Happy Valentine's Day! (fashion illustration of the day) / Sretno Valentinovo! (modna ilustracija dana)

Personally, I'm a fan of celebrations. Any kind of celebrations. Possibly because celebrations include food. As you can probably tell, I love to eat. I also love to cook. Supposedly, cooking burns a lot of calories. Well, at least I'm spending some of all those calories I consume on every day basis;). Yes, I tend to enjoy my food. This year Valentine's day was the perfect excuse for me to prepare all kinds of sweets and cakes. I'm not sure will I share them here, perhaps tomorrow. Today I'm sharing with you a fashion illustration that is inspired by this day. The girl depicted is wearing a red dress. What is more classic than a red dress for a Valentine's day?  How do you like this dress? The medium is watercolour on paper. 

How will I spend San Valentine's day? Not as planned. My romantic plans about a little getaway didn't work out but at least I still have all those cakes I prepared in advance. That should improve my mood. Plus, I stayed up to 4 a.m. last night reading Isaac Asimov. That will keep me happy for days.  So, what I'm trying to say is that I basically love Saint Valentine's day. Even when I don't celebrate it the ordinary way. What is the ordinary way anyway? I must say I don't get all this negativity about this day. I don't see why I should be obliged to boycott it (as many articles propose we should). Yes, love ought to be celebrated everyday, we all know that. But, isn't it is nice to have a special day just for it? If nothing else, then as an excuse to indulge in sweets. Happy Valentine's Day!

Osobno, ja volim proslave. Bilo kakve proslave. Možda jer proslave obično znače i hranu. Kao što vjerojatno možete i primijetiti, ja uživam u hrani. Volim i kuhati, pa barem tako sagorim nešto od onih kalorija koje unosim u organizam. Da, uživam u hrani. Ove godine za mene je Valentinovo bilo savršena izlika da pripremim svakakve kolače i deserte. Nisam sigurna hoću li ih ovdje podijeliti možda sutra. Danas sa vama dijelim modnu ilustraciju koja je nadahnuta ovim danom. Djevojka koju sam naslikala nosi crvenu haljinu. Što je klasičnije od crvene haljine za Valentinovo? Kako vam se sviđa ova haljina? Medij su vodene boje na papiru. Dodala sam i srca koja sigurno prepoznajete.

Kako ću ja provesti Valentinovo? Ne onako kako sam planirala. Moji romantički planovi o malom izletu su propali, ali barem još uvijek imam sve te kolače koje sam pripremila. To bi mi trebalo popraviti raspoloženje. Osim toga jučer sam do četiti ujutro čitala Isaaca Asimova i to će me vjerovatno držati sretnom danima. U biti ono što želim reči je da volim Valentinovo. Čak i kada ga ne slavim na uobičajen način. Što je uobičajen način ionako? Moram priznati da ne shvaćam negativnost oko ovoga dana. Ne shavaćam zašto bi ga trebala (kao što sve novine predlažu) bojkotirati?   Ljubav treba slaviti svakoga dana. Svi to znamo. No, što nedostaje tome da imamo jedan poseban dan za ljubav? Ako ništa drugo, imamo izliku da uživamo u slatkišima? Sretno Valentinovo!

Let's TALK illustration. 

Sometimes I illustrate items that I actually wear.

Sometimes I illustrate my own outfits. 

Sometimes I illustrate other bloggers.

Sometimes I illustrate RUNAWAY looks.

Who was Saint Valentine? (information from wikipedia)

Saint Valentine (Italian: San Valentino; Latin: Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his feast day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy and beekeepers.^[2][3] Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians.^[4] He was martyred and his body buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine's Day) since at least the eighth century.^[5]

Relics of him were kept in the Church and Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which "remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the church of Santa Prassede during the pontificate of Nicholas IV".^[6] His skull, crowned with flowers, is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Other relics of him are in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, Dublin, Ireland, a popular place of pilgrimage, especially on Saint Valentine's Day, for those seeking love.^[7][8] At least two different Saint Valentines are mentioned in the early martyrologies.^[9] For Saint Valentine of Rome, along with Saint Valentine of Terni, "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe", according to Professor Jack B. Oruch of the University of Kansas.^[10]

Saint Valentine is commemorated in the Anglican Communion^[11] and the Lutheran Churches on February 14.^[12] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, he is recognised on July 6; in addition, the Eastern Orthodox Church observes the feast of Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, on July 30.^[13][14] In 1969, the Catholic Church removed his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his liturgical celebration to local calendars, though use of the pre-1970 liturgical calendar is also authorised under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 2007.^[15] The Catholic Church continues to recognise him as a saint, listing him as such in the February 14 entry in the Roman Martyrology,^[16] and authorising liturgical veneration of him on February 14 in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory celebration, in accordance with the rule that on such a day the Mass may be that of any saint listed in the Martyrology for that day.^[17]

Identification

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Saint Valentine does not occur in the earliest list of Roman martyrs, the Chronography of 354, although the patron of the Chronography's compilation was a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus.^[18] There is a reference to his feast day on 14 February in one of the 9th century copies of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum,^[19] which may have been compiled originally between 460 and 544 from earlier local sources, but the entry may be much later. The widespread modern legend that the feast of St. Valentine on February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God" is in fact based upon a statement in the Gelasian Decree which mentions St George but not St Valentine, and is not in fact by Gelasius.^[20]

The Catholic Encyclopedia^[9] and other hagiographical sources^[21] speak of three Saints Valentine that appear in connection with February 14. One was a Roman priest, another the bishop of Interamna (modern Terni, Italy) both buried along the Via Flaminia outside Rome, at different distances from the city. The third was said to be a saint who suffered on the same day with a number of companions in the Roman province of Africa, of whom nothing else is known.

Though the extant accounts of the martyrdoms of the first two listed saints are of a late date and contain legendary elements, "a common nucleus of fact" may underlie the two accounts and they may refer to "a single person".^[22] According to the official biography of the Diocese of Terni, Bishop Valentine was born and lived in Interamna and while on a temporary stay in Rome he was imprisoned, tortured, and martyred there on February 14, 269. His body was hastily buried at a nearby cemetery and a few nights later his disciples retrieved his body and returned him home.^[23]

The Roman Martyrology, the Catholic Church's official list of recognised saints, for February 14 gives only one Saint Valentine: a martyr who died on the Via Flaminia.^[24]

The name "Valentine", derived from valens (worthy, strong, powerful), was popular in Late Antiquity. About eleven other saints with the name Valentine are commemorated in the Catholic Church.^[25] Some Eastern Churches of the Western rite may provide still other different lists of Saint Valentines.^[26] The Roman martyrology lists only seven who died on days other than February 14: a priest from Viterbo (November 3); Valentine of Passau, papal missionary bishop to Raetia, among first patrons of Passau, and later hermit in Zenoburg, near Mais, South Tyrol, Italy, where he died in 475 (January 7); a 5th-century priest and hermit (July 4); a Spanish hermit who died in about 715 (October 25); Valentine Berrio Ochoa, martyred in 1861 (November 24); and Valentine Jaunzarás Gómez, martyred in 1936 (September 18). It also lists a virgin, Saint Valentina, who was martyred in 308 (July 25) in Caesarea, Palestine.^[27]