Sicko Weako

Argh, I hate being sick. I've been coughing like a mad dog for the past couple of weeks and thus been working from home since Tuesday. While that could seem like a good thing, it really isn't, coz I feel like I'm still not in the loop when I'm out of the office (despite being online the whole time). Also, I feel so tired all the time and it feels like cactus is attached to my throat 24/7. I visited a pulmonary specialist yesterday and she says I have respiratory tract infection and post nasal drip. What that means, I dunno, I just know that I need rest and I need to take meds. She says it's common these days, so I shouldn't worry.

The advantages of working from home though is that I have time for other things, like painting. While taking small breaks from calls and status reports, I get to doodle or make some calligraphy stuff or practice doing portraits without violating corporate rules about productivity. It's kind of a stress reliever too, so it's kinda therapeutic.

Yesterday, after going to the doctor, I made a stop to the bookstore to buy some paintbrushes and watercolor. I'm starting to appreciate this medium all of a sudden because of the artists that have inspired me lately. I've been a gouache zealot until recently. I love water color and how you can make different washes and blending styles. It's such a light medium, and I enjoy putting small details to my current piece.

Artsy farts show and tell time!

Making flower patterns using water color. I think I'm gonna use this flower pattern for my first stamping project on February!

Making portraits again. I used to love drawing women's faces, but I need to get back into the groove of shading.

Journal writing to document last Saturday's events--a trip to Sta Mesa to buy cupcake boxes for Sugar Lily. 

More encouraging words with calligraphy and water color. I love drawing flowers these days. 

Practicing drawing faces. This doesn't look symmetrical haha her eyes are not aligned! T_T

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A Bunch of Drawings and A Purpose for This Blog

This blog was intended to post some of my artworks, doodles and calligraphy when I'm not actually held up at my 9-5 job. Some people are fortunate to be doing what they are absolutely passionate about, while some of us who were late bloomers and thought were being practical, got into jobs that paid well but isn't really as fulfilling as we would like it to be. Define it as lack of direction or perhaps a juggling act, but as I have mentioned before, while my 2012 was the year of balance, 2013 will be a year of focus.

I was reading through Brainpickings.org one afternoon when I hit a eureka moment. You could call me as a jack of all trades, master of none kinda girl. I love art, music, travel, sports, food, reading and writing. Basically any form of expression draws me in and I want to get into it. I dabble here and there and every year I make resolutions to achieve the goal of getting better at something. Well because I just dabble, I find myself knowing how to do a bit of this and a bit of that, but never reaching a level where I could say I'm REALLY good. And that brings me to my goal this year. Be good at something.

There is this article about How to Find Your Purpose and Do What You Love on Brainpickings and it inspired me to really use this blog to chronicle my true passion: To create. It doesn't matter what other people say or if they believe that I am a "real artist" or not. What matters is that I keep on doing what I am doing and I inspire others with my story and what I am making. So I am making use of this blog to to improve at drawing/illustration/calligraphy, share it and be inspired everyday to make something. Anything, as long as I create.

That brings me to the past few weeks' artsyfarts.

Getting back into using gouache and drawing pretty girls

Inspired by Sugar Lily, our cupcake business.

Another random girl drawing

Patterns patterns patterns

Patterns used for stationery

Patterns used for prayers of gratitude

So I leave you with something that I've read in someone's blog that speaks to me like it was directed at me:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

— Ira Glass

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Stamping Crafternoon and Ten Paces

I'm so excited! I got a slot at Alessa Lanot's Crafternoon Sessions at Fully Booked! I've been wanting to get into rubber stamping ever since I stumbled upon a bunch of crafting blogs that made their customized stationery, I wanted to make some of my own for my handmade card projects.

I received an email confirmation today about my reservation! Hurrah!

image from LifeAfterBreakfast

This is one of the things that I resolve to do this year--immerse myself in crafting workshops and study digital illustration. I'm a bit socially inept so I'm not always comfortable hanging out with a bunch of people that I don't know, but I figured, I'd probably be too busy working on my stamps anyway so I suppose I don't really have to talk to them strangers. (Ayos sa attitude, diba?) But then again, I reminded myself that I have to be (and I want to be) open to my surroundings as much as possible this year and not shut people out so I'm going to make this a deliberate change in myself as well. It's pretty much just like going back to school, I guess.

