EWian

Art Journal - no uterine cancer

2012-01-26T23:48:00.005+01:00

The relief flows through me! Finally got the message: no uterine cancer! This has hung over us for many months. There has been much concern, despair, frustration and grief.

NO: Lettelsen strømmer gjennom meg! Endelig kom beskjeden: ingen livmorkreft! Dette har hengt over oss i mange måneder. Det har vært mye bekymring, fortvilelse, frustrasjon og sorg.

Medium used: pencil, permanent marker, acrylic paint, distress stickles, promarkers and watercolour.

The old lonely socks

2012-01-01T23:31:00.002+01:00

So how are you celebrating the start of the new year. I guess most of us have a party with good friends or family. But do you have other things you do?

I throw all the old lonely socks. You know those socks that partners have disappear in the laundry. Last year we were not home at Christmas, so we forgot the lonely socks. So this time it was extra many are actually 60! The distribution was as follows: Mine 9, my dear husband 13, Zack 17 (he is 10 years), and last but not least, Tobias 21. I do not know how we do it.

Movie Monday#43 A Social Network Christmas

2011-12-19T00:02:00.003+01:00

This year's postcard

2011-12-15T00:19:00.003+01:00

I got a question if I was going to make postcards this year. Yes, I have made one design that I got printed. As life has smacked me pretty had this year, especially this fall, this is the only one I got printed this year.

Here is a picture in progress

Potato vacation - Norwegian culture

2011-10-10T17:26:00.005+02:00

In Norway, all schoolchildren have autumn vacation. This vacation is also called potato vacation. In the old days, the schools had two weeks potato vacation in the autum. Now it is reduced to 2 days, related to a weekend. As the name says, it was a school holiday for school kids to participate in the harvesting of the potato crops. In today's society the family do not depends on the help of children's hands in the harvesting, and the schools' autumn vacation is often regarded as outdated.

Many parents take time off work to be with their children. Some actualy harvest the potato, while others take their children to the mountains(cabin) or the Mediterranean, there are also some who for various reasons stay home. For those who can not take time off, or if it is just the best soulution, send there children on vacation to aunts, uncles, grandparents or other close friends of the family. My youngest boy, Zack, went on potato vacation to his grandmother. This gives him and his grandmother a great opportunity to tie good relationship. It is from this potato vacation that my illustration is inspired.

Norwegian:
Potetferie - norsk kultur
I Norge har alle skolebarn høstferie. Denne ferien blir også kalt potetferie. I gamle dager hadde skolene 2 uker potetferie om høsten. Nå er den redusert til 2 dager knyttet til en helg. Som navnet sier var det skolefri for at skoleungene skulle få delta i innhøstingen av potetavlingene. I dagens samfunn er ikke familien avhenging av å få hjelp av barnehender i potetsinnhøstingen, og skolenes høstferie blir ofte ansett som utgått på dato.

Mange foreldre tar fri fra jobb for å være sammen med barna sine. Noen tar opp potet, mens andre tar med seg barna til fjells eller til Syden, er det også en del som av ulike årsaker må holde seg hjemme. For de som ikke kan ta fri eller bare for det passer best, drar barna på ferie til tanter, onkler, besteforeldre eller andre nære venner i familien. Min yngste gutt Zack dro på potetferie til sin bestemor. Noe som gir han og bestemoren en kjempefin mulighet til å knytte gode relasjonsbånd. Det er fra denne potetferien at min illustrasjon er inspirert.

Hello, my lonely blog!

2011-10-04T12:47:00.001+02:00

I'm a bad blogger, leaving you here all alone. We can't all be amazing bloggers, all of the time. I guess this is just a period of time in my life where other things have taken priority. Lots and lots of other things. Well I got distracted. Hopefuly I'll be on track. I really miss blogland.

W.I.P. Wednesday 060711

2011-07-06T21:09:00.003+02:00

So work in progress, well I am playing around with a home made stamp. I have to make them from erasers, unfortunately nothing else to get a hold of. I was luck to find some larger erasers so I am making a girl, inspired by the local festive costume, Bunad. I an super happy with the first stamp of, still more to cut but so far so happy. What are you up to?

Moly_X_3 Rowland's book

2011-07-04T19:21:00.003+02:00

I am participating in the moley_X_3 project. Here are the entry for Rowland's book. To follow the books journey you can go here moleskinex3.blogspot.com/

Got a bit of reflection. Lots of play and mediums going in to this entry.

Mediums used: Pencil for sketching. Medallion pen for lining. Promarker for the face colour. Phebo gesso for the sock and hair base. Colouring and pastel pencil for the eyes and hair form Faber-Castell and Derwent. The pink and blue is a vinyl paint, it gives a beautiful matt finish. The yellow, orange and green is Galeria acrylic paint from Winsor&Newton. The hair tones are colouring pencils, pastels, charcoal, and a bit of acrylic paint. The red mouth is uni posca pen. The greens on the pullover is a mix of the vinyl paint and Galeria acrylic paint from Winsor&Newton on top.

If you have any suggestion on a song that is under the Creative Commons licence and that is between 6 and 10 minutes let me know and I'll put together a video of the illustration process. I know http://www.jamendo.com has a lot of songs but it take time to listen through, so if you have a suggestion it will be appreciated.

IF shadows

2011-06-05T22:42:00.006+02:00

Sometimes the shadows can be overwhelming.

Mediums used: pencil, charcoal pencil, eraser, tinted charcoal pencil and permanent marker.

Postcard form Diane

2011-06-02T00:53:00.000+02:00

Got a wonderful postcard from Diane, also known as Sister Diane.
from http://www.flickr.com/people/21113527@N00 and http://www.craftypod.com

The card is a fabric one, with butterflies, in my favourite colours :)

Swapping is so much fun and sometimes when you do this kind of swap, you'll meet people you have read a bit about or follow. This was the case when I opened this card, may I say I got a bit star struck? Any way, I would like to recommend her podcast.

