Four Eyes

Bulgarian Cat

2012-02-23T15:47:00.011-08:00

Hello everyone,

I have not done a post in a while but this is some of the things I've been getting up to recently...

I went to Bulgaria in January and had such a great time!..as always! It was really cold but it was so nice to see some snow. I took some photos of my Bulgarian Cat Molly, who unlike my English Cat Polly, loves to pose in front of the camera!!

After the inspiring photo shoot I started doing a painting of her but didn't get to finish it..this is where I got up to..

I also had two really nice days with my nan where she posed for me in this painting, I tried a new way of using my oils and she was pretty happy with the final result!

Tony and I played around with her camera one night and took these pretty cool photos ;)

I got myself some colouring pencils..finally and this was my first drawing that I did, I really enjoyed them so I will definitely be using them again!

'Rose'

Rose and her plant friends..

Some new illustrations for you all to see, these were inspired by Angela Carters fairytales which I really enjoyed reading, hope you like them!
For more artwork check out my Facebook Page! www.facebook.com/valena.art

Christmas!!!!

2011-12-25T06:55:00.002-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!Hope you've all had a great holiday!

I decided to give my family some personal gifts this year!

*click on photo to enlarge.

Notebook with my illustration for my Auntie!

My 'Rich Girl' drawing to my mum.

My Gaga was my nan's favourite and she kept asking for it so I finally got it framed!

I tidied up my desk a little bit! And drew my cat Polly again..

I also took a really cute photo of her the other day...

She framed it and put it under the tree for me :D

I got this mug for my uncle with my Alby design, he really liked it :)

We had such a lovely Christmas this year! There were so many presents that Kiki asked where our Christmas tree was!haha

My mums decorations were also pretty amazing, my livingroom was like Santa's house!

It was also my uncle's birthday on the 23rd and this was his cake.. soooo good!!!

The entertainment was pretty sick, 3D, Abba and Tennis tournaments! Oh and ALOT of great food!

Follow my Art Facebook Page everyone!

http://www.facebook.com/valena.art

Clowns and Cupcakes!

2011-11-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Since my last post I've been all over the place doing loads of different things, also really looking forward to Christmas! The weather has been really good...which is weird and I kinda hope we get some snow around the holidays, but if not I'm going home in January and I'm sure there will be loads!!!

So it's my friends birthday tomorrow and I decided to make him some cupcakes! Went for a carrot cupcake with cheese cream! Turned out preetty good!!

I've also been coming up with some new character ideas of clowns.. here are some doodles!

I have done a new drawing.. it's foxy.. :p

Also working on a series of mixed media illustrations..here's a sneaky peak!

And since my favourite holiday is coming up I have made some greeting cards for all of you guys to share with friends and families..so if you like what you see you can make me smile by clicking here !

Thanks for having a look!

Exciting Stuff...

2011-10-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I've been keeping busy working on a few different projects. The mount rushmore painting i've been going on about for months is finally finished! I'll be taking photos with the guys soon but here it is chilling on my floor waiting to be glazed!

I'm also really looking forward to christmas (slightly early i know..) and have been working on some christmassy watercolour illustrations, heres a sneaky peak:

I drew a new GaGa portrait.. because she's just amazing!

I got these colouring pencils like a year ago and never had the chance to use them, when I went to Bulgaria this summer I photographed my friends puppies and decided to test my pencils..turns out they SUCK and completely ruined my drawing but decided to finish it anyway!Here it is:

I went to Bulgaria for a week in September, even thought it was a very short time as I hadn't been in over a year I managed to do a lot! I saw my little cousin Emily who has grown up SO much and is cuter than ever!!!

I went to the mountains in Ribaritza to visit a family friend and take photos for a new project I'm working on, it was so pretty up there!

There was also an exciting event hosted in my hometown, Plovdiv, every year and I finally got the chance to go. It's a 'night at the museums' all the galleries are open till late and a lot of exciting things go on and I felt like the whole town was there that night, the weather was hot and apart from getting a blister on my toe I had an amazing night!haha

And I am also working on my website which I am really excited about and can't wait till it's all done so look out for updates, will be posting that plus new stuff soon!

Thanks x

Quick Post

2011-09-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hellooo everyone,

I did a new painting of a giraffe..with palm trees. Someone told me 'there's no palm trees in Africa' I said, 'So giraffes aren't allowed to go on holiday..?!' Goshh

I painted it for my mum's birthday, had loads of fun doing it :) I'm really enjoying painting animals!

