Pet bird tea party

 Here they are gossiping pleasantly over afternoon tea...

... while their pets amuse themselves as best they can!

Post-summer post

After the summer holidays, here is an almost autobiographic doodle, coloured using "les moyens du bord".

Daily Animal Doodle

 

I submitted my first Animal Doodle today! Here it is! Also visible in the Flickr group pool.

Have a lovely day!

Daily Animal Doodles Project

I'd like to take part in this project I stumbled upon yesterday during one of my usual blog reading sessions.

What?  

The Daily Animal Doodles Project is a daily illustration drawing challenge conceived by Andrea, from Paper Sparrow. 

Each day of every month, a different animal is chosen and drawn by…

…Who?  

Daily Animal Doodlers is a community of artists, illustrators, crafters who doodle an animal each day and share it on their blog and in the Flickr group pool.

When?  Everyday or simply one day.  You're welcome to join in everyday or just one day of the challenge. 

Why?  Because drawing is fun.

Click on the Daily Animal Doodles button on the left. It links back to the Paper Sparrow post and will be updated monthly with the current list of animals. 

Dogs admiring the sunset

This is a little gift I painted to wish Ornella a very happy, healthy, smiley, and especially comfy birthday, since, after over a week without access to it, her new redecorated bathroom should be ready today! And I hope this watercolour painting will match the lilac tiles and accessories!

Fearful donkeys

    This quick sketchbook drawing illustrates my failed attempt at feeding carrots to these donkeys, after recently discovering they live nearby. Failed, because the poor things are so people-shy, all they would do when they felt I was watching them was try to hide behind their ramschackle hut or run to the furthest part of their messy field. Definitely a sad situation, but I couldn't help being amused when they trotted along in Indian file like this, and when they were joined by an equally scared goat! I left with a bittersweet feeling.

    

     Questo disegno veloce illustra il mio tentativo fallito di dare delle carote a questi asini che ho scoperto da poco vivono vicino a casa mia. Fallito perché erano così spaventati che non facevano altro che nascondersi dietro alla loro capanna malridotta o correre in fondo al campo trasandato, lontana da me che li osservavo. Anche se tutto ciò fa alquanto tristezza, erano simpatici quando trotterellavano in fila indiana, con una capra ugualmente timida al loro seguito.

     Ce dessin rapide tiré de mon carnet de croquis documente mon essai raté de donner des carottes à ces ânes que je viens de découvrir vivant tout près de chez moi.Un essai raté, parce qu’ils étaient tellement farouches qu’ils ne faisaient que se cacher derrière leur cabane ou se précipiter au fin fond de leur pré quand il se sentaient observés. Même si ça dénote une situation très triste, ils étaient drôles quand ils trottaient en file indienne comme je les ai dessinés, suivis par une chèvre, elle aussi effrayée. Ça m’a laissé une sensation douce-amère.

1, 2, 3, 4... can I have a little more?

A few portraits that look very like animals, don't they? But looks can be deceiving! They're not animals... they're actually numbers!

Et oui, on dirait des animaux, mais ne vous fiez pas aux apparences! En fait ce sont des chiffres!

Questi ritratti sembrano degli animali? Forse, ma non lo sono! Ognuno rappresenta un numero!

Doodling while teaching

I must always remember not to keep a blank piece of paper and a pencil close at hand while teaching, or else this is what happens...

Tables

With the Bologna Children's Book Fair only 24 days away - actually D-23 to its opening but I won't be going till the Tuesday-, every single table in my house has been put to use for my getting my work ready for it. 

A l'approche du Salon de livre pour enfants de Bologne (J-24), j'ai mis toutes les tables de chez moi à profit pour la préparation des travaux que je voudrais y présenter. Celle de la cuisine jusqu'à celle de mon atelier, en passant par celle du salon... Toutes y sont passées! Toutes, sauf peut-être celle qui s'y prêterait le plus: mon bureau, toujours en vrac!