Thank you for the card!

Postcard form Wendy

2011-06-01T22:07:00.001+02:00

Part of the iHanna postcard swap.

Got a postcard from Wendy,not sure where she is from, the post mark do not show up so god. Wendy said about her card, It's a local bird, that reminded her of about her grandmother. She enjoyed the process of making the card. You can find her on the net at http://www.craftierthanthou.com/.

Thank you for the card.

Postcard form SNARLing

2011-05-31T01:54:00.003+02:00

There has been an unfortunately delay in blog posting, but they are now on there way.

Part of the iHanna postcard swap.
I got a post card from SNARLing, and she sent her card from U.S.A. This card has a fun slide in it, with a quote from Henry Miller: "The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware"
You can see some of her progress at her blogpost.

You can find her on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliceklar and on her blog http://thesnarlingpost.blogspot.com

Thank you for the card!

WIP wednesday 250511

2011-05-25T23:09:00.002+02:00

Well today I am drawing noses. I need to do it better and faster. I spend way to much time fiddling around to get them the way I want to. Hence the need for practice. So I play around with some sketch work. I realise there are not may African or Asian noses where I live... Maybe I need to travel a bit. :)

Movie Monday#42 A piece of ancient human

2011-05-09T00:50:00.000+02:00

All that preparation...

200 blog posts!

2011-05-07T11:27:00.000+02:00

200 blog posts! Hooray!

I started the blog in August 2007, but was unsure what to do with a blog. I knew I wanted to share part of my creative life. Then came the big question; was I blogging in English or Norwegian? The next blog post was not until the beginning of April the following year where I still was not sure about the language, but had by when decided that if I should have a blog, I just had to start. My feeling was that if I should have a blog, I had to say something, not just post pictures. After a chat with an English speaking friend, the decision came to me, it should be in English. I should at least try. The point of the blog was, after all to share, and most people in Norway are able to read English. Within a week the first real blog post was out on the net. It was an illustration, IF - save made for the Illustration Friday's challenge. There have been a lot of illustrations and little education material which was the first I created and shared online through my own website www.ewian.com (who finally gets a renovation these days). The linguistic challenge is still one of the largest. It is easy to explain techniques and share in Norwegian, but when English is not a language I speak, other than the occasionally holiday use, it is difficult to learn new terms and practice them correct. Getting enough language extension and enrichment is a challenge. It should be noted that the feedback that I have received inspire me to continue blogging. So far, there have been 200 blog posts. Thanks for your support!

The illo is made for this little anniversary. Mediums used: pencil, watercolours, permanent marker, stamp and ink pad.

Movie Monday#41 What is a friend?

2011-05-02T00:39:00.001+02:00

Thank you, my wonderful friends, you make me smile!

Postcard form Laura

2011-04-30T23:42:00.001+02:00

Got a sweet card from Laura. A card from the IHanna postcard swap. Laura sent her postcards from Argentina. You can visit her online at http://www.lauravarela.com.ar

Postcard form Jigna

2011-04-29T20:59:00.005+02:00

A card from the IHanna postcard swap. I got another card from the UK, from Jigna,at the big mango. I love the cleverly reuse of old envelopes. It also have a sweet pocket.

Thank you!

Moly_x_3 Barbara's book

2011-04-28T23:16:00.002+02:00

I am participating in the moley_X_3 project. Here are the entry for Barbara's book. To follow the books journey you can go here moleskinex3.blogspot.com/

As mentioned yesterday, I had a lot of trouble finding the right motive, you can see the post here . I ended up with a dragon inspired by the Norwegian stave church (Wikipedia) On it's back it has a girl. She is playing the flute.
The clouds are super iridescent, do not show up in the photo though.

Progress so far in the book.

Medium used: pencil, permanent marker, velvet decorative tape, promarkers, gel pen, iridescent watercolours and acrylic paint.

Moly_x_3 Barbara's book - sketch

2011-04-27T22:13:00.003+02:00

I am participating in the moley_X_3 project. Here are the sketch work for Barbara's book. To follow the books journey you can go here http://moleskinex3.blogspot.com

I had a lot of trouble finding the right motive, Jennifer's cat is such a strong statement. I think I have tried out 8 or 9 different things before I found something that I though would work. This is my final sketch. I'll go make the actually entry now.

IF bicycle

2011-04-26T22:51:00.006+02:00

Longing for spring and summertime, so I can go on bicycle rides. This weeks word at http://illustrationfriday.com is bicycle.

Medium used: pencil, permanent marker, matt medium, distress stickles, pattern paper, watercolour and watersoluble wax pastel.

Movie Monday#40 Do penguins fly?

2011-04-25T00:38:00.001+02:00

Don't they? As a child I learned they did fly under water.

Movie Monday#39 Supermarket bags

2011-04-18T00:02:00.000+02:00

Not a fan of the bag or that they comes in plastic or to pay 1,5 kroner (0,27 U.S. dollars) for them.

Postcard form Amy G

2011-04-14T17:03:00.000+02:00

I got this wonderful card from Amy G. She writes that her inspiration comes from the book "Water for Elephants". I have not read the book, but as I love to read, I'll sure check my library for it. That dark red in the card, I cant stop looking at it, so delightful, one of my favourite colours. The border has a velvet feel to it, and there are multiple layers of paper collage.

Postcard form RGA

2011-04-13T23:47:00.003+02:00

Got this sweet card in the mail. The signature says RGA, other than that there are no indication how made it. It has been mailed from Great Britain. How ever you are, thank you for the card!