Lifestyle – Shorena Ratiani

InkTober Starts here

I mentioned in my last post, that I would share my expectations about the InkTober challenge and how I have prepared myself for this challenging competition.

Here we go!

First of all, I have put together my “toolbox”. I have assembled my pen collection, which I am very happy with. I won’t use a sketchbook and will be drawing on 50 X 70 cm (20″ X 28″) size papers.

Like many others, I haven’t prepared drawings in advance of the start of the challenge. I intend to produce one drawing a day and will begin tomorrow. – I’m slightly concerned that I won’t have the strength and creativity to keep drawing non-stop for whole month but I’m sure that what I’m feeling is just pre-challenge nerves!

I’ve not drawn with ink pens before so I had some practice today. Here is the result.

Everything or nothing will be my motto for the month of October. My #InkTober goals are:

Don’t miss a day – create 31 finished drawings in 31 days, in a medium I have never worked with until today (OMG).
Become super organized and share my artworks on my website and social media channels.
Don’t get Covid-19 – I can’t explain to doctors why I need to drag all my messy drawing equipment into quarantine.
Stop watching and reading political news (we have a national election at the end of the month – it’s too distracting! I need to fully concentrate on my drawing.
Remember to reassure my diva cat that she still comes first!
Become super-fast and don’t waste too much time on unnecessary things, especially cooking and eating. Note: My goal IS NOT that my family has a #31daysoffastfood challenge or #Starvtober but it is a possibility!
Survive #InkTober and stay happy.
08:00, October 31, 2020 – vote (parliamentary elections will be held on this day)
10:00 a.m. come back home, finalize and post my 31st drawing and sleep (sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!) for the next 3 days
And the last and main thing – keep up this crazy working speed for the whole of October and then look forward to InkTober2021 (and do it all over again)

About the challenge I’m going to post here – on my website, my almost forgotten Instagram account, WHI, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook page I’ve just created several days ago.

I hope you follow my daily progress. Wish me luck!

Shorena

September 30, 2020 by Shorena Ratiani Categories: art, Artsy Lifestyle, Drawings, Gallery, Lifestyle, My Art, Paintings Leave a comment

I’m Back and ready to challenge myself

I’m back after a 7 month break from my art, during which I concentrated on helping my son to prepare for his university entrance exams. I am delighted to tell you that he was successful and is now studying psychology at the Georgian National University. I’m so happy for him but also for myself because I’m now free to return to my old lifestyle and start painting and drawing again!

I painted so infrequently during the last seven months that I feel I have a lot of pent-up artistic energy to release! It feels great to have a paint brush in my hand again. This is one of the first watercolors I completed following my self-imposed exile from the art world.

One of the things that I have been looking forward to is participating in the well known drawing challenge InkTober. I will be making one drawing a day for the whole of October and will post my drawings on social media channels.

Inktober is a month long art challenge created by talented artist Jake Parker in 2009. The challenge is to improve personal drawing skills and develop positive drawing habits. InkTober starts on October 1, and finishes on October 31.

Thousands of artists, even people who never ever tried to draw, take part in the challenge every year. In fact, Parker turned October into a month of continuous art celebration.

There are several rules to follow if you decide to take part in this wonderful challenge:

Participants have to create ink drawings and post them on social media – for example, on Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr., Twitter, etc. The hashtags #inktober and #inktober2020 make it easier for your art to be seen by a wide audience.

You should produce a drawing every day but you can decide when to post your creations – for example, every single day (1 drawing), once in three days (3 drawings) or once in a week (7 drawings). It’s up to you.

By clicking on the above mentioned tags you can see and enjoy what others are creating.

Before the challenge starts, an official prompt (topic) list is posted on the InkTober website and social media.

Here are the prompts for InkTober 2020.

The challenge is called InkTober so creating ink drawings is the norm but you can also make pencil underdrawings. A lot of artists add a splash of color to their artworks and I’ll do this too 🙂

What do I expect from this challenge? I’ll write about that later. Today I’m busy setting strict targets for myself to make sure that I complete the challenge 🙂 But one thing is clear – InkTober is just around the corner and I’m looking forward to challenging myself!

I honestly don’t know how my InkTober will pan out, especially as it will be my first “inking experience”. Wish me luck!

I wish you a fun experience if you decide to take part in this art challenge!

September 29, 2020 by Shorena Ratiani Categories: art, Artsy Lifestyle, Lifestyle, My Art, Social MediaTags: art, art challenge, art competition, artist, Artsy Lifestyle, challenge, competition, creative lifestyle, ink, inked, inktober, inktober2020, Lifestyle, motivation, watercolor, watercolor painting 1 Comment

Happy Friday!

I have not yet met a single person who doesn’t experience that special Friday feeling. It’s the end of the working week for many people and a time to anticipate the freedom and fun that the weekend offers.

I was born on a Friday and I love this day of the week. I even created a website called ‘Friday’ that celebrated this special day 😃

Friday is sometimes connected with superstitions and odd beliefs.
In Georgia (where I live), ‘Nine Fridays in a day’ describes people who change their minds too often.

