It’s almost nine o’clock. Daniel is playing in front of me, we just had our breakfast, apple almond porridge for me, cereal and fruits smoothie for him. Finishing what is left of my cold coffee now with the attempt to write this post.
What happened in May
May was quite productive for me in many aspects and I am satisfied with what I have accomplished on both my personal and art life.
The weather was so weird though, one day it feels like summer had started and it is so, so hot and humid, The other day we were covered in blankets and wearing our sweaters and heaviest socks. It was so rainy in days, so sunny in others. One thing though, the days have become so long, the sun sets at almost 9 pm which is great for my studio hours, I got extra time to paint, take photos or just enjoy the sun rays after I put baby boy to bed.
Life in the outside world seems to slowly getting back to normalcy, but for me nothing has changed to be honest, the only thing is that i am not allowed to go on my usual walks with Daniel, because babies and kids are still under curfew here in Turkey. Other than this, my husband still works, i still work from home, we still get our groceries and other needs delivered, I go on walks by myself so it feels the same really.
I managed to write two more tutorials, film one new youtube video, two actually, one of which I just didn’t upload yet.
New favorites
Walking up earlier than usual.
For the last month I have been getting back into the habit of waking up before my baby daniel is up, sometimes an hour or two earlier to start with my to do’s for the day and most of the time it feels amazing to finish half of it before I am in a “mama mode”. ,Sometimes I wake up only fifteen minutes and it still manages to put me in a greater mood. fifteen minute is enough to do my morning skin care routine, prepare my coffee and sit in my studio just to enjoy the birds and the sun. This morning routine do wonders to me.
Making soups.
Omg, this is my new obsession. SOUPS! I am making a different soup every day and i am enjoying it more than I ever imagined. To be honest i am not sure how the craze of making a soup a day came from but I just find it to make me feel creative while making it and of course, satisfied and full after having it. Cooking in general is becoming one of my favorite tasks lately, it is just such a creative meditating thing to do. So far I have tried corn soup, lentil soup, veggies soup, chicken soup, potato soup, carrot soup and pumpkin soup, and they are so so good!
Sketchy stories.
If you follow me on Instagram, you’d already seen those there. So the idea originally came to me while I was planning an online course, writing down the content and outline for it and preparing samples and suddenly I found my self enjoying it so much that I am constantly thinking of new stories to take and sketch. I also scroll through my camera roll or Instagram story archive in my free time for any potential reference for future sketches.
Still life studies.
If this is not the most relaxing thing to do, i am not sure what is! I have always enjoyed drawing from life or doing urban sketches on location or outdoor plain air sketching. But with the quarantine and being indoor so much the only thing I could think of is painitng objects from what I already have in my home. It turned out to be a great exercise for light and shadows and also a way to detach myself from all the screens and the constant staring at my reference photos on my laptop while painting.
I did a few of those but below are my favorite so far. Just my little still life setup inside the box, a record playing in the background and my paints.
Latest artworks
still painting portraits, all day(during baby naps basically) every day. I finished a few watercolor ones, acrylic one, and started on three larger oil ones that is still unfinished, but i am a slow painter when it comes to oils, since I only paint while Daniel is napping which is a very short amount to finish a painting. So i just start a new painting while the others are drying. i will insert a few pictures but will share a close up once they’re finished later on.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this update, and thank you for reading.
How was your May? 