I-F: Adapt & every day in may

Chameleons would have to be one of nature's most adaptable creatures. But still, even a chamelon has those days where 'ya just gotta be you'. my watercolour and pencil submission for Illustration Friday.

and also the last day of every day in may. I don't think I kept up with EVERY day in May, I am sorry to say, but I had good excuses: computer failure, a funeral, and a wicked sinus cold. I probably did do work on my children's book text almost every day, and I am happy to say, it is ready to be handed in tomorrow as Draft 8. so even if I didn't post about it every day as I had hoped, I'm glad I did it. yay for may :)

every day in may

eek, I'm seriously lagging behind in my every day in may posts. 

This is mostly because my computer fell into a deep depression this weekend, all it would give me was a black screen and a sad slowly rotating graphic. The doctor came and gave it some anti-depressants in the form of a new operating system. It was touch-and-go for a while there, but now it is better than ever! (big phew!)

so what creative things have I been doing every day? Mostly A LOT of editing. I finally got my children's story down to 638 words - wohoo! i put it up for workshopping and got some great feedback. I'm loving this process. So the rewriting and reworking begins.

I guess I should maybe do some ILLUSTRATION soon too! If only I didn't need to sleep...

every day in may & I-F: Parade

a parade of elephants!

Really enjoyed doing this much looser watercolour style. I think I may explore this some more.

in edim news, the editing of my children's story continues.

day 12: 725 words, day 13: 715 words, day 14: so far, 722 words. 

Don't seem to be able to break that 700 mark! 

I'm not sure that I need to, it doesn't feel too wordy to me, but then again I've been looking at it a lot lately. It has to be submitted this weekend for workshopping so I might just tighten up a few bits and see what other people say! But in short, it's going well. :)

every day in may : day ten & eleven

Yesterday was editing. 

Today was more editing. 

I didn't get to do quite as much as I had hoped, but I'm onto my 3rd draft.

Draft 1: 971 words

Draft 2: 814 words

Draft 3: 705 words.

Aiming for about 600, but it's getting harder now, and i still have a few things to add. 

I was thinking how writing and painting are opposites. With painting I really enjoy putting on finishing touches, but with writing I struggle with the details, the honing -  trying to find the right words to say something more succinctly, powerfully. The thesaurus and I share many cups of tea. It's been a fun process though, and I think it's shaping up... I hope!

every day in may : day nine

I FINISHED MY MURAL! 

I'm very happy with it.

The most challenging part was the japanese kanji symbols. I had to practice beforehand, and then completely tensed up when I went to do the real thing. I was sure I had botched it, until I got down from the ladder. It looks fine. Big tick off the list with this one - phew!

I did do some editing of my children's book too. Not a Jour d'Editing Majeur, but Moyen at least.. more tomorrow.

And here is a pic of some editing companions: a lil snack in a lovely moroccan bowl from Fes, and a nice cuppa in my favourite mug from Mozi given to me by my buddy Rachel. Don't know why I had to take this picture, I just really liked the two of them together.

Hope all you other every day in may creators and followers are having fun - see you tomorrow!

every day in may : day eight

Well I didn't DO much creative today but I have been THINKING a lot. That counts doesn't it?

I've just found out that we are reaching the workshopping stage of my writing for children course (yay!) so I need to turn my first draft into a 3rd or 4th draft by next Monday. It's okay, I'm on top of it. 

I have been revising in my head, and tomorrow will be Jour D'Editing Majeur. 

(but maybe I'll go do a bit now just so I feel better about today's creativeness...)

every day in may : day seven

Today was a sometimes frustrating but ultimately fun day of doing a second mural in my house, this one for the entry. You can see my first one in our living room here.

Whereas the living room is moroccanny/spanish, the entry has a real japanese feel to it, so I came up with the idea of doing a cherry blossom mural:


The kanji characters say 'welcome' (kan-gei, I think) - the mural greets you as you enter the house and directs you towards the kitchen, the heart of the home.

I thought (wishful thinking!) that I'd be able to get it done today, but I didn't calculate the redesign factor. I had already come up with a design, printed it out at the right size...

cut it down, got it onto the wall and realised (after some convincing from my husband) that it wasn't quite right - it was tooo big...

the next one was toooo small...

but this one was juuuust right....
that's it in place. After this photo was taken I transferred the design to the wall, so now I'm all ready to paint! Though when I'm not sure. Hopefully I can steal some time this weekend...

every day in may : day six & I-F : Hierarchy

nyah nyah nyah nyah nyaaaahhhhh!!!!

This is my creativity for day six of every day in may, and my IF contribution too. I sort of let the background go in this one and just focussed on the characters and shading (most of which is lost in this low resolution image!)

every day in may : days four & five

Day four : I started a sketch for Illustration Friday's word this week, "Hierarchy", but I'm not totally happy with it. The girl looks okay but the giraffe is a bit confused. Is it real? or is it a toy. Needs work, but I hope to finish it in time.



Today I have done some preliminary cutting and slashing on the first draft of my children's book. Much work to be done there too! But it feels good...

every day in may : day three

I went to another workshop at the williamstown literary festival today. This one was with Lucia Nardo about making a visual plan for writing, by sourcing images from magazines, etc. to make a 'writing map'. This really appealed to me - a visual outline of words sounds like a great idea.

The workshop was all a bit airy fairy though, without any structure of how to represent your book, so the end product ended up a bit primary school. Perhaps this was just a function of having limited time, but I feel the writing map idea needs to be taken further. Lucia was great though - lots of fun and kept the morning rolling. I also got to meet some lovely people so that was a plus.

anyway, here is my cut and paste job, which is more generally about writing for kids, travel and home:

every day in may : day two

I had the most wonderfully creative day today.

First, I went to the Williamstown Literary Festival and heard Garry Disher speak about generating ideas for stories. Basically he is always on the look out - anecdotes, experiences, overheard conversations, you name it!

Then, I went to the Royal Botanic Gardens, because I got the strangest call the other day. Someone called to tell me they had found my purse. My purse? But it's sitting right next to me. Then it dawned on me. Almost two years ago, my purse was stolen, out of my hand. Without thinking, I gave chase, and the mugger ran across the street into the Botanic Gardens. And now they had found my purse hanging in a tree! Crazy.

I was so curious to see what it looked like. So I retrieved it, and sat in the grass to open this little time capsule. It was so weathered that it almost looked burned, and all my old cards and things were still there, even a salvageable lipstick! Funny experience, peering into the past. Hmmm, now there's an idea for a story....
* edit - I actually blogged about the mugging here, if you are curious!

And then, because I was there, amongst the great gums and the canoodling couples, and it was such a gorgeous autumn day, I sat in the grass and i wrote the first draft of my children's book. Now I haven't reread it yet - it may have to be completely rewritten - but at least it's a first step!

(talking myself into it)

(couldn't resist doing a little sketch)

every day In may : day one

Phew! Made it. I almost forgot, what with a full day of work, tutoring after work, making food, etc. But I made it for day one of Every Day In May, a challenge from French Toast Girl to be creative every day of the month of May.

So for Day 1:
The children's book that is in my head and that I am about to write (do I keep saying that? No really, I'm writing one) is set partially in Africa. Still need to narrow it down just a little bit more as to where in Africa, so I'm starting to do some research...