San Francisco adventures

This is a sketch I’ve made inside the dark car in the vista point (if I am correct
with the name..). It is just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Oh, yes.. We actually didn’t want to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, but we took somehow the wrong lane and.. We were there.
We had no ticket for crossing the bridge! As much as we knew – we had to pay somehow over internet to buy a pass to go back to SF.
It was late. It was dark.
But we managed to enjoy the view, spot stars, make couple of photos, especially of cute raccoon family hunting for food leftovers in the trash can.

And eventually we bought the pass to return to SF.. No regrets about the d-tour from my side 🙂

Bookbinding experience

When I was packing my luggage for San Francisco I was thinking which sketchbooks to take with me.. And I wasn’t 100% happy with any of the ones that I own.
Some are too heavy, some have too large format and some simply do not have good paper for watercolors.
That’s how I came to the idea of actually daring and trying out bookbinding – creating a sketchbook in a format that I want with the paper that I like.
As simple as that. If there’s nothing you like – make it yourself 🙂

Funny enough I found my sewing and scrapbooking tools being very useful for bookbinding, too!

And so I bought A1 sheets of good watercolor paper (Fabriano, 300g), watched at least 10 YouTube videos about bookbinding (in the end I combined various techniques), cut paper in the size I needed, took a needle and a thread and stitched the folded sheets together into a small book.
That was basically it. I’ve made a very simple cover from leather and the sketchbook was ready!

This is a sketch I’ve made inside the dark car in the vista point (if I am correct
with the name..). It is just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I could not really see well what colors I was mixing in my palette, fun fun!

And there’s the whole story about this small d-tour over the Golden Gate Bridge that is totally worth sharing! But next time.

Have a beautiful weekend you guys!
-O

Joe the Californian seagull

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Isn't it funny how our brains are working? Do you also see birds? Interesting what's possible with just a little bit of pigment and water. Let me introduce you to Joe, he's a seagull from San Francisco beach (even if he looks like a duck, my bad 😉). #sanfrancisco #joetheseagull #imissSF

A post shared by OLYA (@in_heidelberg) on Oct 22, 2014 at 10:09am PDT

San Francisco. China Town.

Do I have to mention that I fell in love with SF? 🙂
I will share some more photos from the trip. Currently missing Califronia and its sun a lot and doing some post-sketches.

China town in SF.

Food was awesome 😀 Yumm

Boxtrolls

It was such a lovely autumn day today that it would have been a waste to stay at home!
And so we headed to the city park with my brothers girlfriend and her 7 year old son. Our small town is not so spectacular, but probably gives you a good impression of an average town in Russia far from the capital.

And afterwards was a cinema visit. Quite unexpected one and our little friend (my nephew) got upset that he was not allowed to drink coffee there.
We went for boxtrolls and I am pretty sure I loved it more than all children in the cinema all together 🙂 Truly amazing work! So many details and so different, the textures, the characters.. And fun, too!
What was interesting – you get 3D glasses and a napkin to clean them from the previous usage.. Hmm.
When we came home we had to paint some trolls as you can see 🙂

Tired but content greetings
-o

Go out!

Beautiful places and nature are sources of endless inspiration for me!

I think I can spend hours walking through the woods and fields, enjoying the calmness at any weather. When it comes to sketching, despite the fact that I love architecture, I find it very therapeutic to paint outdoors in a silent place without busy streets and cars. And nature is a perfect place for that!
Another point for going out to such places is a possibility to paint undisturbed by other people especially if you don’t feel comfortable having someone looking over your shoulder.

That weekend we went to paint in Pfalz, it’s also called German Tuscany (for a good reason), its less than an hour drive from Heidelberg. If you are ever in Germany rent a car/bike and visit some of the cutest towns in this region! Especially during autumn! The wine festivals will start! This region is famous for the wine 😉 and blooming almond trees in spring.
I think I can talk a lot about this area! But I am sure there are nice places around you as well!
Give it a try! Go for a walk and take your sketchbook with you 🙂

The wine grapes plantations 🙂

And this is me peacefully and mindfully painting the beautiful scenery.

Tower love

Do you know how many towers are lost in the woods around Heidelberg?
I have no idea 🙂 But I already know quite some of them!

This one is a relatively small one, but with a beautiful view!

This bridge is also worth to be sketched 🙂

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Did I already mention that I like green? 🙂

And here’s the sketch. It took me some time, but only because I was enjoying the scenery and the nice wind in my hair.

Olya

Have you ever been to Heidelberg?

If not you must come 🙂
Seriously, its one of the most cute places in Germany.
And here is a nice and destroyed castle with garden where we were painting one weekend.
The trees in the garden are ginormous!

So I’ve sketched a promenade where I wanted to catch people or better to say shadows of these people watching heidelberg from the top (the view is amazing, must post it for you next time).
I think I can whine about what is wrong for long time 🙂 but will spare you and myself. Instead I will say: I will practice painting figures next time and will work on the shades.
And if you are like me (with preinstalled self-criticism) just make sure that its not demotivating you!

This one has an interesting story. I was sitting and trying really hard to paint the roots of the tree and the light, with all the details, but I was at the point when I decided that the painting is spoiled and if its already spoiled that means I can spoil it even more without concentrating on small details but just letting myself go. And as a result this is nearly one of my favorite paintings 🙂

Note to myself: spoil more!!! 🙂

Enjoy your Sunday!
Olya

One summer evening in Eppingen

Here’s one of my fairy tale sketches made in a fairy tale town called Eppingen.
I will never get bored of these endlessly cute little places in Germany. It seems that in any town or village you will be able to find an old part with toy houses and red roofs.
I am ready to paint literally every corner in such places 🙂

Olya

Search inside yourself

That was the training I took part in a couple of weeks ago that totally blew my mind!
It has been developed for google employees at first place, but now they offer it for outside and I was so lucky that my company was offering a 2 days course for employees 🙂
It was about mindfulness, meditation, empathy and happiness.

Ever since this training I am meditating daily (with rare exceptions) as I figured out that I am sleeping much better if I have a short 10 minutes meditation session before.
I also started doing journaling when I don’t feel great cause of one bazillion things in my head bugging me 🙂 letting them out changes my mood completely!

Another thing I’ve learnt is noted in my sketch, for stressful situations or when someone drives me crazy. Just stop, just breathe 🙂

Hope you are having a mindful weekend!
Olya