sketchbook that made me start drawing again

landscape

Some time ago, Kimi, an amazingly talented lady started a project, and you can learn more about it HERE.  I was sooo happy to participate in it... I couldn't wait for the travelling sketchbook to reach me... and finally, it did... and it was in my hands, and it was beautiful!

And then things happened...

I couldn't draw.

I did some sketches, but I couldn't show them to anyone.

And my first real effort since then is in Kimi's sketchbook... 

Here they are.

The sketchbook is on its way to Turkey, and with any luck, Gizem, a wonderful illustrator, will have it any day now.

2 new drawings

I don't know what this is about... really...

embarrassing sketches

sulking cats

OK, so I've just finished an illustration on a slightly bigger paper format (50cm * 70cm) and now I'm stuck. It happens so often, I might have to come up with a name for that condition... Stuckitis… What-now-itis… I'm not sure is it because "I could never do it again", or is it because I'm too self-criticizing and I don't like the drawing I've finished...

Well, I don't think it's either one. Most of the time, I have SO many new ideas that I simply can't pick one. I can't focus, so they're all in my head... all at once... buzzing and flapping and whizzing...

carnival

Ideas are like smells, they're there, I can feel them, I know them quite intimately, they're packed with sensations and motion, but when I start sketching, they become unreachable. I want to put them all on paper, and sketches always turn out to be beyond disappointing.

I'm a terrible starter.

couch potato

No, let me rephrase that! I'm great at starting at least ten things at once, and then not doing any of them... which is a shame. The best part… what I like most about drawing… is the bit after I'd started something, and passed that second phase. If I get that far, I land in some amazing space where's no time, or thoughts... I become my pencils and paints, and that feeling is the reason why I draw at all.

I hate all my drawings, but I love making them!

Sketches are my biggest embarrassment. I used to love sketching, but now… uh… I cringe when I see unrefined lines, bad proportions, somewhat incorrect perspective… I need to feel that I’m in control, so I start fixing my sketches, and keep fixing them till they stop being sketches.

portraits

Anyway… this time I present you a few pages from my poor little moleskine. They will stay as they are. Paper is too thin, it simply wouldn’t survive my “corrections”.

owl love

my latest fascination

...owls... 

This little girl's name is Tara.

Isn't she adorable? 

♥ ❤ ♥ 

tea-party

M. Léo is a kind and nice person, but he's very serious. Luckily, he's aware of that, so once in a while he organizes nice little soirées to break the routine. On those occasions, he tries to look sweet and approachable. He tries very hard, and that's wholeheartedly appreciated by his peers... that is, by those who get to be invited to come, but sometimes some do not get the invitation, if they had done something very wrong, like eye-laser-beam-burn a poor little alligator and end up in jail, for life, till M. Léo comes to help them escape...

M. Léo - soirée

randez-vous

M. Léo is trying to have some private life.

M. Léo qui donne randez-vous

radioactive

M. Léo does get some help... occasionally. This little chore is their favourite. They don't like vacuuming though... or washing up...

M. Léo et les corvées

walkies

It was a lovely day, so M. Léo took them all out for a walk... one at a time... Poor things tend to get overexcited too easily when together.

M. Léo qui se promène

Launch

M. Léo is ever so nice, always willing to help... selflessly...

M. Léo qui lance

leisure activities

After a hard days's work, M. Léo likes to dance a bit to relax. He is especially fond of La Primavera from Vivaldi's Le quattro stagioni.

M. Léo qui danse

you figure it out

I've decided not to apologize for this...

Cruel?

Cold?

Heartless?

Then how do you think M. Léo feels having to be the one to do it... day in and day out...

M. Léo at work

IF swept

I've been thinking too much lately... about life, stuff, the importance of different... stuff...
"Fun?" ... -No, not really...

out of control

I started this doodle yesterday. It was just a little floating-flying-wiggly boy, and then another one, and another one, and then it felt like they need some space to connect them, but only in a way, not really... and it was all done in ink, then graphite and colours came... and some acrylics, for heaviness... and I didn't like it... any of it... at all, so I kept adding... ore colour came, and pointilistic style shading...

Yeah, I've become a bit obsessive... that's why it's going online, to fixate it in time as it is, so working on it loses any sense, before I start analysing it/self-analysing whirlpool. Now I'm free to stop! Yeeeey...