NORWEGIAN FALL FAVORITES

Here in Norway, fall is over and it even started to snow yesterday! It was actually my first Norwegian fall since I moved here, and I loved this season, here! When I used to live in Paris, fall was synonym of rainy, grey, cold, sad weather so I was never really fond of this time of the year. But in Norway, i learnt a special word : "Koselig". It could be translated as "cosy", i guess. And this is what Norwegian fall felt like, to me! 
So I wanted to share my Norwegian fall's "koselig" favorites:

- Lighting candles in the evening. My favorite lately is the linden tree candle from Yankee Candles.
- Walking in the nature and see all the trees dressed in orange, yellow and red.
- "Kanelboller". A traditional cinnamon roll. I am developping an addiction!
- My warm clothing kit. Burgundy must be my color!
- "Nype te". I discovered this here. It's Rose hip tea, and it's delicious with the cinnamon roll!

INKTOBER 2017

Not so many drawings made this year for Inktober. But still happy that I could participate a little bit to it.
Next year I hope I manage the 30 days challenge!

MERMAY

It's been a while since my last post... But I am back with a few drawings from my participation to the Mermay Challenge! 

BACK WITH SOME FAVORITES

I've missed doing this! This drawing is gathering the months of October and November together.
Also, since I got myself some fineliners not long ago, I wanted to test them and this was the perfect time to do it!

So here are all the things I enjoyed the past two months :

1/ The Handmaiden movie by Park Chan Wook is probably the best movie I've watched in a while. Every single shot looks like a painting, and the story is so catching! Until the end of the movie, one is not sure what's going to happen and what will be the conclusion...

2/ Inktober. I'm not going to write too much, because I've been talking so much about this event already, I think everybody understood how much I enjoyed doing this challenge! My only regret is that I didn't have enough time to complete it. Oh well...next year!

3/ Chanel N°5 perfume. I wanted to get it for so long, and finally got it! Its scent is so warming and perfect for the winter time.

4/ My one-way plane ticket to Norway. Two months left, and I'm there! So many exciting things coming up!

5/ Verbena jelly. My guilty pleasure of the moment. I just eat it from the jar...!

6/ I'm so glad I can start again to wear my comfy sweaters and pullovers. Cosy feelings...

MY INKTOBER JOURNEY - DAY 17 TO 19

Hello there! These are the last three drawings I made for the Inktober challenge.

It's a bit too late now to continue this challenge, so I decided I was done with it for this year. October and November have been very busy for me and I am still very happy with what I managed to produce for a first participation to this amazing challenge.

18 drawings in total, and I like them all. There are things that I would do differently if I were to restart it, but it taught me a lot about ink technique, and I really enjoyed doing this.
There is no doubt that I will participate again next year!

MY INKTOBER JOURNEY - DAY 7 TO 16

Some more drawings I did for 2016's Inktober.

MY INKTOBER JOURNEY - DAY 1 TO 6

I finally scanned some of my Inktober drawings!

As some of you guys know, I was very excited to start this challenge, because it was the first time I participated to it! 

For those of you who may not know what the Inktober Challenge is, let me explain quickly what it is all about.

Inktober was created by an illustrator named Jake Parker. He decided in october 2009 to challenge himself and draw one piece a day, only using ink in order to improve his inking skills and drawing habits. His challenge got so much success, that people started to do it too. Then it became a yearly event on Instagram, that everyone can attend to, professional or not.

I highly recommend visiting his Inktober official page to have a look at the archives of all his drawings, since the creation of this challenge. His artwork is very inspiring!

Jake Parker posted on Instagram the prompt list for 2016, that I decided to follow.

As I expected, it wasn't so easy to keep the rythm. 

One drawing per day is not something I am used to. Especially since I am working in an agency during the day, and only have the evenings to figure out what I am going to draw, and then, actually draw it !

We are now in November, and I am only half way. But it's so much fun to do it, that I won't stop, and complete this challenge, even though it's supposed to be over now. Next year, I'll manage better for sure !

