It's spring! Finally!

Spring is here (by the way I've been pretty confused this year: does spring officially start on March 20 or 21?) and I couldn't help but post some flower pictures. Love flowers very much, I probably have mentioned this before and love taking pics of them like these ones.

 Flowers brighten up the house, they're really beautiful and most importantly looking at them somehow makes me feel very optimistic. Don't you agree?

Tuesday Morning Blog

What do you blog on a Tuesday morning when you're waiting impatiently for spring to suddenly appear?! Well an illustrated you've finished about a year ago but never decided to post before for no particular reason. That is my answer to the previous question, don't ask my why. So here's my little illustration that has been ready for a year or so and is only being shared today.
So good morning and may spring arrive very soon :)

A Magazine Blog

The other day I read on twitter that Amelia's Magazine is soon coming back in print. Great news I thought and I'm sure many people share my opinion. The way this magazine presented art, illustration, photography, fashion was original and fascinating. But what I always loved the most about it was this timeless feel that it had. It was easy to forget it was a magazine. It felt more like it was a book. 

Hearing that there will be new issues soon made me look for my collection. Here are some pics of it:

I've got all the issues except the first three. Hope to find and buy them some time.

These are pics of some of the gifts they used to send with each issue: lovely cards, a small notebook with a great illustrated cover, a wonderfully designed usb, a set of colour pens etc 

  close up of the notebook and usb

Thats the paper carousel that you could cut and assemble yourself. It was featured in issue #5 if I remember correctly.

What I find inspiring part 2: Le petit Nicolas

I don't think that I need to write a huge introduction about these books. They're absolute classics. Written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean Jacques Sempé they present the (school) life of a group of kids in Paris during the 50s, as described by little Nicolas.

It's a series of illustrated books that I absolutely adore! I got to know about them a few years ago and not as a kid as most readers probably have. It was a random discovery while I was looking for something that would help me improve my ability to understand written French. The black and white illustrations captured my attention immediately and when I actually begun reading I was truly fascinated by the books' incredible sense of humor.

A film based on those books has also been made a few years ago. It's a wonderful comedy and I higly recommend watching it. More info about it HERE

Couldn't help but post some photos from my collection so here they are:

A Cat Called Louiza

This illustration is actually inspired by this cat I used to have. A cat that was called Louiza. See this was a very clever cat but she never seemed to relax. So I wanted to draw her as this character who's trying to calm down a bit maybe do some yoga. Somehow I found this idea quite funny. At first in the drawing she had cat ears, whiskers etc but for some reason I decided to erase them before coloring everything. Now she almost looks like very normal person but she's still 100% Louiza. See she's trying to relax but one of her eyes remains open.

What I find inspiring part 1: Mika4Swatch

It's been quite some time now that I've been thinking that I should start blogging about everything I find  inspiring. And what better way to start this than by writing about the Mika4Swatch designs.

These watches and their pretty amazing cases are like a lesson on how to turn an everyday object into something super special, a real work of art. How cool is that!!! 

 Love the colors, the design and this feeling it gives you that it's part of a story. It instantly makes you believe that there's a whole world built around it. And what a brilliant surprise it is to discover that there is indeed a story in which the design of these watches and their cases is based. You can watch a video of the amazing Mika and Yasmine talking about their collaboration with Swatch and the story/world of the watches HERE 

I was very lucky to have been able to go to the signing at the Swatch store in London last November and here's what I brought back home with me!

Bonjour 2014 !!

Happy New Year! And yes it's my dog in the illustration welcoming 2014 :)

PS, I feel like I need to add a little thank you to 2013 for the lessons (a lot of them) and some really cool memories.