Ranunkel, Ranunkel, let down your hair...

One of my favorite spring flowers is Persian buttercup.

The red Persian buttercups are something between red poppies and red roses. They have the pasionate look and the velvet touch of red roses. However, their stems and buds are slightly hairy and the beautifully sharp contrast between their blood-red petals and midnight-black pistils remind me of red poppies in summer.

The German name of Persian buttercup is Ranunkel. It sound quite similar to "Rapunzel" to me. Have you ever heard of "Rapunzel", a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, telling a story of a young, beautiful woman with very long, golden hair, who is imprisoned in a tower in the middle of the woods? Since my little girl is a fairy of red Persian buttercups, she doesn't have golden, but black hair, which goes better with the color red.

Ranunkel, Ranunkel, let down your hair...

This is how the drawing was made step-by-step:

And ta-da, the final outcome! 

Birthday Princess

I celebrated my Birthday greatly with my close friends on Tuesday. A friend of mine reserved a table at a Chinese hotpot restaurant. Because it was Tuesday, the restaurant was empty, when I came in. I felt special, as if my friends had reseved the whole restaurant for me. 

Every year on my birthday I miss my Mum so much. I wish she was by my side and we would cook something and eat at home like we used to do, when I was younger.

I believe, it doesn't matter, how old I am, I am always a little princess to my Mum and every year on my birthday she will surprise me with an unique present - her love but always in a very different way.

To my Mum: 

Thank you for loving me unconditionally!

 

To my friends:

Thank you for making my birthday a sweet one!

 

The magic of cherry blossom

All my exams are over. It's now time to draw again.

I made the sketch for this watercolor several days ago while learning for the last exam of this semester. What a relief hearing the sound of pencils scratching on paper! I always wonder, why some people disklike this wonderful scratching sound so much. It sounds so beautiful and promising, much nicer than the scratching sound of chalk on a blackboard or a knife on a plate. I assume, that is the sound of an idea.

I'm very sure, spring has arrived safe and sound. The sun shines again. Birds are tweeting merrily. Eagerly numerous flower buds are longing for blooming. And I feel the fragrance of love in the air. 

One of my favorite moments of spring is the blooming of cherry blossoms. The moment is just like magic.

And they lived happily ever after

My cousin, with whom I grew up and shared beautiful childhood memories, got married to his high school sweetheart at the end of December, three days before Christmas.What a brave decision to celebrate the wedding in such stressful time! 

Two months before the ceremony, he asked me for designing his wedding invitations. I felt touched for being asked. The invitation design will be a small present of mine to celebrate a new chapter in his life, since "we can do no great things; only small things with great love". I wish him all the best for the future.

This is how the official invitations and the other two options look like. 

The taste of Christmas

Christmas is over, but the warm memories of Christmas still leave a delicious taste on my tongue and melt in my mouth. Yummy!!!

Grilled pork filet served with Duchess potatoes and mushroom cream sauce - Noodle salad with surimi - Smoked salmon - Pickle grilled sweet pepper - Leberkäse - Oven baked chicken legs - Kimbap with marinated beef - Minced raw pork with onion 

Language of flowers: Phlox

Language of flowers: Phlox - "Our souls are united."

"A garden without a phlox is not only a mistake, but also a sin against summer." - Karl Foerster, gardener and garden writer

A phlox may not have a stunning beauty, but its gentle scent is just lovely. I love to receive flowers and actually receive them currently quite often. "What a lucky girl!" is what I talk about myself now. I have thought about creating a series of botanical drawings of the flowers I received. Each flower in the drawings will carry with it a common symbolic definition according to Western Culture.
Over the years I will have a great collection of drawings of flowers or plants people gave me, which is likewise a hand-made dictionary of the language of flowers, a nearly forgotten way of communication, and a treasure chest filled with warm memories of loving and being loved.

  “I must have flowers, always, and always.”- Claude Monet

Moleskine Sloth Limited Edition

Sloths are cute and seem to have a permanent smile on their face.

They move rarely, only when necessary and even then very slowly. Being lazy seems to be their specialty. Undoubtedly all sloths master the way of enjoying life.

