Touché, Goethe.

"If I love you, what business is it of yours?" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Coquelicots

I don't know when it started, but it definitely started: my obsession with poppies. Perhaps it was Monet's painting "Les Coquelicots". 

Or, as my other obsessions, it started with my first trip to Germany. I do remember when I first saw them in person. I was walking down to my student dorm from some class and I had to go through a field of rapeseed flowers (is that the most horrifying name for a flower or what?), and as always, I look down to the floor (as to not to trip and fall because I am as clumsy as hell). And then, I saw them, in a small corner, and maybe two or three small flowers, seemingly out of place in this field. I gasped and stared in awe. I was in love. 

Second time I saw them, I was waiting for the train in Prague to take me back to Berlin (back to "civilization", or well, a place where I could actually read the street signs!). I looked to the floor once again, to see if I could find something to draw (to appease my strict art professor back in Dortmund), and there they were. Small, wildflowers waiting for me to take notice. 

And I find myself painting them often. Perhaps because people often overlook them, because they are nothing special... they are merely wildflowers. I think they are ridiculously gorgeous. Not only because they are a special kind of red and it contrasts perfectly with the green surroundings, but they are also beautiful, not as fierce as red roses but delicate and nonchalant, soft and effortless. Like I'm gorgeous without even trying. 

Circles

So I decided to take a plunge and share a bit of my doodles and "artwork". I certainly do not call my work "art" because it sounds pretentious and that's the last thing I want to be associated with. I do not consider myself an artist, I just like to paint from time to time.

I can't lie though. I miss being in that world, a part of the galleries, the showings, being a part of something, and I think that above all that, I miss the sense of belonging that came with it. Who cares about the negative reviews I got? Who cares if people didn't like it? Not everyone will, but what I did care about was how it all felt. 


And it felt good.


I guess I also miss the sense of community that came along with it and being a part of a select few. I guess I never knew what I was doing or how it would affect others, how my stuff would impact other people (or not!), I was just along for the ride. Now what do I have? A bunch of books and a bunch of people tearing at each other's throats to be noticed, to be the best, not because of something that they made, made from scratch, made by their hands, but something they claim to know, something they read the night before in some book.

Ugh, sometimes I really hate medschool.

Anyways, enough about my ramblings... here are some of my doodles.

Almond Oatmeal

I need to stop, I know, but I can't. I'm obsessed with oatmeal lately and even though my boyfriend doesn't like them (because he says he's not a horse to be eating oats, and he says it's too sweet that it should be for dessert) I know, that deep inside, he does like them and some day I'm sure, he'll come to love them.

I'm in my quest of finding the perfect oatmeal. I haven't found it yet, but I will, I will... I hope I will!


Almond Oatmeal 
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons Splenda brown sugar blend
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 and 1/2 cups of milk (if almond milk is available, then give it a try! I didn't.)

In a small skillet, melt butter until it is bubbly. Add the chopped almonds and stir until covered completely by butter. Lower the heat on the skillet and add 1/2 tablespoon of the brown sugar. Keep stirring.

In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a low boil and add the pinch of salt, oats, vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon and the rest of the sugar. Keep stirring. When your almonds have become fragrant, add them to the oatmeal and keep stirring until desired consistency has been reached.

Om nom nom!

Inspiration Inspiration

Painting.

I think that it's part of my calling, but I seem to find very little time to actually do it. Yet, as the amount of work piles up and the deadlines come deadly closer, I think my brain just diverts everything into inspiration. I suddenly get the urge to create, craft, procrastinate... anything that doesn't involve actually working on what I have to work on. It's quite something, really... considering the fact that I do not need much to get me distracted.

Lately I find myself thinking about a series of watercolor paintings. It is a big project that I want to undertake, but I haven't done watercolor painting in AGES. Why? Because it's sort of a job, to work with watercolors. So much planning needs to be done and things have to be calculated. If something goes wrong, you may need to start all over again and discard the amount of work you already worked on.

But, inspired as I was, I wanted to paint again, and watercolors seem to be haunting me. I guess I haven't had much experience with them and maybe it's a challenge of sorts and my brain wants me to work on that instead of working on my career.

So, I have two projects ahead that I want to take on. One involves watercolors and the other involves acrylics (because let's face it, with this humidity, only acrylics will do). I want to also focus on my two passions: medicine and art. One project will involve painting medicine stuff and the other one will be traditional painting stuff... stuff people may want to put on their walls (not just doctors wanting to decorate their offices).

I need time. I need more time and I need money to buy supplies. Why must art stuff be so expensive and then we're expected to sell it for under what we think it's worth? I always try to be fair when it comes to pricing, but since things are getting quite expensive lately, what is a girl to do?

Anyways, enough about my rambling. I was looking on the interwebz to find some inspiration to practice my watercoloring skills (or lack thereof) and as always, I find some pretty pictures to take my mind away from the mundane and into someplace nicer, where there is lots of time for sleeping, doing things that you like doing and enough sunlight to last you until you finish studying, and enough stars in the sky to let you catch enough Z's (and by that I mean at least 10 hrs). A world where I can find beautiful flowers in my backyard that extends into the horizon, a beautiful and never ending couture wardrobe and world peace.

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lol