Sketching, sketching

Another tiny bit from the project I´m working on. These are some cutouts that were going to go to the trash bin. I´m glad I saved them from my after-cutting-cleaning fury!

This weekend is a long one (again) here in Argentina, as monday is a public holiday. I hope to use the extra free time to study german and to knit. Speaking of which, tomorrow is Worldwide Knit in Public Day! Yay! I stocked myself earlier today with a visit to a couple of yarn shops here, so it can now be cold and rainy: I´m all good and prepared!

Have a nice weekend!

My so called Hemlock Blanket post-blocking

My very own version of the Hemlock Blanket is now blocked and sitting produly on the couch - or my back, in fact. The energic blocking was effective and it is now flat (-ish), wonderfully soft and I just feel like hugging it the whole time. Once again, after the owls sweater, this wool (Pura lana from Milana, a shop here in Buenos Aires) has proved to soften up and become wearable - almost next to the skin.

I love my new blanket and I´ll consider giving the pattern a second go, to see if I ever get the feathers and fans right. Still, I totally love my blanket - I love it a lot more than I thought I would!

More photos here.

A life of his own

Yesterday was the third and last session of our fixed pose series and the main goal was to finish the painting, that is, looking at it and feeling there was nothing else to add, and nothing else to take. The moment I finished it, I felt like "my baby" had left and gained a life of his own, and that´s why I took it to the park and photographed it under the warm light of the winter sun.

More photos of session one, two (and all of them).

My so called Hemlock Blanket

My Hemlock Blanket doesn´t look like a Hemlock Blanket at all, I should change its name. I could say I made some modifications to the pattern, but basically I think I "created" a new one. Despite all this, I´m happy about it, just wondering a little if a good blocking will be enough to flatten it down. So far, it has kept me warm while I knitted it, and that´s already very good for me knitter´s heart.

Twenty years later...

...has the situation in China changed?

Twenty years ago, on this date, the tanks rolled up on Tiananmen square. It was a Saturday morning, a regular school-day at that time, but a typhoon nearby raised the alert and classes were suspended. We were at home, as outside the wind ssemed to be nearly breaking our windows. We watched the news in disbelief, feeling it couldn´t be possible such a move for the chinese authorities. It did happen, though, and it was an exciting day - because something was about to change - but mostly a sad day - because, knowing how China is, probably nothing would change.

Looking back, has it changed? Probably yes, but the claws of censorship are still there and all we get to see are the good parts. China and its people deserve more.

Last Monday

This week´s painting class was the second session of a fixed pose. I worked a bit on the volumes and then it was time to "throw myself into the pool", as argentines say it, and start working on the background.

Backgrounds are terrible difficult for me. Mostly because I don´t feel like making a room-like situation, complete with furniture or not. I´m not very keen on drawing lines to make a room, I have no idea why. I like to see it when other people do it, though, but I don´t seem to find a way of doing it myself. Maybe it is not that I don´t like it; maybe I just don´t know how to do it.

So, how do I work a background? That´s a good question for which I have no answer. I basically try and let go the fear of ruining, and then I can paint.

Let´s see where this background takes me.

Viñetas Sueltas, Buenos Aires

Inspite of the cold and rainy weather - Winter is here! - we decided to "venture out" during the weekend to visit one of our favourite Buenos Aires restaurants, Osaka, and then to visit the second edition of the local international comic festival. We didn´t attend any of the talks but the exhibition itself was quite inviting, with quite a wide range of artists on display. It was good to see our favourite artists again, as well as to get to know new ones. The fanzine factory and the fanzine market were two of my favourite corners of the whole exhibition, though I have no pictures from it.

And the best part of having such cold weather?



Getting to wear my hand-knits!