one step at a time

Exploring  watercolors  day after day. I am painting a portrait of ( and for ) my very dear friend. Her birthday is coming up and I decided to give it a try and dived right in. I am a self taught painter ( I wouldn't call myself an artist)  and I just learn as I go.

Den po dni se seznamuji z akvarelkami. Nejsem malirka a vse co vytvarim se ucim sama, krok za krokem. Tentokrat jsem se rozhodla namalovat portret me velmi blizke kamaradky. Blizi se jeji narozeniny a jestli vsechno dotahnu do konce, bude to jeji darek.

 Can you tell that I am a bit obsess with deer lately? ....  :)
Asi uz jste uhodli, ze jsem se posledni dobou zblaznila do vysoke zvere....  :)

all images © Monika Opatril

oh deer....

We still have such a gorgeous weather and we take full advantage of it every day. We take Tess for  walk on our beach almost every evening. The days are already noticeably longer and sunsets are beautiful! I am working on lots of things as usual,  tomorrow I plan to start refinishing more pieces of furniture.  I bought  some new watercolor supplies today and had fun drawing this buck deer. I like to upload my pictures to the computer and use different filters and backgrounds to digitally enhance the image.

Stale mame nadherne pocasi a plne toho vyuzivame. Skoro kazdy den chodime s Tess na dlouhe vecerni prochazky po plazi. Dny se prodluzuji a zapady slunce jsou nadherne. Ja, jako obycejne, pracuji na vsemoznych projektech, zitra mam v planu renovovat dalsi kusy nabytku. Dnes jsem si koupila par novych "pomucek" na malovani akvarelkami a zabavila se kreslenim tohoto srnce. Jak uz jsem psala minule, rada si upravuji me obrazky digitalne v pocitaci (pozadi a ruzne filtry) a tenhle neni vyjimka.

 Lots of flowers are already in bloom.
Kytky se zacinaji probouzet.

images © monika opatril

Lately I am being lazy and do not carry my camera thus the grainy (not enough light) pictures from the beach taken just with my iPhone.

Posledni dobou jsem lina tahat fotak. Proto tedy ty zrnite fotky (malo svetla v podvecer) z plaze, focene jen  iPhone.  

I see you......

Tenhle maly srnecek se nam toula po zahrade, myslim, ze je bez mamy i kdyz srncu a srnek tu mame vic, on je vetsinou sam. Nechavam jim venku jablka, zvlast kdyz je snih a chladno jako v minulem tydnu. Vcera se na chvilku zastavil a ziral na mne skrze okno, jako by rikal "kde jsou moje jablicka?" .....a ja nemeskala a sla jsem mu  je nasypat :)) 

This little fellow hangs around all the time, I guess his mother must be gone. I leave apples out for him once in a while, specially when the weather is cold like the last few days. He was watching me this morning, probably thinking "where the heck are my apples today?" ......and I did get up and put some apples out for him :))

 

oh deer....

Jak se vam libi muj novy srnec a srnecek? Me se libi moc!

Do you like my new deer? I love them!

 Take se mi libi keramicka sovicka od  svagrove, dekuji Joy! a  keramicka houbicka od dcery (horni obrazek).

 I also like this lovely ceramic owl ornament from my sister in-law, thanks Joy! and ceramic mushroom (above) from my daughter.

 

 Kdo cetl muj minuly prispevek vi, jake jsem mela dilema. Nakonec jsem tedy koupila nove jehlice, dala se do parani a zacala jak se rika od piky. Pletu velice tenkou vlnou a tak jsem z cisla 4.5mm presla na 3.75mm (jak je mimochodem doporuceno v popisu!!!?) a s vysledkem jsem moc spokojena. Podivejte se na ten rozdil a posudte sami. Pleteni jde pomalu, musim stale pocitat a soustredit se na vzor a tak obcas vezmu do ruky jiny projekt abych se trochu odreagovala :)

 I did go out and bought a new set of needles, ripped my knitting and started over. I am so glad I did, I went from the size 4.5mm to 3.75mm, and what a difference. The shawl is coming along nicely, it is a lot of repetitive counting and I have to concentrate unless there is the odd knit or purl row.  I can see that this is going to take some time, since I am using  fingerling weight yarn.  I am already "sneaking" in some other projects :)

 

Mnohym  z vas se libila tato( horejsi foto) keramicka miska na prizi, kterou jsem vloni dostala k narozenenam od sve dcery. Tady jsou dva bajecne napady jak si poradit z utikajicim klubickem. Prvni je obycejna stara (ci nova) konvice a tady najdete navod jak promenit drevenou misku.

 Many of you commented on my yarn bowl (above) which I've got from my daughter for my birthday last year. It is ceramic, but here are two clever ideas how you can  make one for yourself. First from an old (or new) teapot and the second one from a wooden bowl. 

 

 

Preji krasny tyden a zdravim......
Have a wonderful week.....