Two years.

It's been two years now since I started this blog. Well.. one could kind of laugh at that statement since I have not really been present on the blog at all for most of that time, but somehow I really like the thought of blogging and think it might be the perfect thing for me if I could find my pace. Writing down my thoughts and experiences has been a part of me since I was very little. I filled endless books and papers with random stories and comments on everything when I was a teenager and the urge to do that has never left me. Somehow I could not get used to writing here. Even though two years aren't much it still hits me how much everything has changed since I published my first post. Back then I was kind of lost. I didn't really know who I was or what I wanted. For 8 months now I've been analyzing myself in a way that I have not done before and I feel like I am finding my ground. The process is not over by half and I know I will get to know myself better each day, but for now I feel like I've done a hell of a job during this time discovering who I am and what I want to do with it. It might be that in not knowing who I really was I was focusing to much on what I might want others to see me as. It made me anxious and afraid. At times I dreaded writing a post on here because I feared I might come out as a silly little girl who wants to follow a trend. Possibly that is who I am.. A silly little girl. But now I want to be truer to myself. Maybe it won't get me followers, but at least I'll enjoy it.

Scribbles or not?

I've been thinking quite a lot these past weeks, about what I want this blog to be. I know I want to blog more often, and am planning on posting at least one blog per week. The best thing for that would be to start planning a little ahead. I enjoy taking my time putting together blog posts and love seeing that people read what I put on here. Which is something I did not have high hopes about happening at the start of this. The main thing that I've been contemplating about my blog, is whether I should put more of my own work on here. What do you think? Do you like seeing my scribbles?

What I will be focusing more on are Things. Since Christmas is just around the corner, there will be a few wishlists on here soon! And you may also expect some more home inspirations.

What I wear | For Halloween.

It has been quite a while since I did one of these! And I am maybe a little late with the theme, since Halloween was last week. I just had on such a fabulous costume that I could not skip sharing it on the blog.

The family was invited to the annual Halloween party my great uncle throws. I had no clue what I wanted to be, so when we went costume shopping I got overwhelmed with all of the choices and ended up not buying anything. On the way home my mind was racing, and suddenly it dawned on me! It is super easy to pull together a pretty decent Día de Muertos costume. I spent about an hour and a half on the make-up, put on some fancy clothes, a flower headband and a pearl necklace, and I was good to go. I have not been as happy with a costume since I sewed my own Harley Quinn outfit a few years back. It was also really nice how many compliments I got for my make-up, since I'm usually an only-mascara kind of girl, and don't have much experience beyond that. The flower headband my sister loaned me also matched perfectly with my new PINK hair.

Btw. I was not as much of a babe as my drawing indicates. I just really like drawing pretty girls.

As we were driving to the party we looked like a funny company. Ylfa was a nun, my dad went as Jesus, my mom as Where's Waldo, one of my brothers was Chucky and the other one was Charlie Chaplin. The costumes at the party were also great! I really love putting on a costume, and seeing other's. It isn't often that it is socially acceptable for people to dress up that funny. We all had a blast that night.

Little Nemo in Slumberland.

I've been learning about Winsor McCay in History of Illustration. Needless to say, Little Nemo in Slumberland has been added to my list for Christmas. I used to watch the animation over and over again when I was little, so Nemo already had a little place in my heart, but learning about the artist made me want the collection of the comic strip desperately. 

Elsa Beskow.

Maybe it is because I went to a Waldorf school, but lately I have been utterly and completely in love with Elsa Beskow's work. There is just something so compelling and warm to her illustrations. They are filled with childish happiness. I love how I feel when I look at them. I get all warm and fuzzy inside.
I currently only own one book by her, but I plan to do something about that in near future. The one I have is Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender. I don't remember where I got it, I have had it since I was very young.

An Anatomical A.

Pelvis made by me, reference by Valerie Winslow.

I have been working so hard! There is so much to do for school that Marinó and I take shifts, studying and taking care of Ylfa. This semester is not as easy as I expected. But I am really enjoying myself. I have not been this hard at work for a long time and the effort is really paying off. I got two A's this week in my Introduction of Anatomy for my studies of the pelvis and ribcage.
Ylfa is also a lot of work these days. We are running around, catching her when she falls of her wobbly, walking feet and grabbing her off the staircase and furniture she is climbing. This girl is very active. We will go to the first class of the Waldorf class I signed us up for, next week. It will be wonderful to take her around other children and see how she will react to the different environment. She will most definitely grow a lot from this new experience. I will share how it went next week.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Excuses and school.

Helena and Þorsteinn - Portraits done a year apart of Marinó's niece and nephew.

I've been extremely busy lately! School is taking up so much of my time and Ylfa is becoming so quick that I have to be constantly on the run when I'm at home. When Ylfa sleeps I have to do homework and if I find any spare time in between I work on some commissions.
I have two wedding invitations that I am working on and one confirmation invitation, so I have a lot to do besides school. But I promise I will try to put up a blog as often as I can!

School is really fun. I have two figure drawing classes, one is just basic figure drawing while the other has more of a focus on the bones and muscles. It has been a little challenging starting to draw again, but I can feel it getting easier with every drawing I do. The last drawing of the class yesterday was not a complete mess, so that's something! I'm also doing two classes online. One is astronomy; the calculations and science talk is really giving my brain a workout. The other is composition for the artist. One of our first assignments in composition for the artist is to write our autobiography. It is a little scary to write your own autobiography, especially because we are supposed to post it in a discussion thread for everyone to read. I started mine last week and I kind of enjoy it even though it is a tough thing to do. Maybe I will post the finished product here later this semester.. If it's not too embarrassing. 

First day of school.

Assignments from Analysis of Form, fall 2011. 

Today was my first day back at school, hence the late post. I was really excited and I felt good about being back. For my first class of the semester I had Introduction to Anatomy. The teacher seemed really nice and for the first time I had a class with someone I knew. I was a bit rusty, but I guess that is understandable since I have not worked with charcoals for over a year. All in all the day was great, especially because Marinó sent me pictures of Ylfa all through the day. Then I came home and took a look at my online classes.... I am not as confidente about this semester anymore. The work I have to put in every week for the online classes is intimidating. The classes seem interesting and I have already begun reading the book for one, but I don't know where to find time to finish everything. Maybe when the semester has really started and I get a better sense of how this works it will be a lot easier than it looks. I will give it my best. My next on-site class is on Wednesday. I am excited to see how that will be.

Sunday sketch.

I have been more inspired lately. I had a loooong period of NO inspiration, so it's been really nice to get back into drawing without it being forced. This is a part of a bigger project I'm starting to put together in my head and bit by bit in my sketchbooks. I will not say too much about it now, in case I loose my inspiration and drop it completely! But for now I'm very excited about it.

This weekend has been relaxed so far. We have not left the house except for a few trips to the laundry. We have had some nice food and listened to nice music and overall just been enjoying having "pabbi" around.
Hope your weekend has been as good as mine.

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