'Sunny Giraffe' oil on panel '11

Also I took Marilyn from Tony's, so we can jam..and I also had to varnish her!

Aaanndd I've been baking more cakes! I used this new recipe for chocolate beetroot cake which turned out so well! Served it with vanilla ice cream because it was pretty sweet. I also cooked my mum's birthday cake which looked similar to this one, but was actually a chocolate fudge cake :D

I have FINALLY finished this painting I keep mentioning from last year!!! I will be taking photos sometime next week!Off to home-land tomorrow: CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Cat and Bird

2011-07-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I have finally graduated!!!Been doing loads of arty things and really enjoying my time off!

I wanted to do some more Cat people using watercolours:

I've also been working on a wedding prezzie for my uncle and his girlfriend (who are now married :D)

I wanted to do something pretty but simple for both of them, so this is what I came up with...

Really enjoyed working on this one, even thought I've never used oils to paint anything else apart from portraits...surprisingly it was really fun and I will definitely be doing similar stuff soon! I also got to frame it and varnish it..!

Meanwhile I'm still working on this painting which is probably a year old now...and I cant wait to finish it and show everyone!

Macmillan

2011-05-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

It has been sooo busy, easter was lovely, but now it's back to work. Not long left but these last weeks are gona be heeeeellll! The project I have enjoyed the most this year is by far Macmillan! I love painting and I'm glad I finally got to, sick of sketchbooks and research, really enjoyed doing that! Here are the rest of my spreads :D

Also the website Stuart and I did work for is now live, so go check it out!

www.xccelerate.com

PPP=WORK WORK WORK

2011-04-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since my last post, but things have been very busy.. as usual! Around 6 weeks left till final assessments and so much work to be done!

I have had such a busy week preparing for my mock interview, and even though it has been extremely stressful I must admit putting it all together has been really fun!:D

I was flicking through an issue of Vogue I got when I went to Paris and I saw the most beautiful little girl, dressed in oversized clothes and expensive jewellery and loads of make-up! So I started drawing her and ended up spending ages. I must admit I was quite sad when I finished it.

Alongside I have been working on MacMillan, so keep an eye on more Cat drawings to come soon,

Thanks for reading!

Cat Animation Tests and Illustrations

2011-03-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

It's been a very busy time recently as assessments are approaching and there is still a lot of work to be done!
I have decided to do a plasticine model for my animation as I wasn't too happy with the paper cut outs. I made a set and my cat (which was really difficult as it's lying down and working out what the skeleton would look like was a nightmare!)

I am also really enjoying my children's book project! Planning out the spreads has taken ages so now that I have that out the way I can start doing the fun bit which is drawing and painting the images :D

Here are a few new drawings of characters!

Mural

2011-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

I have FINALLY been able to edit this video we filmed over 3 years ago!Maxine and I freestyled on my wall and filmed it!

(Quality is very bad because the file was very large but I will put a better version as soon as I can!)

Also, first attempt on stop frame animation of cat!(Only a short test)

CATSCATSCATS

2011-02-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

guess what I've been drawing recently.... more CATS!

I'm really enjoying drawing cats to be honest... I have finally decided on a story for the children's book we're doing in illustration and It will be an adaptation of Cinderella but all the characters in it are going to be cats! Here are some initial drawings...

Also I've been making some cards!

More cats...

2011-01-27T06:48:00.001-08:00

Storyboard of a new stop-frame animation I'm doing for FNP using coloured card!

I've been trying to take photos of my cat.... let's just say she's not gona be a model any time soon!
Here are some quick watercolour silhouettes of Polly!

I got these really cool markers for my birthday from Sam :) they're so fun to draw with!

Cat!

2011-01-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

Some new drawings!

Christmas Time!

2010-12-25T16:04:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's been a lovely one this year for me I hope it has been the same for you! Santa gave me the prezzies I asked for so I'm very happy! :D We're all off to France in the morning, going for a week up in the mountains, really excited, but not really looking forward to the drive there, it's going to be a looong day!

For the past week I have baked like 4 cakes! It was also my uncles birthday so I made him a chocolate one with cream and a chocolate glaze. The first one I made this week was a lemon sponge cake with lemon curd but I didnt take a photo of it. I then made a Victorian Sponge with whipped cream. And this new desert, that's really similar to bread and butter pudding but with jam, it was so tasty!

It also snowed like crazy a couple of days ago and it was soooo cold! The snow has now pretty much melted but it's still freezing!

