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!

English Summer Camp

I'm doing a little experiment this summer: organizing a summer camp in English for children. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I came up with this picture for the flyer.

Have a delightful summer!

The benefits of breaks

I do feel guilty for having been away so long, I do apologize for not updating this blog as regularly as I should, I do feel bad about not sharing anything new, thus making a visit here worthwhile.

Thing is – I had nothing new to share. I’ve just taken this huge month-long break from anything artsy! More or less since I took part in the Bologna Book fair, actually. I don’t want to give it the blame, but, well, I can’t deny it did have a certain undermining effect on my artistic self-esteem.

Anyway, now I’m back, and believe in my theory that, though practice makes perfect, it also helps to totally stop creating for a while, and then your work is magically and surprisingly better!

To prove my point, please take a look at two illustrations I painted after a looooooong period of absolute artistic inactivity. They are both exercises done at Scuola Comics.

Girl lost in the forest, Acrylic on paper, October 2009, back from summer holidays.

 Paper boat planted in surreal surroundings, Watercolour on paper, 3^rd May 2011. Our teacher, Marina Marcolin, is so insanely talented, as you can see on her blog, she almost makes us feel uncomfortable at school! She’s a firm believer in daily sketches and real-life studies, and has asked us to keep an illustrated diary, parts of which I’ll eventually show you here!

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!

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!

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...