And just like an eager beaver student, I'm already thinking of a pattern for my stamp already! I was looking for inspirations in this blogosphere and chanced upon this site called Ten Paces and Draw. Basically it's a collaboration site that allows a community of illustrators and designers to swap ideas/sketches then come up with a final illustration/design using their own medium and their own style. I've been looking at the before and after photos all morning and these are my favorites.

Pattern Swap

Final – Meera Lee, Sketch – Mika Nakano

Fashion Swap

Siobhán Gallagher – Necklace

Lettering Swap

Final by Kyle Letendre, Sketch by Ann Shen

Atrology Swap

Final by Roxanne Daner, Sketch by Angela Rizza

Cocktail Swap

Final by Julia Bereciartu, Sketch by Tyler Parker

Amazing transformations, don't you think? What has really struck me in these before and after drawings is how the Final Artists have mixed their own illustration and design style with the original idea. They didn't copy each pose for the characters, nor did they replicate each font from the original sketch. It was so refreshing to look at! It's so inspiring how the sketch artists come up with the original concept/idea for the illustration and how the final artists made it their own. 

You can check more Swaps from Ten Paces and Draw here

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Call Me A Kawaii-phile

Yesteday was the first day of work and you have no idea how much effort it took to summon all my strength to get up and get back into the groove of things. I did errands and a quick jog in the morning and got to work immediately after, but I was surprised to discover that I didn't dread going to work as much as I did before I had a vacation. I suppose the holiday break did me good and provided a more positive perspective. One simple resolution that I have for 2013 is be more thankful for all my blessings. On the dreaded first day of work, I was thankful that I am working for a respectable company that gives me good compensation, while others are more unfortunate than me who hated their jobs or didn't have jobs at all.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a bunch of cute stuff I found at our local bookstore here in B.F. You see, I'm a sucker for cuteness (aren't we all?)--puppies, Joseph Gordon Levitt, bite sized cupcakes, and tiny baby feet come to mind when asked to define the word cute. Last Sunday, while I was out for grocery shopping, I made an impromptu trip to this local school supplies store called Little Town, and I got myself a few unnecessary albeit cute stuff:

Aaaaaah this makes me so happy! I can't wait to use them all!!

Yummy dessert themed erasers (68 Php - On Sale). I only have the white boring ones, so had to buy these! Plus, I feel more responsible to buy them because I've already started a Cupcake and Pastry business with my sisters.

Colored Gel Pens! (200++ Php) I think I was most excited to use all those neon colors. I'm even using them now for my to do lists! 

Parisian inspired craft tapes! (60 Php) - While it's no washi, it's still an awesome way to spruce up a craft project

Hippie sticky notes!

Except for the sticky note set which I got from a colleague from the office, all my purchases caused me to have an EQ problem the moment I went out of Little Town. I was on my way to a family dinner after my quick stop,  I was so tempted to go home and open them up! I wanted to smell the erasers, use the multi colored pens and stick them tapes on whatever I can put my hands on!

Little Town is also where I got my fabric tapes and a bunch of painting materials (brushes, gouache, watercolour, markers) that I use for my drawings. Since we don't have a nearby National Bookstore within BF, Little Town is everyone's one stop art and school supplies store. Right now, since the Holiday Season is almost over, they're on SALE up to 50% off on selected items. The 6 piece eraser set, I got for 68 pesos which originally goes for around 120 bucks.

Call it kababawan, but this is a cheaper form of retail therapy than buying shoes, right?

Little Town is located at G/F Pergola Mall Aguirre Avenue B.F. Homes Parañaque, Metro Manila

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Calligraphy In 2012 (And Moving Forward)

This 2012, I started getting into calligraphy through Fozzy Castro-Dayrit's influence. I admired her work and checked her blog regularly, followed her instagram and even her twitter account! That could count as stalking in some countries, but in my defense, it really led me to get into the craft and do something with it. Now I am not about to offer any envelope writing jobs just yet, but this stuff is really addicting! I've always been into lettering, but calligraphy allows one to add some finesse to the art of writing.

