100 day of merry drawing : day 51-60

I was afraid I would drop out before day 100 but I'm at day 77 now. It shouldn't be too hard to complete this 100 day project? In fact, I plan to continue drawing all through the year. It will mean so much to me :)

100 day of merry drawing : day 51

100 day of merry drawing : day 52

100 day of merry drawing : day 53

100 day of merry drawing : day 54

100 day of merry drawing : day 55

100 day of merry drawing : day 56

100 day of merry drawing : day 57

100 day of merry drawing : day 58

100 day of merry drawing : day 59

100 day of merry drawing : day 60

100 days of merry drawing : day 31-40

Updates of my everyday drawings from day 31-40 for my 100 day project.  So far so good. I was afraid I would be running out of ideas after a month but it seems it's getting much easier to come up with an idea each day :)

You can look at the first 1-30 drawings here. Feel free to follow my daily drawing on my facebook and instagram.

100 days of merry drawing : day 31

100 days of merry drawing : day 32

100 days of merry drawing : day 33

100 days of merry drawing : day 34

100 days of merry drawing : day 35

100 days of merry drawing : day 36

100 days of merry drawing : day 37

100 days of merry drawing : day 38

100 days of merry drawing : day 39

100 days of merry drawing : day 40

Sunday Sketch : crayon drawing and play with paint

I'm spending this peaceful Sunday watching Alisa Burke's wonderful e-class videos. I was first introduced to this super creative and prolific artist through Creative Courage course, signed up for her classes (with 50% off you just couldn't resist it) and have been inspired by her works and classes ever since.

Redefine Creativity is my second class with her. Her lessons really got me excited and inspired me to get some paint and have fun. This drawing is done with Sea Green (I just love how they name each color) wax crayon first. I already loved how it looked and almost left it as is but decided to go ahead and play with it (I can always draw it again if I want to). I painted over all the drawing with different shades of watercolor. I didn't think much just put water and colors on. The wax lines worked as resistance that you can still see the original drawing, just with different look and feel.



Then I put pink marker on some parts, making it pop out a bit and some little drawings behind the scene. I just couldn't help it, playing hide-and-seek with my characters becomes part of my drawing passion :)



I have to say I love the very first crayon drawing best but I enjoyed the process of putting colors on and watching colors blended and be resisted by the wax. I think I'm going to experiment more with this technique :)

This is only the first lesson I learn from Alisa. Can't wait to learn more and be inspired in the next 4 weeks :D

Draw everyday no. 48 and Sunday Sketches

My draw everyday no. 48 and Sunday Sketches. I started this having something more mature in mind but ended up with this whimsical piece instead :P Anyway, have a merry Sunday!

A week of weakness and a drawing book

This week has been a week of weakness for me. I have got a cold, not so grave but not well enough to work in full strength. I try not to feel guilty much. There were several previous weeks of productivity with sketchbook full of work sketches, a week of little work progress wouldn't hurt. As my mom always says 'Take it easy, things will come in your way.' I don't quite believe it fully. To have 'things come in my way', I have to create the way first. But then she is right, people won't feel joy in your art if it's created under stress and pressure. Creativity is really a matter of balancing. Too much pressure, your work comes out dry and suffocating. With no pressure at all?, the work will never come out.

So, I try to be productive in such non-productive days. Books are always my best friends. I choose to read something about art just to have a feeling I'm still working, at least on my creativity. How to Draw Anything by Mark Linley is a very pleasant book, easy to follow with beautiful line drawing examples. I like how he adds little stories in the instructions like how he suddenly got chased by an angry sheep while trying to draw a scene. His writing is very friendly and even if you don't care to improve your drawing skill, it's still a good read :)

Thanks for coming, I hope you have had a merry week :)

draw everyday challenge : the little brown book project

One night I picked up this little brown book and started drawing then posted it on instagram and my facebook page. I wrote 'draw everyday' in the caption and decided to do drawing everyday challenge again. This is a bit scary to me as I used to do a grand project called '365 days I draw' started in 2010, meaning to draw on specific topic everyday for a year. Sadly, I could manage only 130 drawings. After that I found drawing on topic everyday was stressful and not fun anymore so I stopped it. I missed the feeling of doing something everyday though.

