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. 

Language of flowers: Love-in-a-mist

Language of flowers:

Nigella (or Love-in-a-mist) - "You puzzle me."

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) is one of my favorites.

Love-in-a-mist gets its evocative name from the way a tangle of ferny, fennel like foliage form a mist around the flowers. However, obviously not everyone felt about it in the same way, as it was also known as devil-in-a-bush and Jack-in-prison (???). Because of its misty foliage like a veil of secrecy, the flower is a symbol of perplexity. In some regions in Europe, women used to give Nigella as a refusal to their undesirable suitors, since the flower is also a symbol of unrequited love.

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." - A. A. Milne

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

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!

 

 

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! <3

It may be not a bad idea to begin to post pictures of my drawings again on my birthday. Nothing could be as great as being a happy birthday girl.

Melody for a healed soul

It seems when something ends there's always something waiting to begin.
Every parting is a chance to start again. Make failure your friend and mentor, since we all know: "The only failure is the failure to learn from failure."
My new and maybe, very long journey has just begun. I'm at same time confused, disorientated but exciting and hopeful.

"Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
 Let it not be a death but completeness.
 Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
 Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
 Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
 Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
 I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way."
                                                           - The Gardener- Rabindranath Tagore

A Happy Summer Bride

Leafing through the lovely DIY wedding lookbook of Mollie Makes made me feel like sewing a wedding dress for myself. (I have a sewing machine at home.)

My best friend told me: "It's a good idea to keep you busy. Because of your lack of skill, it will take you years to finish the dress for sure. Until then you may have already found Mr. Right to wed."

What a clever friend she is!

Max and I

At the moment I dearly want to look for an animal companion, such as a big tomcat.
I'd like to give him the name Maximilian- for use on paper- or just call him Max for short at home.

"To the Fairest"

After my attempt at embroidery and making Japanese cloth flowers, I tried to sew some other easy projects. This time I was inspired by a picture on the magazine Marie Clare Idees, in which some small cloth hand-sewed green apples are showed as decorative objects to bring a refreshing look to your house on spring days.
I made my cloth apples a bit more colorful and useful by adding some fruity fragrance beads to turn them into fragrance bags for my wardrobe to keep my clothes always smell as lovely as a fruit basket.

Sewing these apples reminded me of the Apple of Discord in the Greek mythology. Since I'm a peace-lover, I ensure that my sweet apples (and the pear, of course) won't lead anyone to the Trojan War.

A cocoon of love

While listening to Norah Jones' new album "Little Broken Hearts", I wanted to create a new postcard which could remind me of the fragileness of love and its care dependency. 

I remember that someone once told me, that love is a tree. It takes nourishment neither from the earth nor from the air, but from you. 

Macarons for N.

 

Macarons are tiny and  have lovely colors. That's maybe the reason why they caught my interest, since I don't have any sweet tooth. Actually, they are tasty. However, I won't eat more than four macarons at once. It will be too sweet for me to stand. I can hardly tell the distinction between a biscuit and a cream cake. All right, they're sweet, and that's all.

N. is just a fictive person. His role in this small watercolour painting is to excite your curiousity. I hope, N. has done his job well.

Last week, I, strangely enough, bought me a book to learn how to bake macarons at home. (I'm kind of being obsessed with making tiny and cute things by hands.) Wait and see my first try! Since I won't be able to eat all my baked goods, I can pack some of them in such small, clear bags tagged "macarons for..." and give them to friends.

Moleskine Japanese Album- The story of Four Seasons- Winter Again- The End

I'm going to fly back home tomorrow. Before that, I finished the last pictures of my Moleskine Japanese Album- The Story of Four Seasons.

One year ago, I first saw a Japanese Album of Moleskine at a bookstore and wanted to make a picture story with it. It took me a little time, since I didn't want to finish the story of four seasons within a week, but waited for the change of seasons, enjoyed it and at last, tried to keep some memories back.
It was really fun, that I, for the first time, drew a sketchbook fully and pictures relate to each other. :)

Christmas is coming. A hand-made scarf can be a great present. I crocheted a very long scarf as a present to one friend of mine two years ago. What a hard work it was!

It's now time to exchange presents. Let's see what his present is.

Winter isn't boring anymore. Let's make hot chocolate and wait for the first snow of this year together!

Thank you! End. 

Part 1- Winter- Part 2- Spring- Part 3- Summer- Part 4- Autumn

Bottle postcards (2)

If we could put one's memories into bottles and lay them on a shelf, I wonder, how many bottles we would need? 

As child I used to live with my grandparents at the seaside. To me, memories of the sea are memories of the childhood at the same time. As teenager I was asked, if I were a thing, what I would like to be. I remember to have answered, that I'd like to be a lighthouse. :)
However, today's theme for the bottles of memories is Love. Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" and a heart carved in a tree as symbol of puppy love were my inspiration.

Actually, I didn't have either memories of  a romantic starry night or a heart carved in a tree. How about you?

Bottle postcards (1)

Don't throw away empty bottles.
Let's fill them with a lot of beautiful memories that you're afraid you will forget.
These two belong to a set of postcards about my favorite motive: treasures in a glass bottle.

Du bist mein, ich bin dein

 Have you ever heard of Minnesang-the tradition of lyric and love song writing in Germany in 12th-14th century?
This Minnelied (love song) of unknown authorship is found in a codex of the 12th century in Germany.
Why don't turn your favorite love poem into a paper cutting work? :)

Du bist mein, ich bin dein,/ dessen sollst du gewiss sein./ Du bist verschlossen/ in meinem Herzen,/ Verloren ist das Schlüsselein-/ du musst immer darin sein.
English translation:
You are mine, I am yours/ Of that you may be sure/ Deep within my heart/ You're safely locked away/ But I have lost the key/ And there you'll ever stay.

Sunflower wedding

On the way from Parndorf back to Vienna, I saw endless sunflower fields on the both sides of the street. It reminded me of a documentary film broadcast by NHK about wedding customs in Japan. In the film, there is a couple of young Japanese who love sunflowers deeply and decided to celebrate their special day in a field of sunflowers. What a dreamy start to married life!
I made the raw sketch in Vienna and added colors to it, after I came back to Germany.

This drawing will be a present to two friends of mine who are getting married in the next month. Although they won't celebrate in a field of sunflowers, I wish their married life will be as bright and lovely as these flowers.

First Love-Last Love- The 2.Part

Link to the 1. part: http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2010/03/first-love-last-love.html

Moomintroll, I love U!

I was very happy in Moomintroll's land. It's fun learning a bit Finnish to flirt around. :P
Thao: "Sinulla on kauniit siniset silmät!" (What beautiful blue eyes you have!)

Moomin: "Kiitos!" (Thank you!)
Snork Maiden (Moomin's girlfriend): Hmmm...

For info about the Moomins: http://www.moomin.com/

Daydreamer

This is the picture I drew for the daughter of the family I lived with in Finland. This fourteen-year-old cute girl loves pink and purple. Paljon kiitoksia! It was very nice staying with you and your parents :)