Mess ups and Macarons

one flower.

I cannot believe that it's been almost two and half years since I set my mind back to my journals and really started to explore and develop an illustrative style.  It has been an excellent journey up to this point, and I feel that my pen and pencil now speak with a distinct Rhya style... it's all very exciting!  That being said, I realize that there is still a long road ahead of me, as I work towards perfecting the translation of the thoughts and characters that frolic through my brain onto paper...or whatever medium they tumble on to. 

Bliss' birthday card.

I make many mistakes...and I am queen of erasing.  But it's usually from the mistakes that I stumble onto different ideas and or realize how I can make my next image stronger.  For example, tonight I made a hand drawn card from my friend Bliss and I am almost happy with the results.  My big error was that I didn't do a preliminary sketch (something I usually do) and thus there are elements on the card that I wish I could go back and change.  I tend to go a little over board with my work, I am always adding another little detail here and there, yet I think I much prefer my minimal work.  Anyhoo...I thought i would post this card up, with some close ups of some of the things I am not 100% satisfied with. Taking a critical eye to your work is always a good exercise...though I try to keep my eye constructive and positive! It helps you understand why you do things and I think it leads to you developing and defining your own process and style.   

Here is where I think i really ran off the rails.  I wanted there to be some colour under my little character...but I should have tested my materials a bit more, as I am not satisfied with the pencil crayon on this paper.  Also, my little character could be higher on the page to help with balance.

Though I really love this style of text and the balloon, I think my scale and spacing was off.  It's not really displayed here, but the 'Happy Day' could be moved down into the space below the balloon.  But I do look forward to do more text like this!

On a totally unrelated note...i have gotten obsessed with trying to perfect the art of macaron making.  I even started a 'macaron' journal! I will get some pics of it at some point.  The photo above is from batch #7, where I got brave enough to add food colouring!  The ultimate goal is to get good enough at making these so I can have them at my wedding....dreams...I have them!