A card, messy floor, work in progress, mini canvases, drawings in watercolor and ink… all of the usual stuff coming out from my home “workshop”:
May 172012
May 042012
I was asked to illustrate this apron as a birthday present for a girl who enjoys baking and making all kinds of sweet things weeks ago and I almost forgot about it until I stumbled upon it while going through my photo archives. I only wish I’ve taken a better a photo of the apron, but I was in a rush to get it delivered. Anyway, here it is: something cute and delicious to sweeten up already sweet Friday.
Happy weekend everyone!
May 032012
Recently I got a pack of cheap erasers which I carved into simple and abstract stamps without a specific goal in mind on how to use them. It was fun and easy project to play with on a relaxed evening while watching to my favorite youtube channels.
I tried my new stamps out and made some patterns and cards:
I really liked that and then it occurred to me that by playing around with stamps I could easily and quickly make a simple poster. So I pulled out a 30x40cm pale yellow sheet of construction paper and decided on making flowery pattern. I was out of ink so I colored my stamps with plain felt tip pens and started stamping away.
The finished result looks like this:
I’m pleased with how it turned out and how fast this technique is. Next step, maybe getting some fabric paint and stamping out a white tablecloth? We’ll see 
Apr 272012
Recently I made my very first scrapbook ever. I really felt like doing something a bit different than my usual style and I felt like experimenting. And indeed this book turned out quite unlike my other work, both in concept and execution. It turned out to be a simple exercise in visual storytelling of sorts.
Ok, let’s start from beginning. I knew I wanted to put together a simple scrapbook and I knew I wanted to utilize my old analog photos in it. But just gluing photos on book pages wasn’t enough especially because photos themselves (although simple) were evocative of certain moods. So, I decided to intuitively associate one word with each picture without thinking too much. First words that came to mind were: dream, warmth, memory, remember, reverie, passage, nostalgia, moody, silence and timeless. I wrote the words on a typewriter and printed out dictionary definitions of the words and paired them with photos. I wanted to create a dreamy mood while keeping the book minimalistic so I used white background for pages and light blue for back and cover.
Here is the result (also scroll down if you want to see the actual work-in-progress pics):
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Ok, and this is how I actually made the book. First I got myself nice, big box and cut 15x15cm cardboard pieces. I painted each piece white on both sides using acrylic paint (except book cover and back which I painted blueish). I choose photos I wanted to use and cut them so they can fit on my square format pages. I glued them on pages and then punched holes in cardboard so I can bind them. After this was done, I added words, more paint and ink stains on each page to make the whole book intentionally messier and totally imperfect.
The whole process of making this scrapbook was very intuitive and a great exercise to put me in mood for telling stories and setting moods through photographs which I’ve been doing for my actual photo book (I mentioned it here before) that should be out in December 2012.
Mar 092012
Hello Friday! It’s that time of the week when I share my personal, daily photos with you. Last week I took you to a walk through Zagreb downtown but this week I’ll share a glimpse into some of my creative endeavors.
So, sometimes I paint and draw on aprons yet somehow I never remember to take photos of my creations. So this time, when drawing on an apron I decided to photograph the entire process (as well as finished result of course).
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I did this apron for Maja, so I tried to come up with a drawing she might like. I decided on a little house and a home sweet home sign. First I did a sketch on fabric using my trusty uni-ball roller.
After that I painted the outlines using black textile paint and thin brushes. After the paint was dry I added purple details using Kuretake ZIG farbicolor pen. I got this pen from Arlen, it’s really great to draw with, it has twin brushes and like the black paint I used it’s permanent on fabrics after ironing. Unfortunate Kuretake pens are not available in Croatia.
This is how the apron looks finished and worn! I also made a little wooden friend to go with the apron. I hope Maja will like it.
A couple a days ago I got two lovely flower brooches from Drenka who took part in my swap! You can check out her blog here.
And yet another thing came in the mail this week, a copy of my book Life Is Beautiful. What’s the deal with that now, you might ask. Well, I put together a booklet of some of my older illustrations using lulu.com. I wanted to test their service, quality of their printing and shipping options. I self-published my first book via blurb.com and now I wanted to try something else. I must admit I love Lulu! Prints of my illos turned out beautifully, colors are gorgeous and paper on which they print is high quality. Their site is easy to use and they offer many,many more options than blurb. However, international shipping prices are really expensive and that is the main reason (well probably the only reason ) I will publish my next book via blurb. Why do shipping prices matter to me? Well, from my experience with the first book, many people wanted to buy a signed copy of the book directly from me instead of ordering it directly from blurb (which I totally understand). So, I had to order my books (that are printed and delivered from Netherlands) to Croatia, sign them and then ship them again to their new home making the whole process much pricier than it should be.
Anyway, I really love lulu.com and I hope they find a way to make their international shipping less expensive.
I won’t be reordering this book or putting it on sale since I made it only as a test but if you want to take a peek at its content check out the video.
I finished this little painting (5×5 inch) last week but I haven’t took photos of it until today. What to say,I love photography!
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I wish you all wonderful weekend and see you all on Monday when my SUPER SWEET PRINT SALE starts
Hello everyone! How was your weekend? I had a slight cold over the last two days so I rested a lot and now my energy is fully back so I’m ready for a new week of creativity and adventures.
In lately I’ve been very inspired by blue skies, white puffy clouds, little houses, bunny rabbits, flowers and generally everything that has to do with Spring.
So, I took some pictures that reflect my current inspiration to get myself even more inspired and motivated to create!
Two little houses love to hang out together. Smaller one seems to be concerned about something.
“Why does it always rain on me?”, housey thinks.
xo
Chubby bunny says hello.
