a little place to call my own (art and fashion blog)

 Thank you for all your kind messages.  January was somewhat difficult month for me, so I didn't have the time or the energy to post much. My shoulder got better but there were some other issues that needed my attention. Today I will share some reading recommendations with you. We have two more months of winter ahead of us, so I figured that it would be a good idea to share some Winter reading recommendations. Last month, I shared with you my holiday reading list.  This month I will focus on the classics as they seem a great choice for Winter months. Some people read more in the colder months, others read more in the warmer ones. I don't really notice any season shifts in my reading schedule, I read all year around.  I love the coziness of reading indoors in Autumn and Winter but I also love to read outdoors in Spring and Summer. If you are looking for something classical to read this Winter, these are my suggestions. Some of these book reviews are from my archives, ...

 Hello readers! Have you ever heard of Solaris ? That's what I shall be talking about day. I'll explain in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, I must inform you that I suffered a shoulder injury a few days ago and it's not getting better, so I will probably be a bit absent in the immediate future and slow to answer to comments. I cannot use my right hand, so  typing is difficult. The new year hasn't started too well for me. On a more positive note, I did listen to a lovely audio-book.  “How do you expect to communicate with the ocean, when you can’t even understand one another?” quoted from the novel Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Therefore, today I'll share a book review. The book in question is a philosophical science fiction classic Solaris . Written by Polish author of Jewish origin Stanislaw Lem and published in 1961, Solaris has remained popular to this day. This novel has been a subject of many adaptations in various media, from radio dramas, a play, a TV serial, several fil...

Hello! Today I'll share a watercolour sketch inspired by Chinese actress Zhou Xun's potrayal of Ruyi in a historical drama Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace. I'm more of a book than a film or TV series girl, but sometimes I get inspired by some films and shows. I actually haven't seen this historical show, just excerpts from it. I accidently stumbled on a few excerpt from this show on YouTube and felt inspired by both the costumes and Zhou Xun's acting. I doubt I'll have the time to watch the whole series, but I might create more art inspired by it. The medium for this portrait sketch is Staetdler watercolour pencils on mixed media paper (from my new art create sketchbook). As you will see in this post, the sketch was made on a small frame paper. I might redo this sketch on a larger scale paper to capture more details and make it more realistic. That is if I find the time. I think this one isn't bad for a quick watercolour pencils sketch. Scroll down to se...

Today I'll show you a few oil pastels portraits I did on a mixed media paper. This is a medium I'm still not very confident using. In fact, you could say that I'm still learning how to use oil pastels. I drew these portraits without any plan or intention, just to practice proportions and drawing with oil pastels but I kind of like how they turned out.  If I remember correctly, they didn't take too much time to finish. That being said, I'm not sure are they done or do they need more work. Two of them are dark haired ladies and one is a redhaired lady. I uploaded one of them ( the blue hair lady ) to my redbubble store . I might work some more on the other ones. Scroll down to see more and to see what were the most read posts of year 2020 on my blog. YOUR PICK OF MY 2020 POSTS (MOST READ) Here is your pick of 2020, most read posts (among those published in the last year). My blog views in general for last (and this) year are humble and most views are actually of older...