Constructive feedback

So as some of you have seen I've made a digital 2d portrait study.

This is the second one. The first one I didn't even finish.

Often it takes more time to repair flaws in an artwork than just simply start over. And when it comes to learning it's more about quantity than quality although you have to be present so you don't fall into your drawing comfortzone and just mindlessly produce thinking that you know things. I used to think that I know things and that's one of the greatest enemies of my learning.

If you get constructive feedback that's awesome! Don't apologize. Don't defend yourself or your work. It's not a part of you, only your process. I asked my boyfriend who also is an artist for feedback and in the beginning it really really sucked to not get your ego stroked the right way. I would listen, but still do it my way. Then I was like "fine, I'll try your way then!" and the results were immediate. And that's the beauty of letting go and opening up to feedback. You get better at recieving it, giving it and it supports your process. So thanks Mike for all your support! <3

So what did I do differently this time?
I got a great deal of constructive feedback on this one, even some after I said "now this is done. And no matter what done means all edits are strictly forbidden". 
I used a grid to make sure everything was at the right place already from the start. Then I had a little practice of the process as well as very basic shading from the previous study. These things helped a lot. Another thing which I highly recommend is to from time to time flip the canvas so that your drawing and reference image both become reflected.

What will I do different for the next portrait?
Well as you can see from above I didn't have a very good approach to the hair, neither did I have the patience. So for the next one I will approach it with some of the tips and process from Proko's tutorial on "How to draw hair".

Feedback does not only come in verbal form. This weekend was tough for me. I got quite ill and I don't know about you but I usually feel down when I'm reaching physical limits. But I guess I can look at it as my body is giving me feedback, telling me to chill out ffs! I'm still up for the YWA christmas calendar challenge although it's at a halt at the moment since my cold got worse when I kept pressing on. So that's why I made a bed yoga playlist called "YOGA FOR BED-err DAYS". For anyone who wants to yoga but is sick, down or just feeling like a hybernating little yogi.
Take care of yourself my friend!

THINK LESS DO MORE

Did you think of anything this time to promise yourself for this year? I'm not sure wether or not I believe in new year resolutions, I'd rather make goals. My goal this year is to think less and do more. That might sound like a stupid thing to do, to think less, but god knows that for the indecisive, the perfectionists, the philosophers, the what if's and many others that might be a blessing from the heavens.

If you're not familiar with the KISS-principle it stands for:

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID

The KISS-principle is one that allows you to take a step back and say "ah yes, I could build the next wonder of the world, but is it really necessary (and even possible within the frames of this project!) What is the core, the heart of all this?" And then go back to it. Strip it down. Take the shortcuts. Less is more. Being happy with something you've done and rest in the feeling of knowing that it is good.

As I write this my first short 3d film is being rendered, if my habit of striving for perfection would have ruled I'm not sure it would ever be done. Now I am not talking down to myself saying that the result is bad, rather that someone can get lost in the tweak and adjust of tiny details until the end of time. AND THAT'S NOT SATISFYING NOW IS IT?

Listen my friends. The best ideas are not the ones that are perfect in mind, but the ones that we actually render to life. This is something I know a lot of us need to be reminded of, especially when ambitions are high, ideas many and we actually have a few limits... like you gotta eat, sleep and stuff (And celebrate your victories!) It's all a balancing act. We may fall, but we learn and eventually we will get better, not only focussing on staying on top of everything but also to the point where we can let go and jump around, getting curious and still knowing where we're going. Woho!

Got a bit of aquarelle feelin' going on for the holidays. Here's one of the pieces I did.

So keep your eyes open for my short film. It should be up within the nearest days. In the mean time I wish you a joyful balancing act. May the flow be with you.

Saint on wheels

love what you do what you love

It's official!

Just emailed the course descriptions. I'm going to have a double workshop weekend! It will be after the summer, around september or october at Medborgarskolan, Kalmar. The first workshop will be about upcycle, clothing and creativity and the second one about playing with your food. I already tried out the concepts (in english) on Malta and it was a success.  Of course I'll let you know when it's time to sign up for the weekend! There are few things that are as rewarding as doing what you love and loving what you do. Bliss.

 Here's one of my own food art pieces (coffee, soysauce and tea) and the wonderful kids who got creative together at the previous events! 

3/3 into wild divine

I'm inspired, too tired.
I WANT TO TELL YOU A SECRET but for now I will keep it.
11 hours of work the third day in a row and I believe my best performance yet.
Now time for liquid sunligt (my new favorite tea) and meditation before I crash like a PC.

This kind of sums EVERYTHING up:

("Journey into the wild divine" at Norrköpings art gallery)

That's it for now.

