Documenting 2015: 3/12

 Brother & Sister: Playing together looks more like a wrestling match than anything else

 Olivia: Celebrating spring at the park; chasing bubbles, wearing a flowery dress and no coat, because you know...it's spring!

Vale: making the most funniest faces and sounds. Crawling like a pro and learning to stand by pulling himself up in his crib

We have been literally counting the days 'till spring this month. We had strawberries, fresh flowers and enjoyed our daily strolls around the neighbourhood. Ice cream shops are back in business and we are making sure we visit one almost every day!

I will be documenting 2015 through monthly portraits of my little ones. You can check the previous months here.

Piana del Fucino e Vallelonga

Piana del Fucino e Vallelonga - Abruzzo, Italy

It has been a while since I was able to do some outdoor sketching. The drawing was done on site and the colouring was added later at home using a photograph and some notes as reference. It was also the last page in my moleskine pocket notebook, which I had started back in 2008!

Wild Rose // botanical collection .01

Working on a new series of botanical subjects. I have chosen to step away from true botanical illustrations for a while, to see how it feels to tackle a painting without having to worry about correct proportions, colours and details.  I have found this new style liberating and the entire process a bit more enjoyable considering the limited time I have available for painting these days. And truly excited about having both flora and fauna in the same plate. What do you think?

The way forward

 

After months of thinking, and talking, and even more thinking I came to realise that I need this space to be something different. My life has changed drastically since June last year; new routines, new expectations, not to mention a new baby and life in a different country. And so has the time I have available to care for myself and to do what I love. Time is never enough these days, and trying to fit in everything I would like is becoming an impossible, and at times stressful, task. The need to streamline and simplify the way my free time is spent has become a pure necessity, a way to keep me sane without losing my favourite distractions from daily life. And I want all this to be reflected here. So over the next few months you'll see some small changes on this blog, starting from a long overdue new look. I want to create a cleaner and simpler place, without all the frills and all the things superfluous. I'm still planning to keep this blog as both a creative and personal space, to be a reflection of the two main aspects of my daily living. But I want it to be a bit more about my art and my creative journey. I'm still working on how I want things to look like and what direction I should take, but it's slowly growing on me and little by little I'll try to make this place better. So stay tuned if you are curious to see. 

30 Days of Lists // March 2015

And so the listing has begun! After a year long hiatus, I've joined the 30 days of lists project back again. If you are new to this, it's a month long online project where a prompt is sent to you every day and what you do is to jot down a list using whatever style and medium you like. Since I love paper so much, I made my own pamphlet stitch book for this challenge. It's about 8x12cm, and I used a sheet of patterned paper from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers 2. I then used some small coloured, ruled and lined paper to glue to each page and to write the lists on. 

I will be sharing my lists on Instagram every day (@ marina_cerra) and on the blog at the end of the month. Happy listing!

Documenting 2015: 2/12

Brother & Sister: Playing and reading books together. It doesn't usually last very long, but it's a joy when it happens

Olivia: Recovering from a long period of colds and flu, but always up for a family trip to the playground

Vale: so loud and cheerful

February was short and bitter. We spent most of our days inside, playing games and getting bored at times. We made fresh orange juice daily, we watched tv, we fell asleep on the couch, we got dressed up for carnival. But mostly we laughed together.

I will be documenting 2015 through monthly portraits of my little ones. You can check last month's pictures here.