Author: Marina

17/52

I’m playing catch up with this project again. We spent just over a week in southern Italy, visiting my parents. And before I knew it two sundays had gone by.
In love with your sunglasses
This week you:
  • Waved goodbye and sent kisses to papa before going to nursery in the morning.
  • Wore your first t-shirt after months of long sleeves and jumpers..
  • Insisted on having Parmesan for breakfast, and as a Parmesan lover I couldn’t say no!
  • Slept for two hours on the plane. Thank you baby girl for making our trip to Italy so easy.
  • Didn’t complain when your grandparents picked you up and gave you lots of hugs and kisses as soon as they saw you. That made them very happy.
If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody’s blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.

16/52

We spent most of our weekend playing outside, enjoying the sun and warm-ish weather as much as we could. And that means I am late with this week post again!

Wearing papa’s woolly hat

This week you:

Had your first proper fall(s) with some minor bleeding. You fell against the tyre of your pram while running in M&S and cut your bottom lip. You fell in the garden on the gravel and bruised your left cheeck. You slipped on your mat and bumped your right cheek against the coffee table. All of this happened within two days…I think we are done for this year!

Had your first proper children menu @ Nandos: veggie strips, luso beans, chips and chocolate frozen yogurt.   Of course you didn’t eat it all (except for chips) and kept asking for mama’s sweetcorns.

Enjoyed playing in our friends’ garden on saturday afternoon. You had so much fun playing with the ball and riding the slide and making everyone laugh.

My favourite from last week are this close up portrait of Lily‘s blue eyes, pure magic, and Bo‘s oh so cute pigtails (I’m still waiting for my little Miss hair to grow a little more so I can make these).

If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody’s blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.

Cathy Johnson’s Mini-class // Quick Sketching 1 – Lesson 2

Can’t really see much here!

Lesson 2 has been all about sketching a moving object and capturing the essence of it (it’s called gesture sketching, something I didn’t know). I was a bit afraid to start with the exercises. People and animals are not really my favourite subjects, let alone if they are moving. But after watching some of the demo videos included in the class, I geared myself up to the challenge and with some courage I gave it a go.
Drawing using a kitchen timer was one of the many tips given in the lesson. I have done this type of exercise before, but I had forgotten how useful it is to know how much time you have before you start drawing. It helps to decide if focusing on the big picture or looking at details. And this is a problem I always have. I tend to focus on the details when I sketch, and that sometimes overwhelms me, especially when I suddenly realise that I don’t have enough time to draw everything (which happens very often if you try to sketch when out and about with a 16 month old!).
Seeing an object as a number of basic shapes (circles, triangles, etc.) also helped quite a lot, especially when drawing animals. I had learned this technique at one of my botanical art classes, but never really put it into use.    
  
The results are far from great, but I’m hoping that with practice, and a lot of it, my drawing skills will improve.
My sketches from Lesson 1 can be found here.
More info about Cathy Johnson’s online classes can be found here.

Pick of the month: April / Shopping spree


1. Cable knit boatneck sweater from Gap / 2. Picot trim puff-sleeve T from Gap / 3. Striped dot skirt from Gap / 4. Lego Multi Coloured Cotton Dress from TKMAXX / 5. Converse All Star Hi Canvas from Office / 6. Lego Checked Dress from TKMAXX / 7. Brad top by Billabong from Two Seasons / 8. Edita vest by Element from Two Seasons / 9. Amed dress by Billabong from Two Seasons.
Olivia and I had our first girls day out a few Saturdays ago. We went shopping, had some lunch, she had a nap and I did more shopping, we had some fun at the soft play café.  She probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, but I’m hoping it will become a regular thing for us and that eventually she will start loving it too. The mid-season sales were on and in the craving for colours and light fabrics, I bought some spring/summer clothes for my little miss in the hope that the warm weather will make its appearance very soon.  And looking forward to our end of the month trip to southern Italy (and my birthday!), I also gifted myself with some spring/summer essentials.

15/52

It’s week 15 and this post is going live on Monday, ’cause we ran out of coffee over the weekend and I was too tired to publish it last night.

This week you:

  • Had fun using papa’s headphones to listen to music. You were so cute!
  • Laughed at yourself making faces in front of the mirror. You are becoming more funny everyday, and you know it…that’s what makes it even better.
  • Didn’t cry when I dropped you off at nursery on Friday (yeah!). Truth is, you got distracted by all the other kids crying, but that’s ok too.
  • Made us realise once more that you are a wonderful kid, and we feel very lucky to have you.
My favourite portrait from last week is little Audrey walking alongside her dad, so sweet. 

If you are curious about this project and want to know more, you can check Jody’s blog @ Che and Fidel.

All my previous posts can be found here.