I made ice-lollies. I quit sugar last sunday (meaning, refined sugar, not the kind found naturally in fruit, veg, honey and such). The heat wave decided to test me or something.

I used my fancy ladybug shaped vegetable peeler to peel two pears, and added a banana. I blended until somewhat smooth -- ooh chunks of fruit in ice-cream! -- and then poured the mixture in the ice-lollie-shapes I had. With one left, I added some lemonade, because that always works.

And I made drawings of it.

I stepped out of my comfort zone for this, quite literally. I stood in my kitchen drawing this and found that I prefer sitting down for my drawing. Standing cramps up my other arm, the one holding the book.

But still, here you have it. Instructions on how to make fruity ice-lollies. I did add a bit of maple-syrup though I wonder if I really needed too.

And I love my new vegetable peeler! It slips right onto my fingers and I can use my whole hand to peel.

I drew my hair clip today. I think it qualifies as the worst drawing I made this year.

Understandable, since I drew it with my non-dominant hand.

And the writing looks awful ;)

I bought a little solar panel recently. It lies in my windowsill, with open window, sucking up the sun's rays.

At night it recharges my phone, which works very well. It came with lots of different plugs to charge different phones and even my Nintendo DS. I like that I can use the sun to charge things. It also has a separate attachment so it can charge batteries. I haven't tried that out yet.

I made this drawing while my hand hurt badly and cramped up a lot. Not the smartest thing I ever did.

I went out to the mall (yes, we have one!) for some groceries and somewhat needed purchases and failed horrible in the last category. They did not have what I wanted.

Crossing the large parking-lot to the stores I realised I forgot to bring my hat (or cap). My scalp burns easily -- which hurts -- so on sunny days like today I wear protection. I hopped into the nearest clothing store and found exactly one hat. A simply grey-ish bucket hat. I now have a full quartet of bucket hats.

It posed nicely for my drawing.

I didn't know what to draw, so I drew my right shoe. A very comfortable kid's shoe which leaves tiger-footprints in the sand.

I have small feet.

Today I had a good day and I decided to hoover -- yes, 'hoover', I actually have a Hoover -- the sofa. This always takes a bit of work with all the pillows to move around. I figured that as long as I had to move them, I might as well wash the pillow-cases. It took me all day, but I aired out the pillows on the balcony, washed the pillow-cases, hoovered the entire sofa and the floor under and around, mopped the floor and put everything back together. I took lots of breaks and drank a lot and ate in between too, but I managed it.

At the end of the day, I decided to make myself a nice cocktail, and for extra kicks I added some blue food-colouring to it. Sometimes you just need a little extra colour!

I then decided to draw it; it turned out wonky, as all my cocktail drawings do, but still. Bad drawing beats no drawing.

I've followed Michael Nobbs' for quite some time and really enjoy his work. The one thing that attracts me in his work, is that like me, he also deals with illness. Sometimes I'll stumble on a blog of someone who does great work and they'll have a job, go to college and do that great work all at once. It makes me tired just thinking about that.

Michael, however, frequently blogs (and draws!) about how he copes with his illness and others things life tosses at him. He makes his own books and sells them. The last issue of The Beany came out as an ebook today. Despite his illness he takes on (little) projects and makes stuff happen. He seems to have found a way to make it work despite being ill, something I still aspire to.

I have not yet figure it all out, and I have not yet made it all work. Thanks to Michael however, I know I'll get there, eventually.

Some other inspiring artists: * scott c * Irisz Agocs * Eric Orchard * E*phi * jess (borkedplanet) * Kurt Halsey * Mattias Ink * marc johns All worth checking out.

I've tried out some new foods recently, some for eating and some for drawing. The kohlrabi roasts in the oven as I type this and the aubergine -- I just can't call it eggplant! -- lies waiting for an idea to pop into my head. The aubergine doesn't look like the kind I know, the deep dark purple ones, so I just had to buy it.

I've taken out a veggie(and fruit)-box subscription which should introduce me to more and new and exiting veggies and fruits -- which I'll then draw.

Today didn't go too great, and at some point I decided to make a little drawing. I drew the little (handy) scissors I bought recently. While I took the photo I noticed the other drawings in the moleskine and realised I hadn't put a bunch of the others drawings online yet. I made them all in 2007, and I enjoyed looking at them today.

The headphones have broken since (cable), however, I still have and use the wallet and the dog leash. And I wouldn't mind one of those raspberry cocktails ;)

Yesterday the second sketchcrawl of 2010 took place. I missed out on it because I got ill after doing some gardening on the balcony. To make up for it -- because I really wanted to do it -- I did a mini sketchcrawl on my own today. Perhaps even during May 15th somewhere on this planet still...