I painted on paper, wood, canvases, bags and aprons before but this is a first time I painted on a decorative pillow. As a motif I choose to paint blue skies and a smug little rabbit.
I’ve been very, very inspired by blue skies and white clouds right now, I want to paint them on everything, including everyday objects like clothes hanger.
Hey, there little cloud! This cloud has perfect vision but wears glasses because he thinks they make him look more intellectual.
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What’s your current inspiration?
Jan 262012
As I thought of writing this post I said to myself there must be another way to start it than saying I’ve been very busy. It doesn’t sound original or fun but it’s true! I’ve been very busy working on various projects, some of which I’m not yet allowed to share and a personal art project that still makes sense only in my head and will have to wait awhile until it reveals itself to the world.
However, I did manage to steal a little time to work on simple creative ideas. I’ve been doodling on glossy 200gms photo paper, using colorful, sparkly rollers and expressing my caffeine addiction love for coffee.
I got some cheap coffee mugs at a local store and I’d love to draw something on them as soon as I buy paint for ceramics. Now I’m just using them as props.
For some reason I can’t remember right now I thought it would be fun to make a watermelon necklace. I really love watermelons and pink/red/green color combo so why not? But, to be honest my every attempt to make jewelry only reaffirms my decision to stick to illustration because I kinda suck at crafting and lack patience to work on tiny details. I made this by cutting a round cork coaster in half, painting a watermelon on it, then making two tiny holes and putting soft wire through them. I’m using it a as decoration/some sort of mobile right now and will look for actual watermelon themed jewelry on etsy one day
I had more fun painting bears on cork coasters than making a watermelon “necklace”:
As January is coming to an ending I’m still keeping my motto for 2012. in mind and keeping myself motivated , creative and , yes ,very busy. I can’t wait until I can share results of more exciting projects with you!
Jan 142012
So far 2012. has been very good to me. I spent December 2011. mostly planning, setting goals and writing so seeing my plans turning into reality so fast feels great! I’ve been very busy last couple of weeks enjoying new work opportunities, setting foundations for personal art project and redecorating my apartment.
I didn’t actually plan to redecorate my place, it happened quite spontaneously. On Monday I had a little incident involving spilled ink and pinkish wall which propelled me into some sort of redecorating frenzy and resulted with repainting walls (and some pieces of furniture) bright white, painting flowers on closets, cleaning like a mad person and rearranging art pieces.
As I mentioned before, on Monday night I spilled some ink on orange/pinkish wall in my computer nook and naively wanted to wash it out with water making an ever bigger stain. You know how it goes, the more you try to clean it the bigger the stain so I thought well, I might just remove all the paint and repaint the wall.
Removing the paint was pretty tedious and messy but, I believe, totally worth it because white suits my little corner so much better and makes it lot brighter.I also rearranged art pieces and put them above my desk, I have quite an Alkaline collection, 6 original pieces by Alkaline Samurai, photo print by Isidora and two of my own pieces.
Also, I repainted my little cabinet white and painted some pink flowers on it, now I call it sakura cabinet hehe.
Recently I made a little drawing of a bear on a round piece of wood so I thought it would be appropriate to display it as well.
Once I refreshed my computer corner I moved on to the living room and repainted my old wooden wall white. The whole room seems bigger, much brighter and more pleasant to be in.
I have a big, really old closet in my living room that I plan on kicking out very soon so I thought it would be fun to paint on it before it gets moved out. Years ago, on one part of the closet my Mom applied some flowery decoupage that I never liked so I decided to remove it. And I learned a valuable lesson, decoupage is hard and messy impossible to remove but also nothing that 4 coats of white paint and strategically painted blue flowers can’t cover up.
The rest of the closet got some new, blue flowers as well.
After that I painted my kitchen cabinets white as well and did A LOT of cleaning and I’m still in the process of cleaning and rearranging stuff just at a slower pace (it’s weekend after all).
Last weekend I felt like doing something fun yet simple so I played a bit with white watercolor and blue, lined paper getting subtle and understated drawings.
Before that I experimented with dying plain, white paper with coffee and spices to get interesting textures to scan and use as textures for layers in PS. I found my old high school biology homework and though I might scan it as well to get some “objects” to use as PS layers as well.
I also made some simple notebooks to fill with photo ideas, I’ve been writing and sketching so much I already have 4 little notebooks overflowing with ideas!
I rediscover how fun it is to paint on brown paper!
Other great things happened as well in first 2 weeks of new year. I got great news, my partner in crime art and all things awesome is coming to visit in early February and we’re planning to have amazing time together as always. I started looking for props for my soon-to-happen photo shoots and scouted some very inspiring locations. I went to much needed shopping for clothes as I realized my sartorial choices could be described by this. I started working on a wonderful commission and even though I’ve been seriously sleep deprived I’m having a blast! I have a feeling 2012. will be the BEST YEAR EVER!
How did your year start?
Dec 202011
When few weeks ago teacher Maja Milinković sent me cute and original photos of kids with my illustrations, I knew she was very creative. But little did I know she’s super creative and imaginative crafty lady who makes cute and whimsical jewelry and decorations.
Recently she sent me photos of some of her little handmade treasures and I couldn’t resist sharing some of them with you!
Maja makes both cute stuff for little girls and cute and edgy, fun jewelry for grown-up girls
(Btw, how awesome is that sheep, hehe)
I like her simple and whimsical art as well, I think that Burton-esque tree looks pretty cool, right?
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed a little glimpse into Maja’s imaginative world as I enjoyed discovering her talent and creativity.
P.S.: you can see the way Maja decorated little corner in kids playroom using my illustrations here.
Oct 032011
I made a zine! And it’s about bears!
You can take a peek at in a video below, or check out original drawings I used to put it together.