Peace be with you.

Emelie

One of my latest experiments. "Emelie" 

a more modern interpretation of the traditional story of Sleeping Beauty.

At the bottom of this post my thoughts behind it are revealed.

 

 "Emelie"  - 3d collage and paint mix. 

Detail of the painting. The evil stepmother.

Detail. Sleeping beauty awakens.

STORY

What's different between the classic story and my piece:

In the old story the princess was saved by a prince and true loves kiss. Here this is NOT the case. She founds the strength within herserlf to wake up to  reality and realize that the external world is not always the issue.  We all have an evil stepmother within us -  The attention demanding, self-demining voice inside that can control you by putting up limits, chasing empty beauty and just dreaming away instead of living the life you are meant for. This is about stepping out of expectations of what we learned as little children and see that the evil stepmother, the princess and the knight in the shining armour are ONE. They're all different battles of the mind and we can decide who we want to be by what we let motivate our hearts and minds.

MATERIALS

The base: 

Started off with a grey and a dusty pink acrylic base. Thick layers are good for when you have a lot of the same color because it gets more depth and texture. Then I added on some black nail polish (you can paint with almost anything!) Because I am one of those recycle everything kinda gal but have to walk for a bit to get to the recycling station I decided to glue on some of the things that wouldn't go in the regular garbage bin. Which was pink silk paper, broken sunshade bows, the nailpolish brush and bottle and also a few pieces of a smashed wine glass. 

The collage: 

I picked pieces that looked like flowing fabric and had a lot of motion going on. All of them in the dusty side of the color spectre. Putting the pieces together is like a puzzle with endless possibilites. I don't glue until I get the "right" feel to it. As a finishing touch brushstrokes and clolor splashes were added for blending in the cut-outs and for sharper contrast.

Note:

SOLD! If you like it check out my other artwork OR send me a request.

Lovify: FASOM

My second Lovify portrait.  This one of a painter who goes by the name FASOM.

The anchor tattoo

When I first saw them I didn't understand. The rough doll with hollow eyes, an anchor tattoo and mouth stitched together. I couldn't see any deeper meaning behind it... until I had a conversation with the artist behind it – Sebastian Orhevacki Månsson.

It was a sunny summer saturday when he opened up a beer and his mind. 

The youngster days had been tough for him, surrounded by drugs and violence. With the sailor that was his best friend's dad and his own dad in jail as role models things were bound to get troublesome. At a young age he adapted a destructive lifestyle and started getting into fights. ”I really felt like a king” he said about those years, ”but I was on the wrong side of the finish line.”

The limp arms

At 9^th grade Sebastian decided to change things around, so he started dressing ”decent” and then went to study business and administration. To prove a point to his hippie mom he set out to get the good life with the job, the money, the car and all. He started drinking alot. Sebastian was jumping between different part time jobs and constant partying (in the style of Ozzy Osbourne in the 70s) never knowing ”What happened? where am I? How did I get here? Who is this?” One day when he was unusually sober his head just started spinning and it all came tumbling down. 

The hollow eyes

He woke up on the floor. Shattered glass, cold sweat and a heart going BADABADABADABADABAM (thank you Joey Jordison of Slipknot for demonstrating this on drums). This was his first panic attack and it was the door into a dark path of horrible nightmares, therapy and prescribed medication that he didn't take. He had such bad dreams he didn't dare to rest because he feared for his life. So after losing 15 kg of his body weight and many nights of sleep he had a vision. It was clear.

A zipper across the face

He had felt like a puppet with a zipper mouth, slaving away for the companies, the society and all the roles one was expected to play. but now all the falling apart started falling together. Into a piece - which became his first painting.

This was some time ago and he's been an active voice for young artists in Växjö ever since. Together we did a live painting collaboration and art exhibition at Växjö Kulturbazaar last fall. If you want to see more of his artworks I suggest you vivit his FASOM page.

No more nights and no more days

You can also see him as the chaotic main character in Lanterna Magica Film's "No more nights and no more days" (original title: Ingen natt och ingen dag). The opening will be 28th of March at Palladium in Växjö. Although if you wish to see it I must advise you to book your ticket soon. A little birdie told me they're almost sold out!

Lookin' sharp

The cardsharps is a painting done in the end of the 15th century by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (commonly known as Caravaggio). Unfortunately one of the card players couldn't make it today which means they had to find a replacement and... well, here I am, showing off my fancy pirate hat and game skills.