I got these fabric paints a few weeks ago and decided totry them out one day, I painted a quick portrait of Marilyn but I forgot to iron it after I was done and when I got back from uni my mum washed all my clothes and the paints just smudged :( this was the only photo I had of it, but I'll probs be doing some more of these soon! Working on a painting at the moment, it's taking ages because I have so much other work to do, so I keep coming back to it but it's half way there and I'm really excited to finish it, I'll post some photos when it's complete!!

Finally my front cover for foodzine, finished!

Cover Drawings and packaging

2010-12-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

Just over a week left till assesment and still alot to do! Found out I got my first choice of briefs for next year and i'm really excited! We will be working on a kids illustration book!
So I've been drawing my chef guy for the front cover of my magazine...

I have also been working on the packaging of my food products for the vending machine project,..

CSN Stores Review!

2010-11-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I've been browsing on the CSN websites and they offer some pretty great stuff! I will be reviewing a product in the next week, so please have a look and let me know which products stand out for you! They have amazing kitchenware, office furniture and chest of drawers!

Remember Christmas is coming soon and if you are struggling with what to get your loved ones, The CSN store is the perfect place to find some high quality, affordable products!

Uni has been really stressful recently as it's getting close to winter break and assesmenttssss!!!!

The project which I am enjoying most is the "Vending Machine" one! We have to create a healthy machine for schools which allows students to pick 5 items of food for lunchtime. Making the logos..etc... My target audience is young children/primary school pupils..

Another project I've been working on is a food magazine for students and these are first stages of the front cover!

Cooking

2010-10-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

A whole lot of cooking has been going on this week! Recipes for a student food magazine I'm making for my MNP!
Here are some of them...

Pen Portraits

2010-10-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

I have been drawing some people...

enjoy!

Photos

2010-10-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Went down to the canal the other day with my roomies and chilled with these wicked swans!Two of them even had a fight, managed to take a photo of them in action ;)

enjoy!

Back Home

2010-09-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

I am back home and tomorow it's back to uni! Had the best summer in a long time and got to do some wicked things!
I finally found a cable for my camera so ill be taking photos of some old stuff soon!

Here is a watercolour painting I did in Bulgaria of a family friend, as a birthday present. His birthday was celebrated up
in the mountains so I went for that theme ;)

A watercolour again: A girl up in the mountains inspired by my stay in Ribaritsa!

Some old work from Graphics last year: A project I did about Cadbury chocolate, including an essay inside the chocolate bars!

Review for CSN Stores

2010-08-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

I have been given a really exciting opportunity from CSN Stores to review one of their products! I've been browsing their websites and they have loads of really cool products from cookware to ceiling lights and furniture!

Please have a look at the websites and let me know what products stand out!I am really excited about this and will be reviewing a product soon!

Check these out!

Cookware by CSN

All Modern

Lighting by CSN

Marilyn Monroe

2010-08-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've had a very busy couple of weeks and I am really looking forward to my holiday to Bulgaria and Greece starting next week :D!
It's my best friend, lil Tony's birthday next month and since I wount be here she'll be getting her prezzie earlier.. :p

She loves Marilyn Monroe almost as much as I do... so I have been working on a painting and it's finally finished!

Also my mum has been converting our videos to dvd's and we found loads of really old footage. Skiing competitions, (I won 1st place btw :p) Stage Coach days. my mums wedding which is so sick but pretty bad quality..and one from my 7th birthday party. At the beginning of the tape I'm talking infront of the camera and I look joookes! My nan gave me the worst haircut in history and I know when most girls look back at photos from when they were young they probably have long pretty hair and look really cute...well all I can say is thank god I was wearing a dress otherwise it would be hard to tell if I was a little boy or a girl!

Anyway thought these would make you laugh...

Drawings

2010-07-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

Got some graph paper real cheap, it's nice to draw on!

I'll upload some new stuff soon, I've lost my charger for my camera so cant take photos for now :(

Life drawing

2010-07-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

I did a three day life drawing course, didn't get much done as there wasn't a great deal of time and most poses were really long, but it was really fun and everyone was friendly!

I've also been using watercolours recently...

Toys!

2010-06-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

SELLING HANDMADE TOYS!

The Burra inspired toy has a new name: Mecho! (means Teddy in Bulgarian ;) )

plus more animal designs! Personalized toys are also available on request, great presents for any occasion!

Contact me for more details!

lenie_valena@hotmail.com