Sketching, Illustration, Design and Everyday Life.
Copyright by © Nina Khashchina except where noted.
My friend is following a couple of owls in the park and sent me some really cool photos and videos. Another friend gave me a tiny bottle of ink with glitter - to try. This turns into a whole bunch of sketches. True story. I hope to see the owls for myself and get that glitter to show up but actually really happy with what I have so far.
I've been thinking about a name for this post for an embarrassing amount of time. First I thought of using a simple "reading" tag - but there are hundreds of sketches of kid's reading on this blog which are a totally different thing. Book readings posts are linked to the book readings I attended and took part in. Marginalia is a word and activity I like a lot - but these sketches are mostly from my sketchbook - not from the margins of the books (especially since I am still working on letting myself write in books). But as my Mom keeps reminding me - that having any solution is better than none if it helps you to start moving - so here I am - calling these Reading Notes with the idea that I can always find posts and change text if decide to :)
These notes are about books. Reading for me includes all kinds of things: for example reading online counts too. So does scanning, skimming as well as "eye candy" reading. The eye candy reading is the one where I look at pictures - be that a large exhibition catalog or a zine made out of works by my 5 year old neighbor. I like to remember what I read. And sometimes I would add what I thought about the stuff that I read. And some of these I like to share - so those are Reading Notes - like the one below :)
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This was a book I argued with quite a bit (part "what is right") but I am on the same page with the "Conclusion". What is most important is that I really wanted to go make things as I read it. I want to remember books that have such effect on me.
September 10-17, 2023. Days 563 - 570 of war.
This week we discussed some old language constructs in both russian and Ukrainian languages, and talked about how time and politics play a role in the ways languages grow - parallel to each other, intertwining and growing apart. We talked about how many new words appeared during their lifetime. And how war right now war makes us choose words.
Kharkiv is bombed daily by russuan army again - three to four explosions a night. Power was absent in some parts of the city but was restored later, friends and family all accounted for.
There are quite a few gems in the Bay area but some have a special place in my heart - one of them is Hidden Villa with its trails and animals. Somehow I feel like time runs on a different plane there and I can transcend all sorts of worrying thoughts while I listen to the sounds sleeping pigs and piglets make while I draw them - especially in good company :)
Thank you for making a trip, Suhita! I loved the colorful and fuzzy pig sketches you created so much that now I think we should go there again soon so that I can make more colorful observations!
And we got to see the goats! This time none of them were interested in chewing our sketchbooks - many were super small - but all had a character!
And this quick landscape is how we closed the sketch outing - by sitting under an olive tree and trying tempera sticks in a bunch of new ways:
You can see (and more importantly - HEAR) some of the process at these two links:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxOqViKPxZ1/?img_index=1
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxQv2jFPUsS/?img_index=2
