Chi si perde nella nostalgia gratuita e spesso continua è chi non ha capito il presente e non lo sta vivendo al meglio, ovvero lottando per essere migliore.
Chi si perde troppo spesso nella nostalgia è già vecchio.
Odio i nostalgici, quelli che invadono Facebook di post si quanto eravamo belli e ingenui noi che siamo cresciuti negli anni 50, 60, 70, 80, 90. Quelli che guardavano Mazinga Z e non avevano il cellulare.
Chi si perde nella nostalgia gratuita e spesso continua è chi non ha capito il presente e non lo sta vivendo al meglio, ovvero lottando per essere migliore. Chi si perde troppo spesso nella nostalgia è già vecchio.
0 Comments
17th of April today and I am still on the right track for my "No spending April".
This doesn't mean that I am not spending money this month, but I am only buying necessary things like food. Actually it hasn't been difficult at all: the habits that I have created in these past months keep me away from shops and out in the fields! Happy! Today a sketch from a picture by @bird.ee who usually publishes beautiful self portraits.
I used archival ink on paper. I really like doing this kind of sketch: no watercolor stress, and a lot of hatching that I find so relaxing. Today I had a good walk in the old town of Matera, my hometown. I discovered corners I had never seen. It was a good day... Another Instagram Inspiration. I think this may become the leit motiv of my 365 project: every day a sketch of an Instagram photo!
I'll think about it Second post for my 365 days project.
I also wrote my resolutions for 2015. While thinking about them I happily found out that they were almost the same I had when I started my one year project. Only I felt that I was in the middle of the journey and not at the beginning like some months ago! Happy new year!
Time for the new year resolutions! I'll keep it very simple: I'll go for a 365 creative project. I will make a small sketch each day in 2015 and I will post it here and on my Instagram account. I am doing this to establish a daily routine and to start changing my habits, because habits are made of daily routines. I want to have some creative minutes in my day every day. I don't know where this will lead me. I hope to have fun and to learn something new. A month has passed since I gave birth to my second child. I officially allowed my self some rest from my one year project since my routines were completely destroyed by my newborn. Of course the project hasn't been abandoned and it made some evolutions. What I did in this month:
How my project slightly changed: Inoticed that I spend more and more time walking or exercising or cooking healthy food and this is something I want to do more in the future. So I decided that Moving to a healthier life should be in my map (that will be updated soon) and I should do something every day to fulfill the plan. Last question: am I happy? or am I happier? I can say that raising a small child is not easy in the first month, but I am satisfied with how I am doing it and with all the things I am managing to do in this period, for me and for my family. In the last years I realized that to really learn something, actually anything, you need to surround yourself with people who know how to do it, be with them, be inspired, and why not, copythem. For this reason, in late May I decided to enroll in a sketchbooking workshop held by a famous Italian urban sketcher in Volterra, a wonderful small town in Tuscany. I have to say that I am an amateur sketcher and my husband, who's had this experience with me, is even more a beginner, but sketching is a passion that has lasted for some time now and we want to bring it to a slightly higher level. The idea of spending four days drawing in public, with people that draw much better than us frightened us and we got scared even more by reading the presentation letters of the various participants: graphic designers, art teachers, art academy graduates and so on. But it was exactly what we were looking for according to our principle: "You can get as smart as the smartest guy in the room." From the moment of our arrival we realized it would be a unique experience: the accommodation was a Tuscan '800 villa "Villa le Guadalupe", whose owners, Wofgang and Klaudia, wonderful hosts, have contributed to make our stay unforgettable. The villa is a delight, with breathtaking views of the Tuscan countryside. In the villa almost everything has been maintained in its original state: the frescoes, the floors, the furniture, the carpets. Everything has a story here and you can feel it from every small detail. You smeel art, and music and theater, all the passions of its owners. Klaudia and Wolfgang cook all the meals for us and make us feel at home, in this mix between a Fellini movie and "A room with a view". The house is full of books by Wolfgang, German dramaturge, scholar and expert in art and theater. The couple came to live at the Villa in the 80s, and, without internet, and no major libraries in the surroundings, they had to build their personal library to pursue their studies. The atmosphere became even more magical during the dinners in the garden. In those unusually fresh Tuscan summer nights, candles were the only lights. From the windows of the first floor, Wolfgang delighted us with his record collection that ranges from classical to tango, to old Neapolitan songs that I would never listen to anywhere else but were so magical here. And the company was so good. we immediately felt a connection and talking to complete strangers for four days and three nights in a row was very easy and natural. The workshop was equally extraordinary. The idea was to divide the four days in three themes: Villa Guadalupe and its history, the Tuscan countryside and the city of Volterra, and the sketch of live figures, in particular, theater actors on stage, since the workshop held in conjunction with the famous theater festival in Volterra. The sketch products were so many and also we improved our techniques so much, thanks to the expert help of Simonetta, our teacher. We have seen different styles, learned techniques, copied, edited, and we brought home countless suggestions to continue practicing. One of the most interesting and challenging experiences for us was surely the live sketch of a theater performance, the tableau vivent representing paintings of Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino by Teatri 35. The actors remained in place for about 30 seconds then they ran away for a change of clothes for the next framework. The results were impressive, we sketched in a few seconds and it was so dark you could barely see the sketchbook. Below, one of the sketches by the talented Joe Bean who has been a continuous source of inspiration for us. I will never forget those four days, full of interesting people, great advances in our sketching, atmosphere, scenery and beauty. An experience that I really hope to do again and I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn how to sketch and to discover more about our Italian beauties. I remember going home from the hospital iafter giving birth to my first child as a traumatic experience: the transition from an atmosphere of peace, tranquility and a controlled by doctors and nurses to the routine without a routine. After the homecoming in fact, you expect to be able to resume a regular life, with your habits and instead you realize that the habits are hopelessly compromised and they must adapt and make space to new ones other, led by a tiny creature that imposed herself in the rhythms of the family with the stubbornness of a dictator. Sometimes you spend days without seeing anyone and it can happen that you don't want to dress up or to care about yourself as you should. The day is marked by the meals of the newborn and you still don't feel perfectly good after the childbirth. Moreover, when leaving hospital, you do not lose all the pounds of the pregnancy and your belly may look like the one of a six month pregnant woman. You can imagine the frustration. But it is much better for the second child because at least you are prepared. So, it is a very peculiar moment in which, some mothers can get to suffer from postpartum depression, others, like me the first time, just a bit 'of melancholy. This time it went much better since I was much more confident in the baby care and this prevents a lot of frustration; I already knew that my body was not 100% fit, so I properly calibrated expectations. Moreover, for the second childbirth, everything is usually easier and less painful. I have also tried to avoid being locked in the house, and so, by the fifth day, we started hanging out and doing business as usual. Finally, the big sister was waiting for us at home, with her warm welcome. And this makes it all different! This has been a very strange summer for the north of Italy: rainy most of the times and with particularly low temperatures. Not the best one for the mood, but a very good one for a very pregnant woman and for fruit and vegetables. This is the little harvest my daughter and husband brought home on the 15th of August, bank holiday in Italy and usually one of the hottest days of the year. I love the colors and I want to remember it... |