molif | en

A friend of mine asked me lately if I can draw one of those little creatures – tarsiers.
I promised to try and I start looking for a model in Google Images.
That’s how I found Darlene Sanguenza’s blog – she’s a designer and illustrator from Philippines (where some of these little creatures live).
There are plenty of wonderful and inspirational things on the site of Darlene.
You can see her illustration, used by me as a reference.

And here is what came out from me:

Sure, it needs a lot more attention, but I like it enough for a first try.

That’s the common wish these days.
You can hear people saying it on the streets, in the shops, online… the same old sentence, but for sure the meaning it’s not the same for everybody.
Is it easy to make the people you love happy?
I like very much to make presents.
Always choosing very carefully, concerning the recipient.
But this Christmas for the first time I got one gift rejected (not a good feeling at all).
During the years I’ve received many stupid, not useful things – presents that I didn’t like or want.
But never I refused to take them.
I think that accepting things is as important as to give things. Maybe even more important.
For it is wonderful to give from yourself, but is more valuable to know how to accept from the others.
I am also still learning…

Truth is, for many, many people these days are neither happy or holidays.
For me, “holiday” and “feast” are words that mean to dance, to sing, to play games, to exchange gifts.
But in my country the “tradition” seems to be to spend the holidays at home, around the table and in front of the TV.
After them everybody is groaning and moaning and is feeling bad from too much food and drink, and I am sure that only a few people will do something different.
But there is one more thing – I believe, that the holiday spirit comes from the people, not from the date in the calendar.

So, Internet, that’s my greeting:

Have unforgettable holidays – let them be the way you want to make them!

Оh, and that’s what I did for my brother, wishing him own sweet home:

Here they are – this year’s cookies. I don’t know what’s the problem with them, but they just don’t want to stay in the tin box untill Christmas.

So, it’s a good thing that I’ve got them pictured, at least this way i am able to show them to you.
Every year I think about making at least twice more than these. From the other hand, no matter how many cookies I’ve made, they are never enough, because
I love to give almost all of them to friends and loved ones.

About the recipe… well, I like to improvise. Finding the right recipe, using the same products, but mix them measuring everything with my eye and instinct, and frankly, I am probably lucky, because I very rarely fail, even with our old and whimsy oven.
For example, I was dying for brownies yesterday evening. Since I am not planning a trip to England in the next few days, I decided to make myself some.
Here is the proof:

Well, it was about time for this. Already the first from the participants got his present from me.
It is not exactly what I imagined it would be, but anyway, I like it.
Here it is – Alfonce. A nice, warm, hand-made tom-cat, called nicely with this name by his new owner.

The little guy just loves autumn pears and high shelves.
Very curious, he always observes everything with eyes wide open and maybe a little from above, but not because he is haughty, nope. He is just too little and from the heights he can see further.

Soon will post some pictures of his best friends…

…is what I always do when I’ve got a pen or crayon around.
Of course, the modern technologies could not be skipped. After I’ve mentioned many times in front of the right people HOW MUCH do I want to try use a tablet, well, I finally got one as a gift for my birthday. This was last year, actually.
Till now the tablet is cover with dust. And I feel guilty for NOT having time for play.

This is result from the two-minutes play with the tablet. I couldn’t dare to show it, if it wasn’t Michel, who made me by bugging my conscious for not writing here at all.
Here is another small thing from me, made with ordinary pen:

Actually, this rabbit is done during this year’s Future Publishing conference where I happened to be as an editor of the Bulgarian version of .net magazine.
Most people write down notes, I usually like to draw. This way I listen even better.
I still hope that one day will have the skills and patience needed to make from this scratch a fine illustration in Adobe Illustrator…

A lady asked me recently to explain how could she make this flower from paper.

I promised her to write a tutorial, but then I thought that it would be much, much easier and better if I just make a short video.
These flowers look gorgeous, they are very easy to make and they could be a nice gift or just an element for decoration.
In this video is shown a smaller flower, but with more leaves.
You can try your own flower to be different – a hint from me: you can add a stem with green leaves from other kind of paper and some wire, you can make the flower from more than one color paper. For example, the use of green and white paper will give you one very beautiful lily.
The paper that you need is crep – I guess you can find it in almost every little bookstore or shop for artistic things.
You can see the process of making here:

[Flash player with embedded video]

Good luck with your flowers!

Here is one of the best surprises I’ve got for my birthday from a friend.

I love the books of Tove Jansson and these strange heroes.

The cake was not only perfectly made, but also very, very delicious piece of kitchen art.

My brother gave me this big pencil.
It’s a joke with the name of this website, which sounds like the word “pencil” in Bulgarian.

I guess he is just trying to tell me, that is time for me to give drawing more space in my life.

Recently, while I was busy to show off my little clay army here, my favorite illustrator Monica Calvo found the latest funny video from the sequel Simon’s Cat:

Distinguish animation, every time I watch in dismay and with great pleasure!
If you happen not to be familiar with the previous two videos, I can remind them to you easily:

1. ‘Cat Man Do’

2. ‘Let Me In!’

They are very indicative of the cat’s temper…
And also these days I read this joke:

“I am absolutely not able to understand why women love cats.
Cats are independent creatures, they don’t obey and perform, not coming when you call them, they love to linger outside in the night and to come home only to be fed and cuddled.
After that they only want to be left to sleep in peace.
In other word: in cats women love something that they terribly hate in men… “

There is some truth in this… but also there are people, who just don’t like cats at all.

When he was a kid, he used to sing in the choir,

but nowadays he is dreaming for opera. Plays old gramophone records and sings with them.

He has read “The book for the opera” and knows all the Giuseppe Verdi’s librettos by heart. But he is too shy and prefers to sing only at home. When he feels bold, he opens the window.

The neighbors are not angry, because he actually sings very gently.

I guess there are subjects and things that just gets me obsessed from time to time and something is making me going on in the same direction.
About fifteen or sixteen years ago, when I became friends with the clay for the first time, who knows why, but I started to make fairy dwarfs and small wizards. Most of them I gave to a friends almost immediately, but still have half a score at home, which i considered not good enough for a present.

In the last few years I have less and less free time and the needed serenity to do such things, but having this site made me realize that cats have ensconced themselves in it permanently and comfortable and for now they don’t even think about leaving.
On paper or from clay, it seems to imply that they know well what am I in need for – exactly not-being-in-a-hurry, more home life, even a bit of laziness.
Here are two specimens, that I love much.

First this charming one. Because he is always thinking for food, I gave him a magnet – to be close to the refrigerator.

We can learn many things from the cats. I admire their natural strength and elegance and the amazing ability to relax. Anywhere. Anytime.

And here it is the little pensive wanderer, who misses adventures and new lands:

He read a lot about the places that want to visit. But home is taking him back and it is getting harder to break the habit and go on the road.

Get Flash Player to see this player.

He is also a big retro-fan and is born with the sense of good style. Always wanted to be a ship cat. He has heard that in the ship holds is full with rats, who knows the taste of rum and salt sea water. But he is not afraid, only curious to meet them.

Terribly curious.