I drew some plants, some of which I've drawn before. I also drew my flowerpress, which I've also drawn before.

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The other cucumberplant-drawing I refer to and the earlier flowerpress drawing:

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A few days ago Michael Nobbs released his two booklet (Start to draw your life and 75 ways to draw more, previously released as make-it-yourself-booklets) as a combined updated and free eBook. Naturally I downloaded it. And almost just as naturally I didn't draw.

Today however I decided to take action. After putting dinner in the oven (courgette filled with quinoa, tomatoes, spring onions and some cheese) I grabbed my moleskine -- somehow I wanted to draw in that instead of my regular book, so I went with the flow and used it -- and drew my mini cucumber plants. Not only will the plants stay mini, they'll also produce mini cucumbers. I like mini plants, and mini fruits and veggies.

I then popped out on the balcony, drew a lovage leaf, and a recently sprouted mustard-plant (at least, I think it'll become a mustard-plant, but with brassicas, you never know...). After that I drew one of my bok choy plants, also the mini version (with a small balcony you have to work as space-efficient as you can). I like how it turned out.

And dinner only burnt a little bit.

I haven't drawn in a while, even though I want to. I can't seem to muster up the will or the courage, or whatever. I have also spent more time gardening, the season started again after all. I've sown plenty of plants and herbs, some didn't work and some I killed. Others seem to do fine and I'll put them out as soon as possibly.

I've channeled my few creative juices towards making myself salads, yesterday and today. I even went as far as buying a plate for the purpose. Salads look so much better on a white plate than on a blue-grey one.

Although the balcony has yet to produce a complete salads, I have used bits of balcony-plants to make my salads. I've sown a lot of salad-related plants, so guess what I'll eat a lot of ;)

The first one I made today, with mixed lettuce, arugula, cherry tomatoes, pickled onions and an egg from the store, drizzled with a blendered tofu dressing mixed up with some olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and herbs from the balcony (chives, spring onion, garlic greens and leaf celery). It got a bit chunky, like mayonnaise, so I blopped it on. I then sprinkled some salt, pepper and spicy paprika over the dish. Tasted great.

The second one I made yesterday, with the same mixed lettuce, arugula, pickled onions, and cucumber. I threw a few pieces of quorn filet on it and drizzled it with a mixture of yo-fresh (mayonnaise made with yoghurt), mustard, honey and balsamic vinegar. The lighter and small green leaves on the edge of the plate came from the balcony, and I added a few tiny sprigs of balcony-arugula.

Still working on those salad skills...

I spent the morning in the hospital, getting my iron-IV. My heamoglobin levels have dropped slowly since surgery and my iron supply has fallen well below normal levels. This probably plays some part in my ongoing fatigue and my doctor decided that instead of pills, I'd get two iron IVs. Today I had my first, next week the second.

I expected to have to wait a while and brought my drawing book, and then drew the IV several times.

I've drawn my IVs before, once when I had to get a CT-scan for my lungs (in the beginning of getting ill) and then when I had surgery and they had to give me a new one every two or three days because it kept clogging up.

I crawled around a bit today, trying to hoover under the sofa.

Today the first sketchcrawl of 2010 also took place, so I also did some drawings. I didn't crawl during the sketching though, not good for the knees...

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I have this thing about art supplies. I get all happy and giddy when walking into an art supply store. I don't necessarily have to buy anything (although I wouldn't mind), just seeing all the colourful paper and the paints, and smell the paper makes me happy. Every once in a while I do like to buy supplies though. Last week I went out to get a tube of China White waterpaint, and I purchased a better paintbox. Back at home I ordered a few things online, including a Derwent Safari Journal, several small canvases (5x5cm and 10x10cm), one Winsor & Newton Artist watercolour half pan (finally checking myself if it's worth it or not) and a small paintbox. The paintbox I accidentally found in that online shop for 1 euro, and it holds 12 half-pans (oh, I finally figured out the difference between half-pans and regular, I have half ones = square, and regular = rectangle).

I like the small paintboxes (I bought several cough), very light and easy to open / close.

I also like the feel of the Derwent journal. The paper feels nice and smooth, but not too smooth (like the Moleskine sketchbook). I've read that it doesn't do to well with classic watercolour, however, I use pen and a watercolour wash mostly and I think it'll do just fine (unlike that Moleskine ;) ). I like how the outside cover feels nice and soft. Now to think of something to draw in it...