The Moleskine Plain Cahier Journals with a simple cardboard cover are my favourite. They are small, thin, light, portable and have no lines or grids. You can have them in your bag or your pocket the whole day, and everyday your abstract ideas can be realised onto paper. You can also modify the cover the way you want. Theses small journals allow all flights of imagination.

These sloth drawings were done at break between two lectures at the university, with ball pen, Pentel brush pen and Faber Castell artist pen.

Tiny drawings about Love

I drew these tiny watercolors one month ago, inspired by some quotes sent to me from an acquaintance who works as an editor and was looking for an illustrator for the illustrations of her new quote books:

“I love you more than there are stars in the sky and fish in the sea.” ― Nicholas Sparks

“Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”― Mother Teresa

“Love is always patient and kind...Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.” ― Nicholas Sparks

“We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.” ― Tom Robbins

“Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.” ― Nicholas Sparks

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.” ― Alfred Tennyson

 

Happiness is a butterfly

Two close friends of mine wrote on their card, sent to me on my birthday, a beautiful quote of Nathaniel Hawthorne- an American short-story writer and novelist:
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”.
The quote is just so lovely. I was very touched and inspired at the same time. It immediately made me feel like drawing again. Thank you so much, my dear friends!

 

 

Unfinished

Several weeks ago, before the trip to Bruges, I made this drawing, since I felt trapped.
It seems, not our body, but our mind is a cage. It imprisons us and keeps us from all opportunities in life.
I'm a new soul now. My mind is clear and wide open. The drawing is left UNDONE.

My trip to Bruges, Belgium

It's time to pack my bags to leave home, discover the world and open up my mind.
The destination this time is Bruges- the capital city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Some friends of mine went there and adore the place so badly, that they suggested me to visit the city all the time.
I now also adore the city exactly the same as my friends do, after I came back home from there.
I spent one week in Bruges. Most of the time I strolled around, looked for a nice spot to make some sketches, stayed in the spot for several hours to sketch and got me later something tasty to eat. I didn't feel lonely at all while sketching, since there were always people coming to talk to me. They asked, if they were allowed to have a look at the sketches  I made, where I come from, and where I'm planning to go to on my journey. I'm really happy, since no one came and asked me stupid questions, such as why I don't just purchase a camera to take pictures, then go to other sight-seeing spots.
Everyday at breakfast, the owner of the B&B, where I stayed in Bruges, asked me, if I made some new sketches. I showed the sketches and we talked about the buildings I drew. She showed me a catalog of a Japanese landscape painter, who used to stay at her B&B one month and made a lot of  lovely sketches of landscape in Bruges. On my 3rd day in Bruges, while sketching, I met one old Belgian artist. He invited me to visit his atelier. What lovely paintings he has done! (AQUARELLE Lucien Vanden Steen- Peerdenstraat 17b, Bruges)
I enjoyed my time in Bruges. Good food. Good weather. Nice people.

20.08.2012- My 1st day in Bruges
This sketch shows the view from my room upon the B&B's garden. I left it in the B&B's guestbook to acknowledge my visitation in Bruges.

21.08.2012- My 2nd day in Bruges
Belfort (13th century)- the bell tower in the historical centre of Bruges. Sketch done at the market square, at 00:40 am. I gave the sketch to a very good friend of mine as a birthday present.

Bonne Chiere windmill (1844, from 1911 in Bruges). Sketch done at 05:50 pm.

Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (The Church of Our Lady) (1220). Sketch done at Rozenhoedkaai, at 22:45.

22.08.2012- My 3rd day in Bruges
Kasteel Minnewater- a charming restaurant located at the "Lake of Love". Next time when I come back to Bruges, I'd like to have dinner by candlelight with my beloved at this restaurant. Sketch done at 04:30 pm.

Guesthouse Coté Canal- House of Fidel- the most photographed dog in Bruges. You can see Fidel in the trailer of the movie "In Bruges" directed by Martin McDonagh. Sketch done on Groenerei street, at 08:30 pm.

23.08.2012- I headed to the sea.
Mercator ship (1931) in Oostende, used by the Belgian Navy for the instruction of the military sailors and navy-men. Sketch done at 05:00 pm.