So here I am starting an everyday project again. This time I make it easier by drawing on smaller space (this book is about 4x5 inches), using limited colors as I have only a few markers and no topic. I almost called it bedtime drawings as I only draw at night, after work when I am most relaxed.

It is really a nourishing project. I found myself looking forward to drawing something at night everyday. It's funny that by day I get stressed on drawing something for work, by night the same activity can also make me relaxed :)

I have come to day 13 already. You can follow my everyday drawings through facebook and instagram (@onmerryday or #littlebrownbookproject). I already bought several copies of this little brown book. Let's see which one will come first, me getting bored or run out of ideas or all the books filled up.

I hope it will be the latter. Thanks for coming. Have a merry day :D

Illustration Friday : temptation

It's been a long time that I haven't participated in Illustration Friday. Drawing on topics is very hard but it's really a good exercise. For this week's topic, temptation, I immediately thought of cake and all beautiful sweet and dessert, then came the girly shopping, shoes and bags ( I have just ordered a lovely bag online :P). I drew this one with black sharpie and Staedtler triplus color markers. I especially like the pink and red on kraft paper.

I'm coming back to drawing everyday challenge now. I will write about it soon. In the mean time you can follow my drawings on instagram here >> http://instagram.com/onmerryday

Thanks for coming. Have a merry day :)

Today's drawing

Work in progress. Thinking about candies flowers and celebrations ;)

Playtime with little nieces

It's a week of babysitting of my little nieces. I'm not good at taking care of children. The only trick I have is to draw. Luckily, my nieces also love making art so we spent time drawing and painting. Drawing on tiny nutshells was fun and it's nice to pretend to be kid again ;)

ps. sorry for the lousy photos, I just took them with my old iphone :P

ATC swap : owl

My second ATC swap. The theme is OWL. I intended to make a simple brown owl with cut out wings. Then the idea of flowers decorative and lettering came in. I wanted to do the eyes with some buttons but drew the simple sleeping eyes instead. I had fun doing this. The next topic is TALL, wondering how I will come up with the idea :)

This week is a big holiday in Thailand. People are having fun and I'm having a great time drawing and being inspired by good books and great art on the net :)

The magic of drawing

I'm getting (very slowly) back to blogging and drawing. This short film is just the right film.
She is my Muse.

My very first ATC

My very first ATC swap for a friend in Slovenia. The theme is VIVID.
I have known about ATC for years but didn't join in any group as I didn't know anyone.
Facebook brought me such a great opportunity to make friends online. I met a group
of lovely artist people and they kindly let me join in a wonderful sketchbook project
which I cannot show here yet. It's kind of our little secret until it's all done ;)
I enjoy the group so much that when this ATC group created by one of the group members
opened, I just jumped right in!

And I do have fun. This card is drawn and painted with markers on brown card paper.
There will be different theme for each month. I think I have to try new medium as much
as I can, to learn something new and have fun. Next topic is OWL. I wonder how
my owl will look like...

It's really nice to meet like-minded people across the world, isn't it?

Thanks for coming and have a merry day!

That's why it is called the present.

I have been struggling with something inside me lately. I feel I cannot work on my art as smoothly as I used to as in months ago. I keep thinking of improving my art and shop and have a lot of sketches in my sketchbooks but somehow I cannot produce them into final artwork. I discussed my feelings with my friends and they kindly pointed out why I have become so slow.

First, I'm trapped in the attempt to be perfect. I don't think I'm a perfectionist but maybe I'm subconsciously trying to be. Strangely enough, I went through this kind of perfection struggle once already when I decided to open my shop. Now it comes back to me.

