Author: Marina

#30lists // 29. I’m grateful for…

It took me a while to decide what should make it to this list. There are so many things I’m grateful for, although I do often forget and this was an excellent reminder that life is good after all!

In case you can’t read my handwriting…

29. I’m grateful for…
  • my family
  • my health
  • my job
  • kind people
  • the sun
  • my hobbies (that keep me sane!)
  • the life I’m living

If you are curious about this challenge and want to know more, check the 30 days of lists website.

All my previous lists can be found here. 

#30lists // 28. This week I chose to…

I didn’t really think I had enough stuff to put on today’s list until I started thinking about it. It has been a pretty quiet week, apparently with loads of choices made!
In case you can’t read my handwriting…

28. This week I chose to…
  • Return to work even if still feeling down
  • Spend the evening drawing rather than watching TV
  • Re-launch my old blog even if it still needs some adjustments
  • Take a nap after coming home from work
  • Do some online shopping even if it was not really necessary

If you are curious about this challenge and want to know more, check the 30 days of lists website.

All my previous lists can be found here. 

#30 lists // 27. Quotes getting me through the day/week/month

I have been thinking about today’s prompt all morning, and all I could think of was my monthly mantra. I wrote these quotes at the end of last month (here), for no particular reason, I just felt I needed to put them on paper. And they have been with me since. I look at them (or sometimes repeat them in my head!) every day when needed, morning or afternoon, and they make me feel better, more positive, more empowered. 

In case you can’t read my handwriting…

27. Quotes getting me through the day/week/month
  • Today is your day
  • Be quiet
  • Be loud
  • Just be

If you are curious about this challenge and want to know more, check the 30 days of lists website.

All my previous lists can be found here. 

Sketching in Colour

I’m excited to announce that “Sketching In Colour” is live (again!)!
I have been thinking about having a dedicated blog for my artistic attempts for a while now. My blogging adventure began about 4 years ago, 1st February 2009 to be precise, with “Sketching In Colour“, a place where I could record and share with family and friends all my sketches and drawings. I was attending a number of evening classes back then and the amount of sketchbooks I was consuming was enormous.
Then during March 2010, I decided to share my interests in crafts and created “Crafting In Colour”, where I started to write about all my various craft projects.
Things started to get a bit too complicated, looking after two blogs was a bit too much at that time, so in summer 2010 I merged the two and “Creating In Colour” was born. I loved it from the start! I could write about everything I wanted in there, no restrictions.
And yet, recently I started to miss a place specifically dedicated to my sketches. It felt like my ‘art’ got lost in all the other stuff I started to write about, the projects, the challenges, the photos. My drawings do not really stand out in my blog, and so the urge to re-instate my old “Sketching In Colour” started to grow. 
Because patience is not my virtue, one evening (about a month ago) I copied all the relevant posts that I have been publishing here and pasted them in “Sketching In Colour“; job done, the blog was live again!

Since then I have been planning a blog re-do and a proper re-launch. So, here we are. I’m still planning to make some changes to the blog, like adding tab bars and moving things around; but the main layout has been set, and that’s good enough for me, for now.

I still haven’t decided if I’m going to publish double posts, or hosting a monthly sum-up of “Sketching In Colour” here on this blog; we’ll see what work best.
In the meantime, pop over to “Sketching In Colour” and let me know what you think!

Up in the snowy mountains

Aschi Alto – Abruzzo, Italy
We went visiting my in-laws back in February this year. They live in central Italy, up on the mountains and it snows a lot during winter. This sketch was done on location, during one of our afternoon car trips. We pulled the car over the side of the road (we only saw one car driving on the same road that afternoon!). It was cold outside, so I stayed in the car. Shame about the electricity lines, which I love in general; they came out too big, but I didn’t really have a flat surface to keep my sketchbook steady.