Blogging Vacation

I'll be back soon! But for now, I'm deep within the trenches of academia. My research design is intense, my mental strength is fading. Excuse the vacation, for in research proposal waters I'm wading. Did that just rhyme? I really need to go now.



That's from my home themed sketch, a few months back. And that's how I feel right now, except I have pants on.


P.S.
I'm hoping to preview my new blog Cosmetically Conscious on Friday October 30, just as the last moments of October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) are leaving us.

P.P.S.
I also want to thank Meryl for her beautiful guest post while I was out of town! I loved it. She should start her own blog! Just an idea...

GUEST SKETCH- by Meryl MM

This sketch is my first completed one in my Moleskine (given as a gift by Anastasiya). There are multiple themes that run through this sketch, and I think they can be summed up with 5 words:

time, distance, love, freedom, movement

The drawing is completely different from my first ideas for it, as the original inspiration was the view of the La Jolla coastline. I had the coastline sketched for a while, until I finally decided that I didn't like it and took it completely out.
The lines and swirls represent wind, and that's the only aspect I carried forward to the present sketch. I was into drawing faces at the time, so I was just experimenting with them on the page, and thought it would be a cool idea if they didn't have structured faces and just morphed into the wind, while the wind also morphed into the bird (the movement aspect of the sketch).
If you look closely, there are words by the clock and the compass, which state one side of the ironic views of time and distance (whether they heal or do the opposite).

I love the way this sketch turned out, and I'm simultaneously working on about 4 others, as I switch between them when I get bored/frustrated. The next one that will most likely be completed is a design inspired by windows I saw during my trip to India this summer.
Here are images similar to my own inspiration (i love everything with these types of designs):

by Designamour

Thursday Excitment!

It's Thursday, but tomorrow is Friday and that means it's our 5 year anniversary trip to Vegas!
My friend Meryl (you remember, the one who used to talk to trees as a little girl!) has just finished her sketch (in a moleskine YEA!). Tomorrow, she'll be here doing a guest post and showing off her new artwork! Exciting?! Yes! See you on Monday!
Here's some inspirational images for your weekend! Do some art!!!

Check out this artist's FLICKR!

Found through imgfave who linked it to Saturnic's Livejournal.

Wednesday Wit...

A while ago, I found this amazingly talented artist: Anna Rusakova
I was excited to see that she does Moleskine collages too! Her artwork is incredibly intricate and I love her detailing! She is from Kiev, Ukraine and most of the writing in her sketches is in Russian.

Some of my favorites by her:


How's that for inspiration!

Monday Blues Cure!

Here is some gorgeous inspiration for this Monday which is NOT that bad today:

No original sources. Found on Imgfave.

I guess it's because it's not a regular Monday. It's October 12th. It's our anniversary. We're celebrating five incredibly amazing years together.

Friday!

Busy day. Breast cancer prevention links will have to wait a bit. Instead today I want to show two sketches from some of the earlier posts.


Visit: http://www.pinkribbon.com/Visit: http://www.feelyourboobies.com/

Wednesday Wit - Breast Cancer Awareness Month

In honor of this important month, I want to post some beautiful quotes about cancer. I love how quotes can sometimes sum up a feeling that you can write about for pages and pages. Some of these quotes do that.

During chemo, you're more tired than you've ever been. It's like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you're out. You don't know how you'll answer the door when your groceries are delivered. But you also find that you're stronger than you've ever been. You're clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now it's instantaneous. ~Melissa Bank

One must not forget that recovery is brought about not by the physician, but by the sick man himself. He heals himself, by his own power, exactly as he walks by means of his own power, or eats, or thinks, breathes or sleeps. ~Georg Groddeck


This next one isn't directly related, but can be applied to so many experiences in life:
When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. ~Barbara Bloom

I hope any woman that reads this is doing self-check exams weekly and gets her annual exam every single year. The doctor keeps telling me to come back in 2, but I still go every year. There are so many preventive measure to take! Mammograms, vegetables, soy, exercise, and so much more. I'll post some of those tomorrow or friday.

Meek Page 17: She Can Take Her Someday

Well what do you know... I came home today and really wanted to do something in my moleskine. Just when I least expected it, with my busy busy busy schedule. Here it is:


I stuck gold leaf in several places. The roses aren't attached but I plan to leave them there so they can dry between the pages. I love weddings, but I've only been to one and I was the flower girl so it was a while ago. By the way, wouldn't it be cute to have a woman as the flower girl instead of an 8 year old? It would be so avant-garde! In June 2010, I'll be attending another one and watching a friend of many, many years strut beautifully down the aisle! So exciting.

Monday Blues Cure

I'm in for a tough week. On a brighter note, I'm looking to order some mags! I'm looking at Vegetarian Times, Health, and Cooking Light. Any other suggestions? I also want to announce that I'm working on a new blog which will be called Cosmetically Conscious. It will follow my journey in search of cleaner cosmetics without the unnecessary chemicals they have all to often. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I want to open the blog within the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more details on that!

I found this crazy cool photographer: Lilya Corneli

I want to sketch this!

I saw (and liked) this today: "If it weren't for double standards, I wouldn't have standards at all."

Friday Style Inspiration!

Friday! FRIDAY! Friday!!

I love this image...

Artist is Stephan Balleux. Found through ffffound.

This one too...

From ffffound. No source :(

First of the Month-- Painting! (3)

Hello October!
I have a perfect painting to show you! I made it for my love two years ago and it now hangs in our home. I found some autumn colored leaves and sketched out a little collage of them. This took layers of paint, mostly because I kept changing the colors of the leaves. At the end, I was really happy with the texture.
As a side note, the picture in the first photo left of my painting is not by me. I don't even know who it's by. I cut it out of a poster once and put it on a black background. Looks great, wish I'd done it.