Et pendant ce temps, pendant que moi je turbine comme pas deux, regardez comment les autres membres de la famille se prélassent cruellement!

Con l'avvicinarsi della Fiera del libro per ragazzi di Bologna (tra 24 giorni), ho monopolizzato tutti i tavoli di casa mia. Da quello della cucina, a quello dello studio, senza dimenticare quello in soggiorno... Tutti tranne quello magari più idoneo: la mia scrivania, incasinata al massimo!

E mentre io mi uccido di lavoro (eh sì cosa volete, scrivendo in italiano mi viene anche spontanea la vostra leggera tendenza all'esagerazione, ha ;-)), guardate un pò come gli altri membri della famiglia esprimono la loro compassione - rilassandosi senza nessun pudore!

The kitchen's:

 

The living-room's:

 

My study's:

All of them, except the one that would ideally be most suitable for such things...

My unruly desk:

!

And while I'm trying to work as hard as pos' 

look at how the other household members sympathise:

 

Have a nice Monday!

Très bon lundi à tous!

Vi auguro un bel lunedì!

Hippoty Hips

A few quick sketches of hippos and hippo-like dog! For no particular reason! Other than <3 luuuv!

Juste pour le plaisir, quelques esquisses rapides d'hippopotames et d'un chien au nez légèrement exacerbé! 

Per nessuna ragione particolare, alcuni schizzi di ippopotami e cane ippopotamesco!

Charis and Kleo

And here are the characters of the previous post again! I thought I'd also show you this, as you've already got to know Charis and Kleo!

Et vu que les présentations ne sont plus nécessaires, j'ajoute un autre petit portrait des personnages du post précédent!

Ormai li conoscete: ebbene sì, sono loro - Kleo e Charis - presentativi nel post precedente!

Millipede

Some time at the end of last year I decided I would enter a drawing competition, whose theme was simply "Shoes". 

My idea was the following: to picture a woman at her psychiatrist's because she's worried about wanting to be a millipede just to have the excuse to buy lots and lots of pairs of shoes!!!

Il y a quelque mois j'ai décidé de participer à un concours de dessin dont le thème était tout simplement "Chaussures".

J'ai donc eu l'idée suivante: de représenter une femme chez son psy toute stressée parce qu'elle voudrait être un mille-pattes juste pour pouvoir s'offrir des milliards de pompes !

Per partecipare a un concorso di disegno ho escogitato quest'idea: una donna preoccupatissima dal suo analista perché le piacerebbe essere un millepiedi in modo da potersi comprare tantissime scarpe!  

 I was quite pleased with the first result, but thought the sentence looked silly, and, more importantly, that the focus wasn't really on shoes.

J'étais globalement contente de la première tentative, mais moins de la phrase écrite n'importe comment. Je trouvais aussi que l'accent n'était pas assez sur le thème du concours, les shoes.

Mi piace questo primo risultato, ma... La frase appiccicata lì sembra sciocca, per non parlare del problema più grande: quasi non si vedono le scarpette!

So I gave it another try:

 And do like it better. The situation is understandable even without seeing the therapist, and that way the beasty and numerous shoes are in the foreground.

Et c'est beaucoup mieux ! Même si on voit pas le psy, on comprend où elle se trouve et comme ça les chaussures au pieds de la petite bébête sont bien en vue au premier plan.

Ecco che va molto meglio! Non c'è il bisogno di vedere lo psichanalista per capire dove si svolge la scena, e così l'animaletto e soprattutto quel che indossa si trovano meglio evidenziati.

I love her rosy cheeks!  

J'aurais envie de lui pincer ses grosses joues rouges ! Che guanciotte da sbaciucchiare!

By the way, neither one nor the other made their way to the contest... Shouldn't my cheeks be blushing in shame?

A la fin, j'ai envoyé ni l'un ni l'autre au concours...

Alla fine, non ho spedito nessuno dei due al concorso...