Second, I have been absorbing too much of information. I took e-courses, read a lot of creative business blogs and books. All these information are good helpful things and I'm learning a lot. But it can be a double-edged sword when I cannot organize things in my head well enough. Plus, during the process of learning, I get to know a lot of people and I can't help comparing with them. I know it's a no-no thing for those who work in creative business. Comparing doesn't help, instead, it slows you down and even paralyzes you. I know this too well but still...

I miss myself when I could draw without thinking, just drew and posted my doodles on my Page almost everyday. When I just had fun and get excited with occasional Etsy orders...

But I guess there's always a cure for a problem. Now I know my problem. Someone says that guilt and comparison are not productive. So, I'm going to let those unproductive feelings go and live with the minutes of joy when I draw and paint. Learn as much as I can but won't put too much pressure on myself. I want to be successful in creative business but not as much as to be happy with my art in the present moment, I realize :)

By the way, the drawing above I drew as a sample for a book illustration project. The idea is based on the famous quote :

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.
---Alice Morse Earle

The illustration will look different in the final but this is already perfect for this post and my MerryDay :)

Thanks for coming. I hope you have a merry creative day :)

work in progress : yellow is my merry color :)

The other day, I woke up with a question in my mind : is it possible to design my life? It struck me that I have been spending several years working in design field but never thought of really designing my own life.  Each day I woke up thinking of which project I had to do, which errands I was responsible of. I worried if I had been working hard enough, if I would have a bright future in my freelance career...

Then, the answer just came to me. Yes, I can design my own life. In fact, I have started doing that right after Make Art That Sells class when I decided to devote my time for MerryDay. I just didn't realize it.

It's difficult though. Although I still work alone just as I used to when I focused on my freelance jobs, it's really different. With freelance jobs, I had clients with their project schedule and feedbacks. With my own MerryDay in current production step, I am both client and designer. I have to set my own schedule and debate everything on my own. It's freedom as well as the fight with bad discipline.

I'm still behind my own schedule. Feeling bad sometimes and constantly fight with my own self-criticism. But I have to say that I feel much more creative and energized than before. I guess it is the feeling when you can design your own life, you feel much happier :)

Above is my work in progress. It's a snapshot from Illustrator program. I usually sketch rough ideas on paper first then scan it in and trace the lines and fill colors in Illustrator, my favorite program. What you see here are two layers: one of my marker sketch on brown paper and a layer on top with digital artwork. The drawing is in the theme of secret garden with fresh and colorful flowers. Can't wait to see the final artwork myself :)

I actually felt a bit lazy this morning. It's nice to end the day with some work almost done :)

365 Days I draw ( day 120-121)

I have neglected my little project 365 Days I Draw for months. Time to get back and seriously continue. Here is my day 121, the topic is Shop. And below is my day 120 which I forgot to post it earlier, the topic is Baby.

It's a digital drawing day today. I hope I can post some sneak peek of my playground drawing here soon :)

Have a merry Monday!

ps. my drawings for 365 Days I Draw are scattered everywhere right now. I plan to get them all in one place soon. Meanwhile, you can look at my flick or my facebook for what I have drawn so far. :)

Sunday Sketch and where you can find me

Hello Sunday and here is my Sunday Sketch. A quick drawing on small kraft paper covered notebook, very simple design but I enjoy drawing it anyway :)

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I'm going to use all my social network more effectively. I love sharing my work through this blog, my facebook and twitter. I use flickr as my image storage but have just found it's an interesting art community too, should spend more time on the site. Pinterest is a great place for inspiration but it seems that I mostly find interesting art and design through blog feeds I subscribe. I use Bloglovin' (to which I have just moved from google reader which is going to shut down this july I think) to browse all wonderful stuffs on the web. I have just joined in Instagram too but not really active as in other networks. I wish I could take more beautiful photos!

This may seem to be too many networks for some people but I find that I enjoy each one of them in different way and have made friends from some of these circles, which is the most interesting part of this networking.