Here are Day 1 to 6 (Day 5 is missing, I unfortunately couldn't find the time to do this one...) 

The rest will be following in the next article.

SUMMER'S FAVORITES!

The holidays are now over and it's time to go back to work... Still, I managed to find some time to draw a bit today !

I decided to gather everything I enjoyed during July and August into my "Summer Favorites".

What I liked the most this summer :

1/ Norway is a place I often travel to, because my boyfriend lives there. But it was one year since last time I went there. So I was super excited to spend my three weeks of holidays there. Norway has amazing landscapes, with fjords, and very green nature. It's a great place for inspiration and to relax.

2/ As you could see in my previous article, this summer, I participated for the first time to a drawing challenge! The Potterweekprompt. I had so much fun doing this, and I received so many nice comments on Instagram about my artwork. Thank you again guys! :)

3/ My new sandals. I love them! I wanted flat shoes with long laces for a long time. When I wear them I feel like an antique greek lady...

4/ The best brush pen I ever owned. It's the Kuretake Sable brush pen N° 40. Boyfriend gifted me for my birthday. I love the effects you can get depending on which paper you draw. I am still training how to use it, because the brush is so soft and sensitive. It's not that easy to use. I want to participate to the Inktober challenge with it !

5/ Like a lot of people, I looooved the series Stranger Things! So I had to draw Eleven in my favorites. It's just a shame that it was only 8 episodes! Now, I can't wait for the second season!

THE SOLUTION FOR DRAWING RANDOM THINGS

If you like to spend time reading blogs like I do, you can't have missed this little trend that has been running for a few years now. It consists of picking all the things you enjoyed during the month, and gather them on a board to talk about them.  It can be about anything. It could be makeup or clothes, but also the books you enjoyed or a restaurant you discovered...

I really like what Frannerd did with this trend, and she inspired me to do my own favorites of the month too. As someone who usually prefers to draw characters rather than objects, I find this exercise to be a great practice for me!


So, here are the things I liked in June:

1/ My purple collection of polychromos from Faber Castell. I'm literally in love with them. It's the ones I used for my desert illustration and the colors are so vibrant. It's so nice to work with them. I will definitely continue to expand my polychromos collection!

2/ Last month, I went to the cinema to watch The Neon Demon. I heard a lot of different opinions about this movie. A lot of people said they were disappointed because the movie had no story, and that it looked like a never-ending music clip. But I have to disagree with this. I think this movie has to be seen as a metaphor. Once you accept this, you can appreciate the aesthetic of the movie, which is really amazing and inspiring!

3/ My friend Swann made me discover a nice jewelry brand that I loved instantly! It's called Lina Poum, and it's a french brand. They have a little shop located in Paris in the 12th arrondissement.
Swann took me to the shop and I bought this nice cloud necklace that I wear almost everyday.

4/ If you don't know yet what bubble tea is, you must try as soon as possible! Bubble tea is a taiwanese drink, made of tea with tapioca pearls in the bottom. The pearls are about the size of a chick pea and you swallow them at the same time you drink the tea, through a straw that is larger than the average. The pearls are pretty chewy and it's fun but also delicious. In Paris there are a few places where you can enjoy a bubble tea, but my favorite place is Zen Zoo, in the japanese district, near the Opera Garnier. Lately I'm addicted to their chamomile oolong tea. Make sure you try that one!

5/ Summer is finally here and one of the things I like the most about this season is the berries.
I went to a farm outside Paris with a friend and my boyfriend, and we spent the whole morning plucking strawberries. There's something so satisfying about searching and selecting your fruits yourself, in the nature.

JON SNOW WITH HIS WOLF

I am so glad that the new season of Game of Thrones has finally started!
For this occasion, here is a little doodle of Jon Snow with his wolf. It was an opportunity to use my Copic markers again. I am still experimenting, but I really like them for that kind of quick drawings.

COTTON CANDY PIXIE

A little fluffy pixie I drew the other day.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

This is the first post!

I thought about having a blog for a very long time. Something like a journal that I could update with my drawings and art experiments. So I took the plunge.

Welcome to my blog!