24.08.2012- My last night in Bruges. It rained all night long.
Blinde Ezelstraat ( Blind-Donkey-Street)- a narrow street runs from the Burg to the fish market. Sketch done at 11:00 pm.

P.S.: While I was sketching the Blinde Ezelstraat, I met Lies Ackaert- a blogger in Bruges, Belgium. She writes blog entries in Dutch about interesting things and people she encountered in her beautiful hometown. Check her blog entry about me here.

West Flanders on Dwellable

Like a broken butterfly

Sunny days could be a pain, if one's heart is weighted down by sorrow. 

Rainy days calm me down, since the gray color of the sky, that heavy feeling in the air before the rain and the very strong earthy wet dirt smell after it seem to correspond to my blue thoughts.

If my soul were a butterfly, it would be now a broken one. 

A perfect lonesome tea party

I'm my own woman. I enjoy my own company and my own tea party.

All we need for "a perfect lonesome tea party" are tea you like, good books, delicious cakes, a lovely vase of your favorite flowers, beautiful gentle music and no one else except ourselves.

Piggy loves dancing

I went a ballet school, when I was 12.

Actually the lessons were pretty difficult and lacked of fun due to strict diet plans. However, everything in memory of the old days seems to be always illuminated and very gentle.

Dackel loves butterflies

This is a very small drawing quickly made just for fun. 

Dackel is one of my favorite German dog breeds. I'm glad that where I live is located near a Dackel club and therefore sometimes I can see a lot of Dackels at the same time crossing the street to the bus stop or have a chance to watch them performing amazing tricks in the conformation show taken place on the first day of July every year. 

A happy rainy Monday

The weather was beautiful 2 weeks ago. It has been cold again since three or four days before Easter and rained sometimes. The weather in April is always a big question to me.
I started to draw this rainy scene on Easter Monday and tried to finish it within the first week of this new summer semester, as long as I still have enough spare time. This semester is supposed to be a busy one. 
I remember listening to Carpenter's song "Rainy days and Mondays".
Actually, rainy days are fine to me. I just cannot stand boring cloudy days, when nothing happens- no sunshine, no wind, no rain or snow. Everything you have is a gloomy sky.
In summer, rainy days could be very fun. Just imagine, when it's hot and dried and the air is stuffy, suddenly a rain comes...What a delightful day!

Aries child

I'm an Aries child. Can that be the reason, why I'm crazy about sheep and always long for springtime?

Magazine Girl

I made this portrait from a picture I saw in the French magazine "marie claire idees" issued in March, 2012.
I don't know the model's name. She looks gorgeous in the fashion picture collection called "C'est vous l'artiste" inspired by some well-known artists' clothing. The picture I like most is the one in which the model has a beautiful hairstyle inspired by Frida Kahlo.
Famous names are mentioned, such as Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Camille Claudel, Salvador Dali and Yves Klein. I can't help seeing this picture collection again and again.

And this is how the hairstyle, which bewitched me, looks like.

Teddy

It seems that most of grown-up persons don't throw away stuffed animals from their childhood.
I know some students who moved out from their parents' house and brought their beloved teddy bears with them, because the teddy bears are not only toys, but also their first friends and we're not supposed to leave our friends behind. 

A.I. is my favorite Steven Spielberg's movie and Teddy- the robotic teddy bear- is the role I love in the movie. The scene, in which Teddy sewed up his fur by himself, impressed me deeply. I wondered, if he became lonely, since no human beings took care of him. It's sad to see a teddy bear being abandoned. 

This is a tribute to all of my old stuffed animals which were left behind, since I left my country.

The Carnival is over!

The Carnival with parades and costume balls in Germany takes place on Rose Monday in February every year. Since I went to Germany to study, I haven't taken part in.
February is a hard month for students here. The university semester comes to the end and all students face tests or seminar papers and very often, both of them. Celebrating the Carnival seems to be a luxury that an international student cannot afford.
However, I like this event, which German people call "the fifth season". Having four seasons to enjoy themselves is obviously not enough. German people still need another occasion to have more fun. I remember a newspaper article telling that Germany is the world's most unfunny country. The cultural sense of humor is always different, isn't it?
In my opinion, the fact that they created "the fifth season" makes them very amusing people. :))

Now the Carnival is over.