Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Meet my little Julie character :)

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've properly blogged about anything :) So if you're looking at my blog right now, you'd notice that I've changed the design (again) haha, but these are my own little paintings :) I'm starting to build a water colour/illustration portfolio online, and so I've created my own little character to represent myself :) If only I was this cute!! 

Been endorsing in a lot of art medium and hardware lately! Bought myself an A3 Multi-function Centre (so I could use the A3 scanner with ease!) last week, which made me pretty much broke for the rest of last week! XD And this week, bought myself the Wacom Intuos4 Medium Drawing Tablet :) It's so sleek and sexy! I couldn't help but express my undying love for it every time I walk out of my room last night! Lmao, how silly! XD Been wanting to buy a Wacom for over a year now, so this is great :) 

Seriously so so so so pretty :) 

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Anyway, so I've just been working full time lately at the cafe, hence my big spending habits.. but I'm so sick of work :( I'm tired of waking up so early and having to deal with ongoing customers with their damn coffee/brekkie orders so early in the morning! Haven't been able to sleep properly for the past couple of nights, last night I just woke up at 3am, thinking I had to go to work :( it's so silly man! Bleh.. just 2 more days and then it's the weekend again! :) 

Gotta hang in tight! It's not all for nothing :)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Love actually is all around

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… love actually is all around." 
 Love Actually

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Jeffrey Campbell Lita Platforms

Umm...I REALLY WANT TO BUY SOME! >:D


I'm definitely going to buy the mustard pair :) probably in the next couple of months! Rah rah rah! They're so pretty. Seriously love them!! Would love to buy the patchwork one, but haven't found a site with my size :( haha, man.. this is just my materialistic side shining through.. retail therapy <3

First discovered them from Willabelle from Pale Division a while back (here) - love her style :3 - and I kept seeing them on random tumblr posts. Couldn't help but fall in love with them! My friend Kim (aka Usher, who writes reviews! Check her out here) bought a pair recently too! Looked gorgeous when she wore them out to dinner a couple of weeks back! >.< It's a shame the heel was a lil dodgy on one of the shoes. But she did let me try them on and they were comfy :) :) Can't wait to own a pair!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Cute bunny ears and puppy eyes!

Just came back from my trip to Adelaide this morning! It was a very lovely trip, where I got spend some quality time with Aaron and catch up with some old friends whom I haven't seen for months or for over a year >.< makes me wish that my stay in Adelaide was longer because there are so many old friends that I'd like to catch up with every time I return.

Time always flies when you're happy. 

* * *

So I brought along all of my water colour things and sketch book to continue painting whenever I had nothing else to do and while Aaron was busy. :) I decided to give drawing animals a shot. I haven't really ever taken the time to sketch out animals before. I guess I've always found the idea a little scary, that maybe I wasn't good enough. I mean, I was never really good at drawing faces or human life forms, but I'm still trying. I guess I wanted to test out new waters when I decided to draw this cute little puppy (here), a photo which I found on tumblr again hehe! It was drawn at 10PM at night at Adelaide Uni, while I was waiting for Aaron to finish studying! :) Not bad for an extremely sleepy Julie!



The next night, while Aaron was 'studying' again haha, I started drawing this cute lil bunny (here) that's standing up right with its paws up! I was a little nervous when I wanted to started painting over my sketched lines of the bunny - only coz I must have spent a good 20 minutes or so making sure the bunny looks good with its lil furry lines and shading. But I was very careful with painting the shape of the bunny (you'll notice that I painted a black border around its fur for its outline), and trying to paint the delicate fur lines so it looks fluffy! hahaha :) I'm quite proud with how its eyes and ears turned out! You can imagine how excited I was to show Aaron once I was finished (^_^)


I forgot to take a 'before' photo of the sketched bunny before I started to paint over it >.< but I will from now on to show my process! :) 

I guess I've somewhat conquered my fear of drawing animals a bit, there's still plenty for me to learn and take into consideration when drawing life forms. I look back now, making comparisons to the original photo and what I painted - there are many differences like I made the bunny's butt too big haha, and the puppy's head is bigger than it's body - but I what I do like is that I added my own little style to it, and was able to recreate something real into something that lives on paper (if that made any sense!) I'm also working on drawing/painting this photo of this pretty girl and her lovely looking side profile :) (here

I <3 Water Colour Painting!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

All wrapped up with love

Took out a couple of hours tonight to paint more with water colours. I feel very serene and easy going when I start to concentrate on sketching and painting, great way to relax after a full day at work today!