 

The thing about Caravaggio is he likes to sneak himself into his paintings, so I wanted to kind of do the same thing. Found one of his sneak selfies (this one from the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew), took a photo of myself and disappeared into photoshop for a while. Put Caravaggio as a reflection in the mirror eye patch, had to do some face job (the guy behind me got a whole new eye) and my sleeves are a bit more frilly than usual.
Notice how I'm elbowing the man in the middle... is it because I know they're not playing fair game or because of where his eyes are at?

The lady with pin cushion hair

As an art student you usually get alot of stuff laying around like clay sculptures that are just sitting around the place. I needed a new pin cushion and so I crocheted her a little bun wig. Looks a bit voodoo!

What if

What if I called in sick

saying I can't come to whatever it is they want me to do today

because I'm not sure if I believe in all of this

getting up and doing the same thing every day in their order and way

Yes, I can see the point in it

Sure, I can understand

but... what if I just don't feel like it?

RUN! YouAreLateFor

oh no... what was it? I forgot 

but I remember 

that it was SO VERY IMPORTANT.

Sit! Listen! Talk... BARK!

 Grow up. No, you grew too much.

  Y o u      m u s t

find           your        inner        child       again

You HAVE TO  HAVE FUN!

Don't forget to smile. Show them your best sides

And you know exactly what sides that they want to see.

well what if...

 You just can't bring yourself to put clothes on

because they are not you

AND THEN

you can't walk out the house 

for you know

 they could actually SEE you. 

 yes

 and

Then what?

Deer & skinny Lady

Papier maché is seriously underrated! Fell in love with the technique a couple of years ago when me and my twin sister did masks for a film she's making. The lenses of an old pair of sunshades made splendid eyes. Painted the thing with a sponge and acrylics.The only real problem I'm having is connecting the horns (a pair of sticks painted in white). How do I do that? I've tried a few ways but I haven't found a long lasting solution. If anyone got any ideas it would make me very happy if you shared them with me!
(just send an email to: trololovisa@gmail.com)

This here is fine Miss Lush - a fragile lady who loves to wear hats. I actually made her as a hat stand for the fancy pirate hat project... which there will be more about later. She's also good for surprising people. One time my dad put her by the window so when I was looking in through it (as I always do when I come back home) I was for a second sure I was staring death in the face. AAAH!

A fox to go!

Time is rushing and so am I.

So  since I don't have time to write anything spectacular
while you're waiting
here's a little sneeky fox I made in my phone 

using the app sketcher and some photo editing app. 

Unusual coffee break

 

"KONSTPAUS I KAFFET"

I thought I didn't have a lot of paints... but I was wrong because anything can be paint.
This time I used soy sauce, red wine, hot chocolate, coffee and tea. Not the usual coffee break.

 

 

Ett blogginlägg kommer sällan ensamt!

I'm currently very involved in the Teater Respekt production based on a comedy play by Dario Fo called "Gli imbianchini non hanno ricordi" (House painters have no memories). Besides making some graphic works like the poster and flyers I'm also acting in this play and even been in charge of  the costumes. 

Engraving on my mind!

The same day I was celebrating one week as a Växjö citizen they had their annual culture night (for me? Aww, you shouldn't have!) and so I went with my sister Alice and her boyfriend to see what was goin' down. Besides chocolate testing, a pyro/dance show, art exhibitions and live music we got to try out some engraving on glass at smålands museum. The machine was kind of like the ones tattoo artists would use.

Once one got the hang of it twas easy to get carried away. Maybe it's my new weapon of choice?

This is what I did...

And here's Alice, looking like a pro.

Fancy a plate?

Today I visited artist Iréne Haglund (Marintodesign) and she showed me the ways of porcelain decorating which is a skill she learned from her mother who besides being a housewife kicked some ass at pimping porcelain.

One of her mother's designs. Gotta love that old wrinkled up tracing paper!

 Iréne is mixing the powder and medium to make porcelain paint.

As for my own design - I went spontaneous... for about 2,5 h!

Good thing I'm only half hindustani or else there would be some serious over-decoration going on ;) I didn't have enough time to do anything revolutionairy (since I'm in the midst of packing my things and moving to another city) but next time there might be unicorns. Now let's just hope this thing survives the oven.

Öland art nights 2012

Every year the big happening on Öland is the harvest festival and that means the whole island comes to life with art, crafts, culture in one big bang! This year I decided to join and show some of my pieces at a cozy little resturant/bed & breakfast in Borgholm called Villa Lavendel. Here's a little hint of what it was like...

photos by Cecilia Sandhu

Bead yourself up

Don't be mean to yourself
bead yourself up instead!

(This is the first bead work I've done since I was little :)

Rainbows on the moon

My very first oil painting! Just playing around with it.

Begynnelsen - the beginning

First acrylic painting I've done in a while. Went bananas and used a tooth brush and some other random tools.