My journey started when I chanced upon Scribe Writing Essentials at Powerbooks Greenbelt 3. I wanted to buy Daycraft paper and saw Brause pens and J Herbin inks on display. The nice sales lady showed me some samples and taught me how to use the pen. After a few minutes, I went on my way with getting ink cartridges for the Brause italic calligraphy pen in 2.3 mm. Eventually, I got the chance to experiment with J Herbin semi flexi nibs which I got from Scribe at the Eastwood branch. Nakakakilig! Flourished script is the style that made me fall inlove with calligraphy in the first place! I tried out so many paper and figured out that Rhodia fares well with both ink and poster paint, while Moleskine is pretty much better off with journaling and sketching. Daycraft is 50/50 because it goes well with Italic nibs, but not that much with flexy because of the pointed tip (I tend to scratch the paper). I am trying out that dotted notebook from Muji at the moment, and it seems to be doing well so far.

Most of my nibs are now rusty, and Scribe is no longer available at Powerbooks Greenbelt 3 so I have to make do with them for now. I'm eager to stock on more calligraphy supplies and I really wish materials are readily available in the Philippines, but they aren't as popular as I hoped they would be (yeah, considering that there are calligraphy and crafting workshops left and right these days). But the good news is, my uncle agreed to buy stuff for me from the U.S. and I will be getting my hands on Speedball Hunt 99 and Imperial 101s and more J Herbin nibs next month! Eeeeeep just thinking about it makes me giddy! Can't wait for Feb already!

Anyway, here's a collection of calligraphy stuff that I did this year.

I made holiday cards this year and gave them out to my family and relatives.

  

Of course, when I have nothing to say, I just write lyrics!

More lyrics, this time by Morrisey

An experiment with gouache and different colors.

  

Doodles + calligraphy = L.O.V.E! (Yes, kailangan nagrarhyme)

And these are words of inspiration that I go back to everytime I feel that I am up to no good. Isn't it encouraging? 

I hope to share encouraging words to others through calligraphy, even if sometimes the words are not my own. I want to spread some positivity and inspiration to others even if it's done with  imperfect handwriting. This craft is immensely enjoyable and gratifying, and I hope I get to do this for a very long time. :)

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Smitten With Singapore

This is a long overdue post, but I wanted to share a few pictures from my Singapore trip last November. It was my first time to visit SG (I know, pathetic!) and I must admit I was smitten by the place--its cleanliness, its architecture, the discipline of the people, and the FOOD! I can live there eating at hawker places! 

During the 3 day trip with my friends, I was able to check out a few notable places.

1. Marina Bay Sands

2. Clark Quay

3. Universal Studios

4. Esplanade

5. Singapore Art Museum

6. Gardens by the Bay

Sad that I wasn't able to go to Sentosa and the Botanical Gardnes and do more shopping, but hey, SG is just a few hours away, I'm sure it would not be my last visit.

Esplanade. Of course we had to go here and take photos with the Merlion!

Singapore Flyer

 Chill afternoon going to Esplanade

Marina Bay Skydeck

Gardens by the Bay! I did not tire from taking photos of these beautiful man-made trees!

