❉

I finished my beetle watercolor painting last weekend. I had to buy another brush for all those tiny details. I am finding out what I need and like (and dislike) as I go. I still didn't purchase any set of more expensive watercolors. I am quite content what I have right now, which is the student grade. Oh well, the time will come ;)

Minuly vikend jsem dokoncila akvarel brouka. Musela jsem si koupit dalsi stetec na ty malinke detaily. Postupne zjistuji co potrebuji a co me vyhovuje (a nevyhovuje). Jeste stale jsem se neodhodlala koupit drahe akvarelove barvy, zatim jsem spokojena s tim co mam, coz je studentska kvalita.  No coz, ten cas prijde ;)

Nature is waking up.
My peach tree is still in the pot and I put it in the greenhouse for the winter. Its already flowering ♥

Priroda se probouzi.
Broskvicku ve vekem kvetinaci mam zazimovanou ve skleniku a uz krasne kvete ♥

 Plum tree outside.
Svestka venku.

Heather
 Vřes

 I am very happy that I found black elderberry shrub plant at our nursery. There is red berry variety growing everywhere here, but it is not edible.  I came across one black elderberry once, but I was not able to propagated it.

 Mam silenou radost, sehnala jsem v zahradnictvi bezinku. Tady je rozsireny druh z cervenymi bobulemi, ktere nejsou jedle. Na jeden ker cerne bezinky jsem narazila ale nepodarilo se mi ji rozmnozit. A to se rika, ze bezinka je plevel!

 Lots of greens are growing all winter as we have such a mild year. Kale, parsley, arugula, swiss chard and of course the winter staple leeks.

Letosni zima byla opravdu mirna a tak mimo porku, ktery vydrzi celou zimu roste kaderabek, rukola, swiss chard, petrzelka.

 I've got some new pictures of the boys from my daughter. They grow way to fast!

A jeste par fotek nasich kluku, ktere jsem dostala od dcery. Rostou jako z vody! 

 all images ©Monika Opatril

KOH-I-NOR watercolor

I am sure, most of you probably already came across the "photo to wood transfer" tutorial on the internet. I wanted to try this for years, but never really got to it.  Well I am going to celebrate my friends birthday next week and I wanted to make something special for her. So I took a photo from our Hornby getaway weekend and make her this "photo frame" with her pooch Juno in it. I hope that she will like it! I found this piece of wood with nice thick bark still attach to it and I thought that that will be the perfect "canvas" for this project. I like the rustic look and I know that's the look my friend likes too.   Here is a good tutorial if you want to give it a try yourself.

Jsemsi jista, ze jste uz na internetu narazily na tuto techniku prenosu fotky na drevo. Ja se ji chystala vyzkouset uz nekolik let ale nikdy jsem se k tomu nedostala.....az ted. Pristi tyden slavime narozeniny me kamaradky a tak jsem ji udelala tenhle "ramecek" s fotkou jeji cubicky Juno. Vyfotila jsem ji pri nasem pobytu na Hornby a ted se me to naramne hodilo.  Vybrala jsem tenhle kousek dreva s tlustou kurou, je to v rastickem stylu, ktery ma ona moc rada. Jestli si tuto techniku chcete vyzkouset, nasla jsem pro vas navod  zde.

 I found this Czech KOH-I-NOR watercolor wheel set in our craft store. I was stoke! It brings back so many childhood memories :)

Minuly tyden jsem u nas ve meste! objevila tyhle KOH-I-NOR vodove barvy. Musela jsem si je okamzite koupit, vzpominku na detstvi jsem tam proste nemohla nechat :)

  

My resolution to paint daily is not really working, but I try to sit down and "doodle" as much as I can. Our time is changing tonight and with longer days I may have more time to paint :)

Muj zavazek vytvorit alespon jednu "maluvku" denne se mi moc nedari ale snazim se zasednou a malovat jak jen to cas dovoli. Dnes v noci se u nas meni cas a z delsimi dny to snad pujde lip :)

Do you remember the rabbit on my shelf.  Anyway, this was an attempt to pain him....

Pamatujete si na tohohle  zajicka na me polici? Takhle dopadl pokus ho namalovat...

 I was home alone all day today. I painted three pieces of furniture with the chalk paint and also started this beetle painting. I hope I can show you the finish picture next time. Productive day for me, wishing you a wonderful weekend as well.

Dnes jsem byla cely den sama doma. Natrela jsem tri kusy nabytku "kridovou barvou" a pustila se do tohoto brouka. Priste vam ho uz snad predvedu dokonceneho a v plne krase ;)  Pro me produktivni den, preji vam krasny vikend.

Spring

Yay first spring day. It is still super nice here, my girlfriends and I went to Hornby Island last weekend for our annual girls getaway. It was as usual  AWESOME !  Are you ready for pictures overload?  It's going to be a long scroll, lol. Enjoy.....

Hura, prvni jarni den!  U nas je stale nadherne, minuly tyden jsem stravila s kamaradkama na ostrove Hornby. Je to uz tradicni, kazdorocni "damska jizda". Bylo to, jako pokazde UZASNE !  Jste pripraveni ? Bude to dlouhe ale doufam, ze si to uzijete ;)

☺

 I like to snap pictures with my phone. It's convenient and the phone fits in my pocket. Also it's really easy to post pictures on the Instagram or Facebook right away.  But I missed  my camera so out it came again instead of my phone. Being able to take better quality photos and  "play" with the settings and lenses makes it up for the inconvenient size.

Rada fotim z telefonem protoze je maly a vejde se mi do kapsy. Je take sikovne mit moznost fotky rovnou poslat na Instagram nebo na Facebook. Ale zastesklo se mi po fotaku a tak jsem ho zase "oprasila" a zacala si hrat.



If you didn't see my kitchen before, you could probably guess which color is  the most dominant just from looking at these shelves ;)

Jestli jste nikdy nevideli mou kuchyn lehce uhodnete, ktera barva tam prevlada jen z pohledu na me policky ;)

Also I finally manage to take  pictures of these  infinity scarfs. You can find them in my fb shop.

Konecne jsem nafotila i davno dodelane saly. K dostani na me facebook strance.

And of course I had my "helper"  Charlie watching me. He follows me everywhere like a dog and he is super sweet!

No a samosebou jsem na to mela pomocnika Charliho, ktery za mnou vsude chodi jako pejsek a je hrozne mily a pritulny!

photos © 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.  

Happy Valentine's Day ♥

Happy Valentine Everyone, a special day to celebrate what we do every day, love one another. What a wonderful day to tell the world and remind each other how lucky we are to have each other ♥


Preji vam hezkeho Valentyna ♥

© monika opatril