Blue Dreams

There is a legend that says that all cats dream in blue. Alma is not an exception. Here we have her dreaming the color of her eyes.

Little Girl

My mother just moved to Spain from Chile, and she brought these pictures with her. Both pictures were taken in the States (the second one in Chicago Illinois, and the first one -I suppose- in Palo Alto, California)  in 1968. I was 7 then.  As you can see, I had rabbit teeth. It's funny to see how you become, with the years, a completely different person.

Bird with flower

Watercolor pencils.

Poppies

Watercolor pencils and markers.

Pink

These pictures were made at 10 pm last night.  In summer the days are long and warm in Madrid, and the sky is pink at sunset. Beautiful, isn't it?

Squirrel

I found this little squirrel in my sketchbook. Have a nice day!

Tools

A little corner of my desk. As you can see, some mason jars decorated with clothes pins or string (inspired by Pinterest). And, of course, a wooden human mannequin, that I love.

Sublime White

I've talked before about my love for white, and decorating with simple objects that I have at home.
In the first picture above you can see a toilet paper roll wrapped with a print showing a photo of the white branches. I picked up those branches in a park and painted them white. The second photo shows my zen corner. I also love minimalist decoration. And, the last one, includes some beautiful paper butterflies I got here.

Lavender

I love to decorate with simple objects I find around my house. In this time of the year, there is plenty of lavender in the countryside, right across our street, so I got some  and I put in a jar. It is a spice jar that had expired. I washed and decorated it with a lace that came with a box of something I bought some time ago, I don't remember exactly what. All I remember is that I thought to myself: "I'll keep this lace, perhaps I can use it to wrap a present". I wish you could smell the lavender. It's so nice. I forsee an embroidered sachet bag.

Red And Black

Some weeks ago my husband bought some Chinese cakes in a Chinese shop. I realized that they came in beautiful red paper cups. I thought to myself, "I'll turn them into flowers." So, here they are. A mason jar, some wire, red paper cups and black crêpe paper for the center.

Crime

Tita "The Parisian cat", What makes you think I did this?
Owner, I don't know...I have a hunch.

The first time I found out Alma -my cat- had killed a bird I was shocked. She is so gentle that I could never have guessed she had a killer inside. But she does. All cats are predators. All humans are predators too. It might be useful to remember this fact.

Nostalgia

Summer Lunch

Do you want to join me? A sunny day, a cool breeze, a glass of wine, some garlic bread, a salad, some barbecued meat and corn. Wish I could be there again.

Koala Bear

I found this cute little guy in my sketchbook this morning. I've always loved Koala bears, no wonder they appear in my sketchbook. Have a nice day!

In The Kitchen

Here we have Tita spying what her owner cooks.  As you know, Tita is French  and lives in Paris, so I guess she must be a gourmet. Colored pencils and markers.

Bender And Gattina

Bender and Gattina live in Tuscany, Italy; in a beautiful village about half an hour away from Florence.

They are my friend Paulina's neighbors' pets.

Bender is a beautiful Tuscanian Shepherd. He has a silky coat and is very good at defending his territory (so they tell me).

Gattina is specialized in hunting country mice. Once she has caught them, she shows them around as trophies.

White Morning Flower

I can't describe the beauty there is in only one simple white flower.

A Few Minutes Ago

One of the privileges of living where I live in Madrid,  is that you can see spectacular sunrises right across the street. These pictures were taken at about 7 o'clock this morning, just a few minutes ago. The light is always impressive around here.

Talio

Talio is my friend Paloma's dog. A friendly and adorable Bobtail, wearing short hair.

Paloma and Talio came to visit me last Sunday. It was a wonderful  warm afternoon; talking and relaxing on the porch. Talio was very happy to see Alma, but I don't think Alma thought the same.

Holborn Station London

Colored pencils and markers.

Blue Eyes

Alma, lying and showing her beautiful blue eyes. Colored pencils and markers.

Starting From Scratch

Some flowers from our garden.

As some of you know, I'm a lawyer and a teacher, not a designer or a photographer, but I have such a strong desire to become a designer, an artist and a crafter that I dream about it the whole day.

I've always had this strong desire to learn new things and then teach others to do the same and try survive with their newly acquired skills and creations. But first, I must prove to myself that I can do it right.

I decided, about a month ago, to take an online course to learn how to blog in subjects such as decoration, photography, illustrations, etc. The course is called "Blogging your way".

Yes, I know a lot about blogging, I have been blogging for about 7 years now and I can say that I'm a very successful blogger, we have over 19,000 visits per day (on peak days) on my other blog, I have written a book, and I have my own successful business.

But this is so different.

I have zero training as a photographer, decorator, or illustrator.

So it's a complete new challenge that makes me feel so happy, so young, so alive. However, at the same time, I'm feeling a bit discourage because everybody else in the course seems to know more than I do; many of them are designers and have already a career in this field.

Olive tree branch.

I try to overcome these feelings by working on my skills, so today, for the first time in my life, I started studying photography deeply inspired by Jeanette Lunde, one of our teachers. What a fabulous e-magazine she has!

As some of you know, I'm crazy about white and Nordic Design. Perhaps, this is the influence of my husband who is Dutch.

Hope you join me in this journey: going from zero to something, whatever that might be. And, I hope it also encourages you to do new things in your life and to keep learning.

Have a wonderful day!

Orange Butterfly

I found this orange butterfly in my sketchbook. Colored pencils and markers.

Leaf Man

Didn't I say that this little park had many treasures? Well, yesterday I found this leaf man lying on the ground and I took him home. He was celebrating a spring party. Don't you think he's very good looking?

Living Room

I love how the light floods everything in our house. The sun moves from right to left, choosing different places to light up. Remember this drawing? Now you know where it comes from.

Salmon With Rice

Two o'clock it's usually cooking time at home. Today I wanted to share with you my lunch- dinner; salmon with rice.  I found the recipe here. Sorry, only in Spanish. You can use Google translator.

Red Flower

Colored pencils and markers.

Bookmark

This is a drawing of myself. Of course, a much better looking version of myself. Yesterday, I decided to turn my drawing into a bookmark, so I covered it with a clear plastic film, made a hole on the top and inserted a red thread. Vôila, my very own bookmark!

My First Watercolor

I work all day and the only moment I have to draw it's when I go to bed. I have been drawing only with colored pencils and markers because it's the most convenient way to draw if you can't sit for a long time at a table. But this doesn't mean that I don't want to paint. In fact, I'm dying to find a moment to start painting.

Yesterday, that moment came.

We went to big bookshop near our house and I came across a marvelous book about watercolors. I got very excited and I bought it. I decided to copy one of the painting of the author, Jan Hart.

As you can see it's a beautiful image of two houses and a tree. I certainly enjoyed painting it. Hope you like it.

Have a nice day!

First Cherries

You could say that are thousands of cherries and cherry trees; millions, but these cherries and cherry tree are special to me. We planted it last autumn and we have seen it grow from a very small, tiny branch with no leaves to a young tree. Some days ago the first cherries appeared. What a blessing!

Wanna play?

The protagonist of this blog is here. If you asked me to describe her personality, I would say that she is really like a dog. She follows you everywhere around the house, waits for you at the door and always wants to be with you. Extremely social animal.  In this picture she is in her playing mood. If you touch her she'll take a swipe at you. We simply adore her.

When I first saw you

Doro meeting a new friend in Kensington park, London.

Colored pencils and markers.

Polka Dots

What are you looking at? The one who drew me made me much fatter than I really am, that pisses me off. She should take some lessons to learn how to draw, says Tita the Parisian cat.