.

It didn’t make me feel so great about the people in the story. And even about justice.

Alas, a lot of the classics aren’t really “happy” stories, are they?

Gratitude Journal – Week 43

Here’s this week’s gratitudes and celebrations:

Before :

it says: you get to consciously decide what has meaning and what does not (from a speech by david foster wallace).

and here’s what the page looks like with all the gratitudes and celebrations:

Just another excuse to create art and remember the present that is my life.

Gratitude Journal is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.Gratitude Journal – Week 39

Weekly Diary – November 9 2013

Here are some photos from this week. Not too many this time around:

The night before Halloween, we were invited to a party where the boys wore their alternate costumes and I snapped some photos.

they loved posing.

except when i told them to sit still.

and then on actual Halloween, I snapped some with the real costumes.

they made sure to be silly there, too.

gangnam style of course.

and then the candy-collecting began.

the next day we began what I wanted our November project to be, which was inspired by Andrea Scher. Our little wish tree. The boys made the sign.

each made one side of it.

and here’s our tree with wishes hanging from it.

one of david’s: i wish we would have world peace.

one of mine: i wish my sister was my neighbor.

david: i wish i could be a scientist.

one of our neighbors’ daughter added her own drawing to the tree.

for this week’s photos David was feeling quite ill. This is the only photo where he’s laughing.

we took them anyway. this project is not about perfect photos. it’s about regular photos. which means they capture real life.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

SixBySix – Week 45

Before this week’s art here’s the important reminder: Please remember, this is personal and hand-made and thus imperfect. If you want perfect art, do not buy mine. Also one more reminder that these are pretty small. 5.5inches by 5.5inches. That’s about 14×14 centimeters). You will just get the original piece of watercolor paper with my art and signature in the back. No mounting, no frame. I don’t want to misrepresent anything. I will put a paypal button under each (you can pay with credit card or paypal.) the button doesn’t update so you will have to click through to see if it’s sold out. I will try to update them as quickly as I can and remove the button if it’s gone, but just in case. Each piece will be $35. That’s US dollars. If you have questions please leave a comment and I will reply as fast as I can.

With that here’s this week’s art:

it reads: invite joy into your life.

sold, thank you

SixBySix is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

Just a quick share

Apologies for the lack of updates, we had a long week with much illness and too much work. However, I got an email from Stampington to let me know that my Art Journaling Magazine article is a free download now. So if you’d like to read it, you can do so from here: open me now

Gratitude PostCards – Week 40

Here’s this week’s card :

It says: invite love in.

This card uses a template from The Crafter’s Workshop (as well as a few others.) and acrylic paint.

Gratitude PostCards is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and the postcards I use here.

A Book a Week – Pandemonium and Requiem

I read Delirium a long time ago and have been a big fan of Lauren Oliver since her first book. Delirium wasn’t my favorite compared to her first book so I decided I’d wait until the full series was out before I read the next book. So I finally read Pandemonium and Requiem and the Delirium Stories. It was quite fun reading them all together.

While I liked the series, I still don’t like it nearly as much as I’ve loved Before I Fall. To me, that book was magical, profound and thought-provoking. This one was okay. Especially since the ending wasn’t all that amazing, unpredictable or even profound for me.

If you’re into dystopian stories, you will likely enjoy this. I think Lauren Oliver is a good writer and develops her characters well so they are not 2-dimensional. I know I will always enjoy her writing.

2013 Sketching – Week 37

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

more faces for you: