Selfportrait

This is my last entry for the Portrait Party contest. One of the portrait exchanges had to be with an enemy. I don´t really have an enemy, except for myself: I´m the only one stopping myself from doing things I want to do. I´m exaggerating a little bit. Except for a few things I´m quite content with myself and with the portraits too. I love the second one, though I do not look as young as on that pic. But the first one looks more like me.

Me:

And her: ;)

Portrait Of My Mother

I just couldn´t find any pic of my mom!!! At the family portrait exchange she was either taking care of something or standing next to me taking pics. So I didn´t even take one of her. I did this quick portrait in 2 minutes (??) with a fat Copic marker. I could not have made a more detailed portrait of her without a pic or without her sitting in front of me. But I am surprised that I can even recognize her.
One last portrait for the Portrait Party contest in an hour and then I´m off to have dinner. I´m starving! (Unfortunately I won´t be able to eat right away, because I have to sketch the sushi and the petit fours first! ;) )

My mom:

And me:

Portrait Of Benjamin S.

Benjamin was the first one who exchanged portraits with me for the contest. I hadn´t expected him to do that, as he´s more of a writer than a painter. Anyway next time please close your mouth. I´m not good at drawing teeth. ;)

Benjamin:

And me:

Portrait Of My Daughter

Time is running out for the Portrait Party contest. Just a few hours left for me to complete two more portraits and I just can´t find any pic of my mom!!!
Anyway here is the portrait exchange with my daughter (5 years old), which is the most colorful one I´ve done so far. When I asked her whether she would like to draw me I had more than 10 pictures in an hour. She usually likes to draw me as a queen or a fairy. Sometimes even both. It was hard to choose a favorite as they are all wonderful and colorful.
Then I told her that maybe she could just draw me once without the fairy wings and the crown. Just me. And the result is pretty good too (last pic).

My daughter (right out of the bath tub):

And me as a fairy:

Thanks For Linking Me In The Year 2007!

Thanks to all the people who have linked to my blog in the year 2007 in some way or the other.

Non-English blogs:
100 Tage Bücher
coderwelsh/synchron./
Hanging Lydia
litblogs
logbuch isla volante
Tivoli-Blog
Turmsegler

English blogs:
AfricanTapestry
Allotment Lady
Amber Forgey
arindamart
Art Biz Blog
Auntie Mim´s Art, Crafts, Life's journal
bite your own tail
Ces And Her Dishes Part II
Drawing & Sketches - dibujandoarte
Drawings & Sketches
Dustpan Alley
Emma Pod
g-shtält, -shtôlt, -stält, -stôlt
graphic:DESIN:basics
Have Dogs, Will Travel
Illustration Friday
Illustration Friday Night
Jana’s Journal and Sketch Blog
Laurelines Drawings and Paintings
Made by Milla
mARTa's Art
Mommy Palooza
Pen In Hand
Pookie Art
rue Manuel bis
Sketchpot
Stefan G. Bucher´s Daily Monster
The EDM SuperBlog
The Ephemerist
The Portrait Party
"Where You Stumble, there lies your treasure"

(In case I forgot someone, just let me know.)

UPDATE:
It´s 2008 now, but I just have to brag and add another name here:
Tommy Kane

Brothers

Just by coincidence my two brothers are portrayed on the moleskine pages facing each other. I like it.

Portrait Of Hans K.

Here´s the portrait of my other brother Hans. So far (for the Scavenger Hunt) he has been the most difficult one for me to achieve at least a little resemblance. I think now he can be recognized, even if the chin is way too pointy.

My brother:

And me:

Who is next? :)

Geisha In My Dreams

Today I went to bed at 4 am, could not sleep until at least 5 am and was thrown out of bed by my son at 6 am. At least I could remember the dream I had.

"Never stitch (draw) the river running towards you, as long as you don´t have a master."

I was a japanese lady sitting somewhere outside and stitching a nature scene. Then an old woman or maid ran to me and grabbed my stitching frame and turned it around nervously. She told me that as I didn´t belong to any master I was not allowed to stitch the river flowing towards me. Instead I would have to stitch it flowing away from me.

Any ideas or explanations?

Portrait of Alexander K.

Here´s the next portrait of the Portrait Party we had at my mom´s place on Dec. 26. This time it´s my youngest brother Alex. It is the first time I had to draw a beard and that isn´t very easy.

My brother:

His first two tries were without his glasses, but for the third one (his masterpiece) he put them on.

And me:

Portrait Of Tamara F.

Two days ago we had a lot of fun at my mom´s place drawing each other for the Portrait Party contest. Here is the portrait exchange with my sister.

Here´s the portrait I drew of my sister:


And this is me drawn by my sister:

Portrait Party Contest

Rama Hughes of The Portrait Party has organized a Scavenger Hunt (A Portrait Party Contest) as the first contest went so well. I tried my best the last time but didn´t have enough portraits to win the contest.

This time there are a few more rules. The Contestants must complete a portrait swap with the following subjects:

• a parent (my mother)
  
• a child (my daughter)
  
• a sibling (my sister, my brother, my second brother)
  
• a significant other (my husband)
  
• an old friend
• a peer
• a teacher
• a hero
• a stranger
• an enemy (selfportrait ;))
  

I actually didn´t want to join the contest as December has been pretty busy and all of us sick too. But now during the holidays I did have some time. And when we were all at my mom´s place and I had just told my sister and brothers about the contest they all sat down with their pencils right away. I had 5 portraits in a few minutes!!!! I won´t win the contest this time either, but it is fun anyway.

Do Websites Have To Look The Same In Every Browser?

Do websites have to look the same in every browser?

*rotfl
(via The Presurfer)

Anton Rittiner

A few months ago I was surprised by a portrait, which was posted at logbuch - isla volante (one of my favorite blogs).
Isla volante is a virtual island - somewhere, nowhere, out there, in the future and you can read about the happenings on the island, the people living there and about the visitors.

Today I can finally return the favor, even though I think I made Anton Rittiner look older than he really is. The Swiss artist seems to be a nice guy and maybe one day I´ll own a set of his phantastic paintings. I just love this one.

Oscar Peterson

IN MEMORIAM

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson

August 25 1925 - December 23 2007

Goodbye By Oscar Peterson

"Oscar Peterson is a mother fucking piano player!"
(Ray Charles, in Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues - Piano Blues (2003))

Oscar Peterson, a Canadian jazz pianist who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole, died yesterday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. He was 82. (via Bloomberg)

James By Tim Burton

Unwisely, Santa offered a teddy bear to James, unaware
that he had been mauled by a grizzly earlier that year.

Merry Christmas!

©2004-2007 `suzi9mm

Season´s Greetings & Happy Holidays...

...to all of you. Hope you get a lot of hugs, kisses, presents, laughs and everything else you wish for.

Franz Dobler

I finally scanned the portrait of Franz Dobler (whom I had mentioned here). Just like all the other portraits, this one was done inside my portrait Moleskine.

Super!

© by Soasig Chamaillard

I feel like it is Christmas already. When I came back home, there was this tiny parcel waiting on my laptop. My MINOX DCC Leica M3 arrived today! And it is such a wonderful little toy. The battery is still loading, so I couln´t try it out yet. Anyway, the camera is perfect for taking pics of people without being noticed.

Beware! Or I´ll shoot you secretly!

Pay It Forward - Game Started!

Over at Mithi's blog I had read about the pay-it-forward game. I have got one year to send people some handmade gifts. Today I found the time to shop for the stuff I need for starting with my idea.

Now I just need the participants to choose their favorite (and second favorite) design and I can try to send off the presents this year.

From left to right:
Pic 1:

1. circles
2. hearts
3. zebra

Pic 2:

1. blue flowers gold
2. yellow butterfly flowers
3. delicate blue
4. blue green
5. blue star design

Pic 3:

1. red orange gold
2. blue pink gold
3. pink
4. asian circles
5. pink flower pattern

Please comment here which designs you prefer. Thanks!

