So, there you go, a bit of bright red and some greenery captured on one of my walks:

More weeds I find pretty:

I hope you all have colorful week

I never get bored of taking typical tourist pics of Zagreb even though I’m clearly not one.

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.

This is  the least creepy mask displayed in front of one of the stores in Radićeva street. I believe all other mask I saw in said store were designed with only one purpose in mind: to give small children nightmares.

A seemingly comfy bench in front of closed hair salon in one of the backyards in Radićeva street.

This photo was taken in Gornji grad in yard of one of the branches of law school. I liked that simple old clock…

…but what I liked even more was this old clock you can see if you wander up the stairs next to the entrance to law school. I coudn’t get a good photo of it since I used my 85mm lens, but that old Ludvik Hainz sure knew how to put together an interesting clock mechanism.

Tulips, who wouldn’t like them? They look so pretty and elegant…

…unlike this “heavy metal” door which was spotted in one of the backyards  in Tkalčićeva street (if I can remember well).

Old white window, there is something nostalgic and maybe even romantic about it. Or it’s just an antiquated piece of carpentry, you decide.

Another old window that caught my attention, or to be precise a bowl of oranges caught my attention, I’ve must’ve been hungry.

I titled this pic : basket case.

And this one: a case of many baskets.

I love dogs, and this one was so cute waiting for his owner so patiently I had to snap a picture of it!

Hello there another canine friend! I like pugs but I think they are one of the rare breeds that look cuter when they grow up. I mean they are still cute as puppies but also kinda ugly at the same time

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I wish you all happy Friday and great weekend. Do you have any plans? I’m about to embark upon a belated Spring cleaning (ouch!) and then hopefully indulge in a fun craft project over the weekend.

Whatever you do I hope you enjoy it to the fullest ♥♥♥

Enjoy:

Without much further explanation here are some pictures I took in botanical garden on a lovely Spring afternoon:

 I was impressed by beauty of magnolia trees.

Three ballerinas taking pictures of themselves.

Girl reading. I like how her bag matches the environment.

Arlen taking a picture.

Red pavilion.

The garden was bursting with beautiful colors and I enjoyed taking many pics of flowers.

Little lake and its inhabitants: sleepy ducks and active turtles.

Beautiful blossom.

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If you are in Zagreb, I highly recommend visiting botanical garden.

Working hours of the garden are:

Monday-Tuesday: 9.00-14.30
Wednesday-Sunday: 9.00-19.00

Couple of weeks ago we visited Mimara museum to see exhibition of Islamic, Mogul and Bhutan objects. Here are few pics:

And more objects from Mimara collection I found interesting. Currently I’ve been drawing a lot of abstract and flower patterns so it feels inspiring to see these old displays.

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Since Spring is in full bloom, I couldn’t resist visiting flower and Dolac market and treat myself with some fresh flowers.

A view from Dolac market and a detail of one of the fruit stands on the market itself.

Traditional Croatian souvenirs made of wood and other charming wooden products caught my eye.

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On our walk through Zagreb Upper Town we noticed an open door leading into one of backyards on Trg Sv. Marka. The backyard is full of old pieces of sculptures, scrap and feral cats (that are fortunately being fed by someone). It’s almost fascinating how such neglected place, almost a junkyard can be rights across Croatian parliament.

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 Since I’m still in a need of a break, things may remain a little silent over here, at least until Easter holidays are over. After that I’ll be having a giveaway (my two year blogging anniversary is near!) and I’ll be back with much more photos, art and writing

Have a great Friday everyone!

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?