Happiness is a journey

Oh boy, I'm late for Illustration Friday again! But better late than never!
The inspiration for this painting was this wonderful quote:

"Happiness is a journey, not a destination"
~ Ben Sweetland

so true, don't you think so?

* Details *
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I've painted this illustration with watercolors on 8.5 x 11 paper.
You can buy its Giclee print from my Etsy shop.
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Happy Easter friends! I hope you have a great time :)

...end of winter

Winters in Canada are very long ... but spring is almost here,

green grass is growing everywhere and birds are singing!

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I found some dried plants this weekend when we went for a walk.

The last pieces of winter...

Illustration Friday - Bottled

"Curious birdies"

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watercolor on 8.5" x 11" paper

The print of this illustration is available in my shop.

Red morning

I was stunned by color of the sun this morning. It was bright red!
The moment I woke up I jumped and took a few photos of the beautiful light!

No Photoshop editing! It was really like this! WOW!

It only lasted a few minutes and after that clouds came down and covered
the whole city and everything was in deep fog...

Illustration Friday - Duet

Probably you remember the sketch of this illustration that I did back in 2010.

It's been a while that I wanted to color it with watercolors and finally I did!

I made two prints from this painting, one with old paper background and one

with white background. Which one is your favorite?

Illustration Friday - Cultivate

My entry for Illustration Friday...better late that never!
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My grandmother had miniature lemon, orange and pomegranate trees.
This is a miniature olive tree. with two birdies and a little snail :)
Watercolor on 5" x 7" paper

Happy Persian New Year!

Just a few hours to the beginning of the Persian New Year and Spring equinox.
Here is my HaftSeen, a tradition of Ancient Nowruz. Iranian pastries, garlic, candles, a mirror and Sabzeh (the green grass),...

Holy books or books of old Persian poetry...
I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and a wonderful spring! xo

Magnolia

Here is the finished painting!

Watercolor on paper

7.5" x 7.5"

I was planning to do another bird painting to go well with "Cherry Blossoms" and

"Cozy nest" painting, so that I can frame them as a trio set.

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Here is our den/dining room and now the wall is not naked anymore :)

You can find the archival print of these three painting in my Etsy shop.

Hope you have a great week friends!

Sunset

I read about Japan's 8.9 earthquake news this morning in Google home page.

What an angry planet we have *sigh* ... I hope everyone stays safe from the Tsunami :(

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Our window faces east Toronto and I never see a sunset from here, but reflection of

lights from glass buildings far away is as beautiful as the sunset itself.

In progress

I'm working on a new watercolor painting now.
It's called "Magnolia".
Its little sketch on my busy inspiration board.

Sketchbook

From my sketchbook.
{ Places I would love to visit #2: Morocco }
Pen on paper + Digital coloring

The winner!

Random.org picked talented Aimee of Little Dear as the winner!

Congratulations!

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And many thanks to all of you dear friends for your kind comments!

Giveaway: "Love is giving" print

It's been quite a while since I've run a giveaway in my blog!

This giveaway is for my new print. It's printed on archival

quality matte paper with pigment inks.

It's so pretty in person!

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To participate in this giveaway:

{ Leave a comment + your name + your country }

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I will announce the winner Monday morning!

Illustration Friday - Swarm

A little pen illustration I did for this week's Illustration Friday challenge.

*Colored digitally*

Illustration Friday - Layer

" Should I try all the layers?...."
Watercolor and pencil on paper

Do you remember my little Moleskine notebook?
It's perfect for little watercolor paintings :)

Print of this illustration is available in my Etsy shop.
A lovely birthday gift!
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Printed on 4"x6" archival paper + archival pigment inks.

My first needle felted creature!

This is the first needle felted creature that I've made!
To be honest with you it wasn't easy at all!
Now I have a lot of respect for all the felt artists
especially Abigail of "Bird On Wire Studio", check out her blog for lots of felt lovelies!

My little Maneki Neko is so tiny!
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Today is a public holiday is Ontario and some other parts of Canada!
Hope you have a great week friends :)

Fruit labels

I finally finished filling up my writing board with fruit labels!
Of course with the help of my parents and my lovely friend Montse :)
The labels with a toucan and the one with 3 papayas were sent
by my lovely friend Montse from Mexico :)
I couldn't find such exotic ones here in Toronto for sure!
I brought the ones with oranges (far left) from Tehran in my last trip to Iran.
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Happy Friday friends!
Hope you have a great weekend and see you back on Monday!

Illustration Friday - Sweater

"Winter Bird"
Watercolor on 5" x 7" paper

The archival print of this illustration is available in my Etsy shop.

Happy Valentine's Day

A little drawing I did on kraft paper with Micron pen and colored pencils.

9.5cm x 4.5cm

I printed the birdies on decal paper and transferred them onto Ikea cups.

They turned out so cute!

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*You can buy the "Rub on decal paper" online, I bought them from Ebay :)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

How cold is your city?

Today Toronto is so sunny and beautiful and looking at the sky makes me
want to go for a walk.

But when I check the weather I change my mind!
So cold!!!...but I shouldn't give up...right? ;)

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How cold is your city?