Update:
Recipients:
1. Milla: pink flower pattern
2. Mithi: hearts, delicate blue
3. Mim: blue pink gold
4. Ann: blue green, blue stars
5. Fabe: I guess for the only guy in this round, i´m going to think of something else. ;)
6. Switchsky:

Speed Shopping (100 Ideas 26)

Mim and Casey already completed this task, so I hurried with it too. Yesterday I only had 30 minutes to got to 3 stores before the shops closed. I hastened through the aisles of the supermarket and just took everything which looked appealing to me. Illustrated are not only the groceries, but everything I bought on Saturday.

26. Illustrate your grocery list.

This sketch is inspired by the blog Obsessive Consumption. Everyday Kate Bingaman-Burt posts a quick sketch of her daily purchase. I think she´s been doing that for the past 3 years.
I did everything in a quick and fast style too, but the boots were very pretty difficult to draw fast. (I remember my last drawing of shoes. These high-heels took a long time.)

Link to Mim´s post
Link to Casey´s post
100 ideas

Introduction To Literature By Franz Dobler

© by Franz Dobler

Franz Dobler is a German author, journalist and DJ. Check out his website (German!) and blog for more information about him and his work.
I have been reading books ever since I can remember, but I owe him my love for special books and authors. About 15 years ago I would receive a book every Christmas from him and usually the book or author would be new to me. 1996 I received "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote. This little book and Franz Doblers´own work started my love for reading books by Capote and lead to authors like Charles Bukowksi, William S. Burroughs and many others.
I´ve got about five of Doblers´ books and I´m very fond of his style too. But I have to admit I started appreciating/enjoying his writing only when I was about twenty years old. And I still have to read his biography about Johnny Cash: "The Beast in me. Johnny Cash. Und die seltsame und schöne Welt der Countrymusik.". It´s waiting for me in my book shelf.
A few weeks ago I found out that he also starred in a movie project. I´m curious to see it and haven´t even managed to visit one of his recent readings and dj-events either but I do hope to catch up with that soon.

And where is the portrait I drew of him???? That was actually the reason for this post! I´ll scan and post it later.

The Road To Nod

The Road To Nod is a black and white movie about wrong decisions and their consequences. The premier was shown in Frankfurt July 28, 2007. I do hope it will be shown in Munich too.

"It's not what you think it is. It's Nod. That is the Biblical land Cain was searching for after murdering his brother Able. And that is, metaphorically speaking, also the place criminal Parrish is searching for in director M.A. Littler's feature film "The Road To Nod".

"The Road To Nod", which ably blends elements of film noir with road movie elements and a dirty delta blues soundtrack will celebrate its international premiere on July 28th in Frankfurt. The main character Parrish, whose attempt for redemption while serving a nine-year sentence was more of a lip service is quickly back to his vicious habits after being released from prison. But times have changed as have his old business partners, so he soon finds himself on the run from trouble.

Also starring is actress, creator, producer and directrice Michelle "Valentina Violette" Carr. Alongside Elvia Lehman Miss Carr and her glittering, raunchy and glamouros troupe The Velvet Hammer pretty much invented the New Burlesque in 1995. The glorious L.A. based bunch of performers since then had a strong impact on popular culture. Someone should really point that out in cold print (maybe even coloured)... "

(via Die Gestalten)

"A dark, brooding and narcotic Film Noir featuring Delaney Davidson, Chris Hughes, Rev. Beat-Man, Franz Dobler, Jeroen Visser, Valentina Violette, Tallulah Freeway, Alain Croubalian, Mischa De Haring, Manfred Peckl, Miron Zownir & Dominique Noiret."

Yak Shaving

By chance I learnt a new expression and I love it:

yak shaving

1. (idiomatic) Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on.

(via wikipedia)

Machine Girl

© by azsiafilm

This is the next movie I´ll have to see.



A Japanese High School girl seeks revenge on the ninja yakuza family who killed her brother and cut off her left arm which has been replaced with a machine gun. (from Director Noburo Igushi)
(via otomano)

Rashomon - Papillon D'Amour

My husband posted about Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa today. That reminded me of this video "Papillon D'Amour" by Nicolas Provost which I had seen some months ago.