I decided to do a tonal painting today with just the colour black, allowing me to practice handling the brush strokes :) and also to practice my shadows and light colours - something I exercised a lot last year while I was completing 2D Design as a course (I got to draw naked people! Weeee!) I'm honestly not very good at shading with shadows with pencil, but I found it much easier to do so with the paint brush! How wonderful! :D

This was my end product, where I referenced a photo of the parcel found here.



Still need plenty of practice but I'm pretty happy with it! Quite proud of how my ribbon turned out! It wasn't even suppose to be black/grey haha! But it does give off a 3D feel, and I'm all smiles :) As you can maybe tell, I really like mixing the pinks/violets together <3 it's sooo purrrrrrrrrdy!

* * * 

I LOVE COLBIE CAILLAT!

No kidding! I've driven home from work listening to her a couple of times now in Jenny's car, and it's the best music to listen to when you're driving. BEST EVER! Especially after the hectic duties of work, her voice is so beautiful to listen to while you're chilling in the car! You should try it out! :D

Favourite songs atm by her: I Do, Brighter Than The Sun, Before I Let You Go 
(pretty much her whole new album 'All Of You' hehehehe)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.
Stephen King (On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft)

Closest thing to magic for me


I broke into my new water colour sketch book on Saturday night and decided to paint a photo of which I found on tumblr - a girl with her eyes closed (here) I started out lightly sketching out her facial features, keeping in mind that these lines will help me a lot when I start painting.

Once I got the feel of the brush, I started to delicately paint her eye lashes and I pretty much continued on - always referring back to the original photo, where it helps me to distinguish the shadows and crucial lines that make up her face. It's a black and white photo, but I decided to improvise with additional colours for her lips and cheeks, to really bring her to life, and it turned out better than I expected! :)

As you can see, I continued to just play with the colours as I started painting little purple/violet flowers in place of her hair! It was so much fun mixing the colours purple, violet, blue etc all together and see what they become once they touch the paper :)


I'm pretty proud of what I did so far for this painting (^_^) the great thing about water colour painting is that I can easily go back to painting more to an oldie, as the colours are so delicate, gentle if you want it to be, and vibrant and bright too if you choose! I love it! :D I couldn't help but spend the rest of the night, till 2a.m. just playing with the colours.

I believe this is new love affair of mine is here to stay...


Uploaded some more of my water colour paintings on Facebook :) (link)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face….You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  
- Eleanor Roosevelt

My new art station :)


Took some time to rearrange my desk so I can make some room for a little painting station! Now all my paint brushes are right where I can just easily access them and I can paint easily sitting at my table! :D How fancy! hahaha! This is me trying to feed my new hobby of painting with water colours :) So far I've just been painting with acrylic paints, and usually I just sit on the floor with the easel. Can you believe how tired your legs can get after a really long while of just sitting on the floor cross legged??


My first attempt of painting with water colours from last night :) 

I still have a long way to go with mastering how to mix beautiful colours together but it's a start! I seriously feel like it's magic when the water colour paints just burst into bright and vibrant colours when it touches water! BAM!


Definitely one of the closest things to magic <3


Spent a good hour or so collecting a whole load of water colour painting inspirations on tumblr <3 (click here)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Adelaide Flights Booked! :)


Last minute trip down to Adelaide has been booked and confirmed! I'll be heading back to my hometown next Wednesday afternoon at 5:30pm and I can't wait! Can't wait to see Aaron again and catch up with a couple of my friends. I told my mum and, as always, told me off for always wanting to return to Adelaide, for spending my money carelessly.. and yeah, it's always about the same things. I'm sorry mum, but this is my life. I know I might sound spoilt and stubborn, but I worked hard for this money in a job that you pretty much forced me to do. So I'm pretty sure I have every right to spend it however I like.

I'll just be staying 4 nights, where I'll be leaving Sunday morning at 9:30am (>.<) such a short trip but I'll make the most of it. Aaron says that we'll be cooking for the family to eat for a couple of nights! So that'll be interesting! :D I've already got this recipe from The Herald Sun on how to make bangers and mash! Yum, I seriously love mashed potatoes! The chef at the cafe makes the best, it's actually going to be on the menu tomorrrrrrrow! Even if I'm quite sick now, I'll be working tomorrow and treat myself to some mash (^_^)

$4 passport photos we took along Chapel Street last time Aaron came to visit :)

* * *

After I'll be meeting up with peeps from uni, whom I haven't seen for sooooo long! Pvan especially! I miss uni so much, and I know as much as I used to complain about it.. I miss dressing up and looking pretty (rare days when I do try haha) and going out. Felt independent somewhat haha. Now I just go to work, where I pretty much just roll out of bed and go to work haha :) Good stuff! Anyway, we'll be watching Captain America! *fingers crossed* it'll be a good one! I already made Aaron tell me how it goes lmao, so I know what happens. Oh well. :) I never let that ruin a good movie for me! If anything, it makes me anticipate it more because I understand what's going on!!

