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: Thistle

Language of flowers: Thistle - Nobility of character

It's not usual to find thistle flowers in a florist's. They've appeared so rarely, that I almost forgot, how charming they are despite of the prickles occuring on their stems and their leaves, which can hurt me much, if I hold them a little bit tight.

Some peole may love to get a gorgeous bouquet of red roses symbolizing passion of love. A symbol of an everlasting love seems not to be what I am looking for, but these wild, violet planst covered by numerous tiny prickles, which symbolize nobility of character.

Sketches from Hallstatt in Austria

I went camping with two close friends of mine in Hallstatt in Austria.
Hallstatt is a lovely, small village located in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. My friends told me, that Hallstatt is so beautiful, that the replica of the village was built in Guangdong province in China last year. I don't like the idea, that Hallstatt was copied. The replica is just a waste. What makes Hallstatt a fairytale-like village is not only just its charming wooden houses, but also its wonderful location, i.e. the stunning beauty of the Alpine lake landscape surrounding the village, which is uniquess and unimitable.

I stayed in Hallstatt only two days and had just enough time to do two sketches. 

 09:40 a.m., 23.06.2013, House No. 133 Oberer Berg

 06:30 a.m., 22.06.2013, at the camping site

Hallstatt on Dwellable

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.

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

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

Playing guitar

I was suggested to learn to play guitar mentored by a friend of one friend of mine. (The acquaintanceship sounds a bit complicated.) I used to learn to play keyboard and had vocal lessons when I was a child. Back then I was not really delighted with these music lessons and very lazy to practice. That's why my music career ended soon. However until now I still can read some notes. It has been learned that it's never too late to try to do something new or redo something old. :)

I already ordered a guitar and am now waiting it delivered. It seems that Fridolin- my poor Djungarian hamster- will have to suffer a lot in the near future. Just a joke! Since hamsters are sensitive to light and noise, I will make sure to leave him in peace while practicing.

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. 

Aries child

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

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.

A Little Girl

This is a small drawing in size of a postcard done last night, after I had dinner with two friends of mine.

Currently, I cannot cook and wash dishes at home, since the waste water pump is broken and the stove doesn't work. (They share the same electrical safety system. As long as the pump is still not repaired, the stove will remain cold.) Eating out is now the best and the only choice.
The last two weeks seemed like the coldest time ever. It's fortunately getting warmer now and made me long for the fist plum blossom of this year, which should appear before my birthday at the end of March.

I simply call this drawing "A Little Girl", since no better ideas for a name passed through my mind.

Moon rabbits- A doodle

At the moment I am too busy to draw anything new. It's sad. Not be able to create a new picture doesn't make me feel like myself at all. Tomorrow is the Valentine's day and I'm going to do a test at the university.
I made this doodle to kill boring time in class two months ago and later forgot, in which spiral-bound notepad I made it. However I'm strongly persuaded, that it would show up again at some time or another. It really did.

I-HEART-POLAROID

 

One of my Christmas presents was a Polaroid 300 Instant Camera . I've been addicted to it. Since it's great to be able to make photos again as it used to be in the good old days. Each picture is unique and will be cherished.
This is a small drawing that I created with pen to use as the profile picture for my facebook.

Waldgeist

This is my first drawing of the year 2012, made with ink and watercolor.

A Waldgeist in German is a woodland spirit, which is believed to live in the forest and protect living things with a pure soul. 

I hope, next time when I take a walk in the forest near my place, I could encounter a waldgeist. It might bring me good luck for the whole year. :)

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

How to survive boring lessons

It rained cats and dogs in the morning. Looking out the window just upset me and the lesson in the classroom was not better. 

Doodling seems to be the most-loved way to survive boring lessons to students around the world. :)

Dahlias in winter

I like to have flowers in my room. They cheer up grey winter days. Dahlia is one of my favorites. The complex arrangement of its petals fascinates me.
I purchased two dahlia, one rosa and one white, two weeks ago. They are now fading little by little, but beautifully.

 

Penguin's dream of flying

It seems that to be able to fly is an eternal dream of us. 

We envy birds for the way they conquer the sky and how beautifully they float in the air.

However, some birds never have chance to enjoy the spectacular view high up. 

This is a dream of an Emperor Penguin who wants to see and conquer the world. (He's an Emperor after all). :)

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.