Prodcutive weekend

What a wonderful weekend I had...
We had tons of rain and grey clouds around here, and that means a lot of time to stay inside drawing.



Yes... it's was a really productive weekend!
Cheers for a wonderful new week!

Playing with paint

...And after the background on my canvases is dry and ready, I take my pencil and draw something... like birds ;)



Now it's time to put some colors on inside those lines



and now my favorite part... hours of quality time with my pen



and the little bird is ready ;)



Happy Thursday!

How I prepare my canvases - Step 2

I got a couple of questions regarding what I do after I prepared my canvases (with the newspaper and "engrudo" mix). Well here what I do... it's pretty simple ;)
After my little canvases are totally dry, I paint the background. I don't use gesso because (to me) after covering the canvas with the paper and the paste, the surface is ready to paint. Of course, this is the way I do it, and not sure if it's a right or wrong way to prepare your own canvas ;)
Usually I paint the canvas white before adding colors. Sometimes I go ahead and skip the white and I use the color I want to use for the background, but that happen when I already know what I'm going to do in that canvas. Because the way I cover my canvases is a little bit time consuming and REALLY messy, I prefer to do a lot of canvases at the same time, and paint all the backgrounds at the same time too.
For this part of the process I use whatever paints I have around ;) I really never use white white background on my art, it's more like a mix of white with sand color.



See? they don't look white-white

For those canvases I used a mix of all these paints.



Stay tuned for the next step!
Happy awesome Wednesday!

Implementing changes... UPDATE

Thank you so much for all the comments and "time management" tips :)
My plan was working GREAT, until Mr. Harper and I decided to just forget about being productive and take a super mini vacation!



We spent the last 4 days in California visiting my family in law. Fun times with family :)
And honestly, I think that was a great plan because the next 2 months are going to be craaaaazy with all the preparation for the holidays and 4 craft holiday shows ;)

Soooo... I'm getting ready to start working like a manic here ;) Tons cool things coming up!
Happy Tuesday :)

Implementing changes

I always have good ideas on how to organize my time but I have a serious trouble in the implementing process. I think my problem is the desire to make the prefect schedule and making all the changes at the same time. Let's get serious here, of course I cannot change and improve everything in just a day.. not even in a week (or month!). So... how about baby steps?

I'll start making changes and improving things on my schedule and I'll tell you the basic things I'm going to do. Maybe some of these steps are good for you too!

Right now is:



What I'm going to do?
1.- Make a To Do list first thing in the morning.
I need a to do list ALL THE TIME but I guess I'll be more efficient if I write my list first thing in the morning... before checking my email.

2.- Set the 3 more important things I have to do today.

Many times my lists can be super overwhelming, for that reason I will make the list but I will mark which 3 things are the more important. I will work on those task, and if I have time, I'll tackle more things.

3.- Disconnect from internet while I'm working on NO internet related tasks.
Internet is taking away half of my productive time! I don't know why I have to check weather.com 20 times a day.

4.- Set "email check" times.
I suffer of a compulsive disorder. I have to check my email every 2 minutes. It's ridiculous. Why I have to do that? Well, NO MAS. Now I'll set times to check the email AND I will do thing like: I cannot check my email until I finish one or two of my to do list tasks.

5.- Use a timer.
If I really want to be productive, I need to organize my time, right? Well, I need to set times per task. Sometimes I'm preparing some files, or doing a new design, or working in a new canvas and I can spent hours doing one of those things AND looking at the window, you know what I mean? Now I have to FOCUS on what I'm doing and stop looking how the grass is growing outside. I'll set a timer.

Those are the basic steps/changes I'll incorporate in my basic routine. In a few days I'll see if those changes work or if I need to do some adjustment.
And little by little I'll start adding more changes... Stay tune ;)

What do you if you need to focus in some specific tasks?
I would love to know what else I should be doing!

Confession

I really like the TV show The Good Wife (CBS). I Reaaaaally like it the whole show, but definetely my favorite part was seeing my poster in last night episode ;)

 

Can you see the posters in the back? Those are my "Dream Big" and "You Deserve" prints.

Yeahhh... I'm really happy!

Black and White and Colors

Meet Bo The Elephant.

I really like him just in black and white

 

 but I think he looks good in colors too

 

What do you think?

Happy Weekend!

October Calendar wallpaper

October is here! This is one of my favorites moths. I think fall is the best season. I like it more than Christmas. Fall Rocks ;)
I live in Miami and we really don't have this awesome season :( bummer. But still I can feel (a little bit) the change of the season in the air and the sky look more blue. And I'm SUPER HAPPY :)
Here a little present to celebrate the season!
Click here (or click the image) to download you October Calendar Wallpaper. You can also print it and keep in your bulletin board ;)



Happy Tuesday!

How I prepare my canvases

You want to know how to prepare your canvases "Valentina's style"? Here my simple tutorial ;)
I love to do this to my canvases because, ONE, I need a really smooth surface to apply the ink to my drawings and TWO, because I love the texture of the canvas after doing this!.

The Ingredients:



- Plain canvases. Also, if you have a old painting you don't liked more, or you are not so happy with what you did, you can reuse that canvas. I do that ALL THE TIME :)
- You will need flour and water
- Pieces of paper. I use whatever I have around. Recycling papers. brown craft paper and mostly all the beautiful unsolicited mail I get EVERY DAY.
- Football game (optional) Well, you can switch this ingredient for whatever you want to watch in the TV or music if you want. I made these canvases yesterday... and that means Football Day in this house.

1.- Cook the "glue". I'm not so sure how you call this, I call it "engrudo". You need one part of flour and 5 or 6 parts of water. I'm not the "engrudo" master, but my cooking system is: Mix the cold water with the flour, put in the stove medium, heat, and stir frequently until you reach a tick consistence. Let the mix cold down.



2.- Setup all the ingredients to start the party. As you can see, I covered the floor with some paper because it's a dirty party.



3.- Dip a piece of paper in the flour+water mix.



4.- Cover your canvas.



5.- Let the canvas dry.



6.- And next day... Voila! Ready to paint!



Easy, right?

Let me know if you have any question.

Happy Monday!