The thing is I'm still thinking how I can organize and balance everything--work, life and all this networking--so that I can enjoy more? It's not really a serious issue. Just think that it would be nice if I can manage them all efficiently and beautifully :)

In case you want to connect with me. These are places I will be.

facebook : I spend most of my time on facebook, this link will lead you to MerryDay facebook page  in which I update my work in progress and some random doodles. If you don't mind my rambling in Thai, you can follow my personal profile, I often share inspiring links about design and illustration there too. And we could talk real time, that's what I love about facebook :)

twitter : a great place to find interesting articles and there's a lot of inspiring illustrators to follow! I use this for updating my new shop items too.

flickr : All of images in this blog I store in flickr. But if you are already in this network and want to add me as contact, I will be very happy :)

google+ : I'm a bit quiet here in this place but find some interesting things from time to time :)

instagram : I should practice taking photos more!

pinterest : Not very active but you can see beautiful stuffs I love over there :)

Bloglovin' : so that you won't miss my posts! :D

Ok, that's a lot (and a long post) I have to go get my things done. It's nice that now I seem to have something to write and should not be quiet next week!

Have a merry weekend :D

Sunday Sketch and day 119 : The Mad Hatter Party!

Sunday Sketch and Day 119 of my 365 Days I Draw project. The topic is HAT. Thought of simple various shapes of hat first but then the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland just popped in my head. So, how about a mad tea party! :D

This Sunday is a bit tiring and sleepy for me. Hope I could start next week with more energy!

Today I feel grateful for...

Today I feel grateful for :
• A healthy-glowing look on my father's face. I have moved out to live with my husband and try to go back home to visit my parents every week. Still, I always feel a bit guilty not to be around. My father is already 80 years old. It's good to see him always in good health :)
• Deciding to stop by my favorite bookshop and found a cute children's picture book that helped generate ideas for my work later :D
• A beautiful flower book in the library where I worked all day today. The book was beautiful and a good reference for drawing poppy in the image above.
• 2 issues of Uppercase magazine I ordered from a Thai local bookshop arrived today. Beautiful! Can't wait to read them all :D
• A phone call to my mother whose voice was happy and healthy as always :)
Tell me, today what are you grateful for? :)

Sunday Sketch and Day 117 of my 365 days I draw :)

My Sunday Sketch :) This is also Day 117 of my 365 Days I Draw project (the whole album is on my flickr and facebook but I plan to build a proper place for this project in the future :)The topic is SMILE.

What would come to your mind when you think of the word 'smile'? I generally think of happiness (of course) but it seems too abstract and it's very difficult to draw a feeling. You can draw something and make people smile but you cannot draw 'happiness' itself. I think it's not that important though. People seem to struggle to find happiness but I have realized that it's always around. It's just that we have to let ourselves 'feel' it. That's all.

We can feel happy that we have a place called home, a family to share love, friends to share inspirations, body and mind that don't get sick--all the little things in life. Sometimes we can get heart-broken or have a hard time struggling to reach our goals. But it's just part of the life. As long as we have previous 'little things', we can just still be happy :)

That's the idea behind this drawing. Not sure if I explain it clearly enough. Just smile to yourself, feel it and maybe your gloomy day will look a bit brighter :)

Thanks for coming. Hope you have a merry day!

Hello my blog, I'm still here...

Hello my blog. I'm still here and always think about you. It's not that I don't have anything to say. I have a lot and maybe too many. I don't feel putting things into words (that can happen sometimes) but I do feel putting them into drawings. I draw online (you can see it on my facebook page) and I draw offline ( too many ideas on too many sketchbooks that sometimes I couldn't find which one I put the right ideas on)

I did a whole new drawing collection, which I will talk about it here very soon. I'm searching ideas for another new drawing theme and I'm just feeling very excited and looking forward to an e-course in June.

That's how I am right now feeling happy and energized (just hope it will stay with me even on gray days) I hope you're doing fine and like your new blog header ( a girl and bubbles are what I'm in love right now)

Just stop by to drop a line. I will get back to you very soon.

Be patient, my little blog.

Your owner :)