More thoughts about this trip

• The Philippines/Manila is still far behind in terms of progress, discipline and government support. I wish I can still live to see the day the Philippine MRT is as organized and beautiful as Singapore MRT.
• I love that Jim is getting the travel bug with me. He didn't seem to love foreign travel all that much since he prefers to see his own country first (he's nationalistic like that), but then he realized how big the world is and there is still so many things to see and experience. I love that this trip opened his eyes to explore and travel more. He even texted me this morning about a plan for a BKK trip next year! 
• I would love to live in a foreign country for 2 years and immerse myself in their culture. Being a tourist is great but you can only experience the surface of the country, unlike when you get into the daily routine of living in it.
• Friends are the best. Trina took care of lodging, Mon took care of getting Universal Studios Tickets, Boss Bert and Ron (Jim's former officemates) took care of showing us around and making sure we experience our first Chili Crab meal, Sherwin took care of our last dinner. Love them.
• I am slowly learning to be a light packer. I am learning to build my travel wardrobe staples for short trips (3 - 4 days) - 2 neutral coloured shirts, a couple of dressy tops, 1 dress, a pair of black pants, 1 pair of PJs, a jacket/blazer, 1 sneakers/loafers, 1  pair pair of slippers, 1 pair of flats, LOTs of accessories & statement necklaces. I need to buy good shoes for walking coz my converse chuck taylors didn't fare well with the endurance test. 
• I still need to learn how take in and be calm during some travel hassles e.g. falling in line, communication breakdowns, getting lost. I'm so glad the travel buddy is calmer and more prepared than I was during this trip.
• Preparation is key. In fairness to Jim, he was more prepared than I was during this trip. So glad he was on roaming or else we wouldn't be able to meet up with our friends.
• I miss traveling with my AIF Friends! 
• I shouldn't be kuripot when buying souvenirs. And if i want to buy something I must seize the moment, because there might not be a next time. I wasn't able to buy lots of pasalubongs (souvenirs) this trip and still have like 180 SG dollars left in my wallet!
• When shopping for clothes in another country, I should really really make sure the brand can't be found in Manila. 
• In any international trip, I will never eat at McDonald's/KFC or Starbucks unless a.) it's free b.) im at the airport.
• Pinoy Community in Singapore is awesome. Got a free pass at the Singapore Art Museum because the receptionist is Pinoy. I can feel the love. 

Jim and I decided we would travel together and all the time. We agreed to take a minimum of 1 domestic and 1 international trip + 1 climb every year. I'm sure it will help us grow individually and as a couple. :) So, where to next?

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Inspiration Strikes Again!

I found myself with a bit of time to blog and draw and do calligraphy these days because I am on a holiday break. I got myself inspired from different art and design blogs, but the most recent addition to my bookmark is Alessa Lanot's Life After Breakfast. She's amazing! I learned about her because I have been reading Fozzy's posts for quite some time now, and one afternoon, I was lost in her world of water colour, rubber stamps, typography, vegan food and all sorts of wonderful things that I wish I could do more of. She's only 2 years older than me and she already has her own restaurant and art workshops left and right!

She has so many awesome ideas that I got myself inspired and did some calligraphy and doodling as well. This coming year, I will live more creatively. I will find more time for my band, for the cupcake business, for running and frisbee, for travel and for art. The year ahead is brimming with so much hope and potential, the multitasking year is here, but at the same time, I will still aim for balance. Oh, and the apartment turnover will be in 2013 as well, so I am sooooo excited to get involved with interior design too! Ideas, ideas, ideas! 

Anyway, here's what I came up with last night while I was still high on dark chocolates and inspiration. I used poster paints, sakura 0 paintbrush and J Herbin nibs. :)

A mistake is a product of risk. Taking risks is sometimes alright, so long as we are willing to live with the consequences. With making mistakes, we realize our faults and we discover our strength to carry on and continue with our task. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; instead learn from them.

Ah, positivity is difficult specially when you've had your fair share of trials. But as they all say, happiness is still a choice. Let's focus on the good things in life! There is so much to be thankful for :)

Here's to more creativity, positivity and endless energy for 2013! 

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Sugar Lily Cupcakes

This project reminds me of my band KAZE. It was something that I was ready to jump into without knowing that I was slowly building a dream for it. I was lucky enough to be doing something already even before I realized that it could be something so awesome. It's brimming with potential! My sisters and I each have our own roles to play in this project -- my sister Katrina took on the main and most important role, the baker, while Ate Tetet who was the first to come up with the business idea is our main manager and accountant and I became the designer and promoter.

My mom played a big role in this too. She is the inspiration.

This whole thing started when Ate Inah began bringing homemade desserts for our Sunday Family Dinners. She started with brownies then ventured into making cupcakes later on. The kids especially loved them and so she experimented with different flavors. The idea for branding came up around October, when my eldest sister Tetet, the party planner that she is, asked Ate Inah to bake some cupcakes for Sofia's 7th birthday. The guests loved her cupcake minis with marshmallow frosting and asked where Ate Tetet ordered them. Ate Tetet launched brainstorming sessions and we finally decided to call our project "Sugar Lily". Sugar, because of course the product caters to your sweet cravings, and Lily is the nickname of our mommy (Araceli).