"By subjecting fragments from the Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon to a mirror effect, Provost creates a hallucinatory scene of a woman's reverse chrysalis into an imploding butterfly. This physical audiovisual experience produces skewed reflections upon Love, its lyrical monstrosities, and a wounded act of disappearance. " (via wikipedia.com)

In July 2006, a Japanese court ruled that all Japanese films produced before 1953 are part of the Public Domain. So you can watch the whole movie (1h27m) here or here. The movie "Rashomon" is Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's short story dealing with the subjectivity of eyewitness evidence in the solving of a crime.

Q & A 1: Childhood In India

I´ve been lazy lately with posting new stuff and haven´t taken a pen in my hands for many days. Holidays here always mean too much eating and a greater need for sleep. Anyway I have been pretty screwed up the past weeks and I should start drawing or sketching again, as that lifts my mood.

So Mim asked me a question about my childhood:

"How come you grew up in India? What was your family doing there? Did you love it?"

My dad was a development worker. You actually can not choose the country you are sent to, but he was lucky to be sent to India twice. So 4 years I spent in Kottayam, Kerala (South India) and later 5 years in Alwar, Rajasthan (Northwest India).
I can´t really remember a lot of Kottayam but I went to primary school in Alwar and that time is still very present in my mind. I went to an Indian school (learning English, Hindi and a little bit of Sanskrit) and didn´t have any education in German. The first years back in Germany I had to struggle to catch up. I did love the time we spent in India and but had a culture shock when we returned to Germany. My sister and I were brought up very modest in India covering ourselves and taking care to behave properly as girls. Our brothers on the other side were brought up to be "real" men and that vigilantism was necessary to defend the women. Do you know Charles Bronson - "the archetypal screen tough guy with weatherbeaten features"? That is exactly my dad. He even looks like his twin.

Anyway I remember that I was shocked when we came back to Germany and saw the way girls and women were dressing themselves and that people would kiss in public, etc. and I was pretty sure that I would go back to spend my life in India. It took me only a few months to adjust and now I can´t imagine going back into this "sheltered" life. ;)

It´s hard to write about 9 years in one post. But in case there are any other questions, I´ll be glad to answer them. I´ll post some information and pics of Alwar later.

Is It Christmas?

Is it Christmas?

(Just love this one.)

Hanukkah Game - Personal Questions & Answers

© by tcm13

Tonight and the next eight days we are celebrating the festival of lights. I followed an interesting game last year which was set up as an Advent Calender. And on each of the 24 days till Christmas something about that person was revealed.
I´m starting a similar game. For each of the eight nights of Hanukah I´m going to answer a question - no matter how raunchy, secret or embarrassing the answer might be. So in case you have some burning questions just take your chance and write it down in the comments section. Let´s see whether there will be enough for eight days.

© by thebubman

Our hanukkah coins disappeared! Two days ago a little guy stole into our kitchen and took most of our chocolate coins. He hid in the bathroom and ate all of them. :) So this year we won´t be having as many of them for the festival as I had planned to.

European Filmfest- Big Nothing

Yesterday I went to see another (and probably my last) movie at the Europa Filmfest. I found out yesterday that it was the first European Filmfestival in Munich. Just another two days to go, so if you are in Munich check out some of their movies. They have a great collection for the fest.

So this time I saw the movie Big Nothing with David Schwimmer* and Simon Pegg. Big Nothing is the story of two nice losers who decide to blackmail a porn-addicted priest and everything goes wrong. The movie makes you laugh real hard and manages to shock you at the same time. And beware of Miss Teen Oklahoma!

* I didn´t know that David Schwimmer shot any movies or anything apart from Friends.

And Gold!

And believe me: I didn´t post the really disturbing pictures! You can explore that by yourself at Carioca.

© by carioca (all images)

Black...

© by carioca

White...

At who killed bambi? I saw some interesting pics from the photo production house Carioca located in Bucharest. What caught my eye were the pics which showed mainly one color. I´ll show you some of my favorites and let you explore the site yourself to see more.

© by carioca (all images)