Sigh, okay, I should return to bed. These sniffles are being stubborn and I need a good rest for tomorrow! (>_<)

Goodnight and sweet dreams <3

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Move. Learn. Eat.

Just stumbled across a few awesome videos made by Rick Mereki, Tim White and Andrew Lees, where they were each called: MOVE, LEARN and EAT. This is their little synopsis of their project while they were travelling across 11 countries!
3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....
= a trip of a lifetime.
MOVE

MOVE is my favourite, and then the FOOD video is just plain awesome, makes me so hungry just looking at all the tasty dishes! I'm definitely inspired by watching these short films :) makes me want to travel more and be more adventurous! Loving the piano playing in the background too~  very uplifting feel <3

Monday, August 8, 2011

Reow! New arty stuff!


I must have spent a good hour or so after work today at Chaddy, walking around and taking my time with buying new art supplies (^_^) I love it how the reject shop sells such cheap and good quality canvases! Couldn't help but bought myself a few new ones so I can start painting again! I recently am fascinated with water colour painting! So I bought myself a watercolour paint set, along with oil paint set from Kmart for $8 each! So cheap! And I found myself a watercolour cake set (kind of like crayons) from this variety store :) bought some new tonal pencils and a new art diary too~ wow I must have spent about $80+ but I don't really feed my love for art very often like this so it's all good. :) I'm going to test out the colours now! Rah rah rah!

* * *

P.S. I PASSED MY DRIVE TEST! I'M A P-PLATER YO! :D :D

Whoop whoop! If I wake up early enough tomorrow, mum will let me drive to work :) Big step for her! Allowing me to drive her and all! I sure hope I don't give her a heart attack... (=_=)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Time for another moodboard!


So I thought it was time for another change of a desktop background, hence I spent the last half hour or so making a new moodboard from all my current favourite images from tumblr (with that being said, I do not own any of these images – all my respects to their authors) I really like all these images for my new one. They’re all about uplifting my mood and encouraging me to be brave and go out there and make something of myself. Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m just getting stuck and too comfortable in this work cycle routine – where I just wake up, go to work, go home, rest, sleep and start all over again! I really gotta get a move on with completing my online portfolio and start looking for new work placement! Let’s graduate already Julie!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

My New Babies :)



Say hello to my new pair of heels! Fell in love with it when I first saw it at Rubi (>_<) Couldn’t help but go ahead and spoil myself! I wore these out last Saturday for Anthony’s birthday dinner at Sofia’s :) Very comfy! I like it how it’s black as night. Would have love to buy the other tan brown pair as well but one’s enough. :)

Monday, August 1, 2011

Painting is Love


Just yesterday I painted for Kim’s 22nd birthday cardboard cut outs and it felt pretty nice. It’s been such a long time since I’ve painted anything. It was great fun painting and having company of the girls and watching movies <3
Domo-kun Onigiri + cute looking onigiri painted by Sarah and Kimu ~
Totoro painted by Cat!! <3 I can’t wait to take him home! >.<
Ninjaaaaa painted by Sarah! HIYAH!!
My 6 hours + work on Hatsune Miku :) gonna finish her eyes this Friday!
Spent a good 5-6 hours or more working on these! Proud to say that everything’s looking really good :) Getting excited about this Saturday! It’s been a while since I’ve been to a birthday party! XD
* * *
Sitting in my room right now is a square canvas that I painted gold a few months back, but never got around to adding any content to this blank background. Now that Ive experienced the nice feeling of painting something and finishing something that I can be proud of, Im rolling with ideas on what to paint :)
I really do like this feeling. I should have known sooner. I started painting to take a break from life in the first place. A reminder is always nice. I believe its time for my wall to have a new addition to its company :)

Be Brave


I have to stop caring what other people think of me. I have to stop comparing myself to others who ‘seem’ to have it all. I have to stop being negative and pessimistic about things.
I have to let go.