None of us were pink people and we didn't want the brand to be too girly. No offense to those who love pink, but if my sisters and I have a common denominator, we were more feisty than girly. Anyway, we leaned towards turquoise/sky blue and so I made a logo for it. It was the perfect color choice too, because RM Boxes had turquoise boxes readily available in the market and we wanted the logo to somehow match our boxes. I wanted the logo to be simple yet sophisticated and so I searched fonts online and checked out calligraphic borders that I can use. I came up with multiple samples, but decided on the most simple border.



We also decided on our cupcake flavors and the main factors that came into play were 1.) how well Ate Inah perfected the recipe 2.) Which flavors are the most popular today. In short, ano nga ba ang papatok at ano nga ba ang pinakamasarap na gawa ni Ate? So far, we have 5 flavors: Chocolate, Red Velvet, Vanilla, Carrot and Banana chocolate chip. The last one is a personal favorite and also my mom's favorite. Our mom isn't a fan of frosting, and the banana chocolate chip is soooooo good you don't need frosting for it at all. I was also especially fond of my sister's signature rose frosting. It's so pretty I can look at the cupcakes all day. I am used to all the prettiness now, so I am not afraid to sink my teeth into the yuminess. I heard a lot of feedback from friends that they didn't want to eat the cupcakes because they were too pretty! Haha
Facebook was our main medium for promoting our cupcakes, and so I created a page for Sugar Lily. Friends and acquaintances liked the page instantly but I was suprised that a lot of them translated to actual orders! We got orders everyday and because my sisters and I had day jobs (Ate Inah and I were I.T. Professionals, while Ate Tetet is in the Insurance/Life Pension industry) we only work on the cupcakes after office hours. This is what Ate Tetet dubbed as Birth Pains because we would be working on orders till the wee hours of the morning and it wasn't fun sometimes. We developed a certain system and we already logged our orders via excel to keep track of orders! I suddenly realized how hard it is to start a business, but at the same time, I felt so fulfilled knowing that I was working something I could call my own with my family. I am especially proud of Ate Inah, who is so dedicated with her craft. I had other extracurriculars, like the band and sports, while Ate Tetet is a working mom. I am so happy Ate Inah got into baking because it's something that she is absolutely awesome at and it was something that she really loved to do. I call this our project, not a business, because calling it a business makes it sound so official and so serious. We wanna have fun with it and see how far this could take us. But in reality it really is a business, and I am so excited with the many things that my sisters and I could do together. We're no Katherine or Sophia of DC cupcakes, and we're still really very very small. We're babies. But hey, who knows where this could lead to, right?
Planning for 2013 is on the way. My goal for the next quarter is for us to get a bigger mixer and a bigger oven!

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Hang To Dry

Hang with me here, will ya?

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Long Long Distance Love Affair, Oh!

Hello everyone! I'm back after more than a year of hiatus. I've been busy with so many things lately that I haven't had the chance to post my drawings here. Expect things to change from now on, as I am back with a new enthusiasm for doing more art projects. To start off, here's my latest ink and gouache drawing.

I made this drawing for my friend Mon Chong who is leaving for Singapore this weekend. I came up with the idea of paper cup phones for this drawing after watching Grown Ups starring Adam Sandler . They had a scene there where the kids started talking to each other using paper cup phones and it gave me a sense of nostalgia. Mon will be based in Singapore for a year or two and will be leaving her beau Charles back here in the Philippines. Oh the tragedy of long distance relationships! But of course I am optimistic that they will get through this challenge and that the distance will only make their relationship stronger.

I'm a believer!

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Weekly Inks!

New drawings today!

A typical Sunday includes brunch with my family and checking out books at the bookstore. Browsing through the Art and Lifestyle section, I came across this book called "New Yorker Lookbook: A Gallery of Street Fashion" whose photos were shot by Jake Chessum. I loved the images contained in this book, specially the expression of the girl in the green coat. I decided to make a quick sketch of her and did the same with the two other girls. When I got home later that day, i proceeded with inking them then added color with felt tip pens.

Check out the book here

*****

Since most of my drawings are colorful, I decided to experiment with just a small bunch of hues for this drawing. Inspired by The Sartorialist's photo of this lady. Although I made a change with the shirt design, I just had to include the contrast of the red clutch against her entire outfit.

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Art Stalking: Krisatomic and Garance Doré

It's 3 am in Manila and I am still up, overwhelmed by so many inspirations for my drawings. I talked about acrylic on my previous post, and I cannot wait to give it another go. Unfortunately, time does not allow me to have a good sit down and paint away. Painting takes time, so I only get to paint on weekends. On weekdays when I am busy with work (I am a software programmer by the way), I do pencil and ink drawings. The latest ones were inspired by photos from The Sartorialist. Will post them soon, but in the meantime, check out these wonderful illustrations by Krisatomic and French illustrator Garance Doré. Looking at their drawings makes me want to delve into fashion-related subjects.


illustration by Krisatomic


Illustration by Garance Doré


Don't you want to go shopping now?

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Who Loves Acrylics?

One sunny day, I took an impromptu trip to a second hand book store and bought myself The DK Art School's Introduction To Acrylics. I haven't had a real go at acrylics since highschool, and that was 9 years ago, so I figured it was a good time to get myself familiarized with the medium. I immediately bought the book and an acrylic paint set..

Until a while ago when I tried the paint for the first time in a long time, I was a gouache zealot. For one thing, I am more inclined to use water soluble paints so that clean up is easy. Another thing is that I especially enjoy playing with a painting medium's opacity, which I can utilize using gouache. The disadvantage of gouache is that i can only use it on limited supports; the most obvious is paper. With acrylic, however, different sorts of surfaces can be used for painting since the paint has a characteristic of permanence since it is no longer soluble by water once it is dry. Because of this, when I apply a second layer on a wash, the the underpainting does not mix with the new layer. I'd like to be able to broaden the possibilities with different surfaces such as wood, canvas, or even tiles or flat stones. I've forgotten how fun it is to paint with acrylics, and it looks like I'm going to take a break from gouache and get well acquainted with my new favorite medium. Who loves acrylics? I do!


In search of a subject to paint, I came across a magazine that shows facts about poverty and food scarcity. This subject is quite serious unlike my usual subjects, but I was inspired to make a drawing out of this topic. According to www.thehungersite.com:

It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. That's roughly 100 times as many as those who actually die from these causes each year.

About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.

Famine and wars cause about 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families facing extreme poverty are simply unable to get enough food to eat.

The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger. Since its launch in June 1999, the site has established itself as a leader in online activism, helping to feed the world's hungry. On average, over 220,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click the yellow "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button. To date, more than 300 million visitors have given more than 500 million cups of staple food.

The staple food funded by clicks at The Hunger Site is paid for by site sponsors and distributed to those in need by Mercy Corps and Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest) . 100% of sponsor advertising fees goes to our charitable partners. Funds are split between these organizations and go to the aid of hungry people in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

Click here to help end hunger!

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The Daily Pill

Here's a new batch of drawings that I did over the last couple of weeks. A lot of them are simple sketches that I did during transit or in between breaks at my office. I recently got myself a small inexpensive drawing notebook for my daily doodles and sketches. I used to carry around a 9" X 12" sketchpad and for someone who has a 9 to 5 job, it can be such a hassle bringing such a big pad of paper at work when there isn't any guarantee that i can find time to draw anyway. At the same time, I felt like I was wasting a good deal of good paper on half done drawings and doodles. So what I did was get myself a really cheap notebook in which I can doodle, take notes, sketch and pretty much document random stuff on paper, then have a proper sit down and draw with proper tools on my big proper sketchpad. I think it works., coz I've been drawing everyday without having to worry about whether or not I'm wasting paper.

What I love about a drawing diary is that not only do I get to put images and ideas on paper, I get to document what I could be feeling or thinking at the time. With the drawing shown here, I was feeling a little nostalgic about a certain song, and missing someone who was as passionate about music as I am. In this drawing, I made use of watercolor pencils for the first time, and I had so much fun experimenting with the medium.

I'm also starting a new handmade card project with the concept of using different greetings around the world. The first one that I did was this French greeting "Bonjour" with girls peeping back at the receiver. I made this with a certain person in mind while I was drawing it, but I've got tons of ideas about this project and I'm really excited to make them happen! Stay tuned!

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