‘Friday Girl’ was my nickname in childhood (used mostly by my parents). My mother’s explanation was: ‘You do everything upside down because you were born on Friday and you have Nine Fridays in a day!’

I still do things in my very own way, which perhaps can be described as ‘upside down’ but I still don’t know how Friday is connected with such type of behavior.

However I can understand the second part of the ‘Nine Fridays in a Day’ saying. I often change my mind. I did it a lot during my childhood. I had many hobbies and interests, which constantly competed for my attention – in the morning I wanted to be a painter and pirate, in the afternoon a pianist or writer, or maybe a biologist? A chef? A cosmonaut? Later in the afternoon I would decide that I would be a police chief or a cartoon creator. In the evening I was already dreaming of a film director’s career.

Well, I definitely didn’t become a pirate, though I did learn a lot of many interesting things by frequently changing my mind. In my heart, I know I am a Friday girl!

When I grew up and started work, my Friday expectations were never connected with weekends. I was a journalist and that profession doesn’t recognize formal working days or even holidays. However, Fridays were always somehow special. Perhaps it is because I am a ‘Friday Girl’ 😃

Last week, I started this blog and have already posted 13 articles, optimized my art website, made some digital paintings, took lots of photos, kissed my cat hundreds of times (which she considered to be bullying), tickled my dog a lot and did some other interesting things as well. It was a lovely week!

I feel a bit tired but happy – thank God it’s Friday!

I wish you an amazing and joyful weekend!

Shorena

If you have a moment, please check out my painting and drawing portfolio.

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February 22, 2019October 23, 2019 by Shorena Ratiani Categories: Artsy Lifestyle, Gallery, LifestyleTags: friday, friday feelings, friday motivation, friday vibes, good vibes, happy friday, happy vibes, happy weekend, motivation, personal, special day, weekend, weekend vibes 2 Comments

Ivy on the blue wall. ©Shorena Ratiani Photography

For Love of Ivy

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Ivy is my absolute favorite plant. I can spend hours and hours photographing it – climbing up buildings and walls, through tree canopies, on the ground. I love it in every season of the year, in every way and condition – when it is green, red or even completely dried out.

Every single ivy plant is a finished piece of art for me.

These natural fractals are beautiful all year round – their green color brings concrete jungles to life and gives me energy and joy.

It is my dream one day to have a big house completely covered by ivy and even more – to be surrounded by a lush garden of ivy!

Do I really need that big house if take into account the significant disadvantages, such as HIGH maintenance and never ending cleaning? Not really, though a big house would have large walls that could be covered with MORE ivy. Would it be too much? Would it quench my passion for exploring the city to take millions of photos of ivy-covered walls? Or would I get really bored of it? I don’t know. Right now, there can never be enough ivy for me!

For this post, I collected photos of ivy growing on colorful walls. Have a look and let me know what you think.

A bit more:

Please visit my photography pages.

Check out my painting and drawing portfolio and look at digital art page as well.

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Have a colorful day!

xoxoxo

Shorena

February 14, 2019October 23, 2019 by Shorena Ratiani Categories: Artsy Lifestyle, Gallery, Lifestyle, Nature Photography, photographyTags: art, blue, blue walls, colorful, colors, colourful, colours, green, hobbi, ivy, nature, photo, photo blog, photo of the day, photography, photography blog, photos, shorena ratiani, shorena ratiani photography, street photography, vines, walls 1 Comment

My Family and Other Animals

Hello there! Hope, you are having nice time 😊

Please grab a cup of coffee, and let’s get to know each other better!

Although I created this website as a journal of my art journey and artsy lifestyle generally, I need to say couple of words about my family members in case they invade to my blog pages and occupy some part of it. Or at least actively participate in the stories, I’ll post here as I wouldn’t be able to restart my career if not their support.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

The head of the family – Monkey aka Minkey (a shortened version of Mini Monkey) who is actually a cat and not a monkey. We rescued her from the street five years ago. She was dirty, hungry, and thirsty and had a broken leg. We cleaned her up, fed her and fixed her leg and she has been with us ever since. She currently serves as the boss of the household and like all cats is a self-proclaimed princess. She was definitely put on earth to rule!

minkey, cat, kitty, lovely, the boss, pet, animal — Minkey. The Boss.

Minkey is the busiest member of our family. Her responsibilities include the supervision of my artistic work. As an art curator, she closely monitors my progress and ensures that everything is done according to her exquisite taste.

Caucasian Shepherd dog Moses – a pretty girl, not a boy as might be expected by her name. When she was born, her behavior reminded me of the silly seal Moses from Vi på Saltkråkan by Astrid Lindgren, so I named her Moses.

moses, dog, caucasian shepherd, huge dog, shepherd, mountain dog, georgian shepherd, — Moses, Caucasian Shepherd Dog

Moses is a large dog and scary looking but she is a sweet and most loving creature who still thinks she is a puppy who can still jump on your lap. She doesn’t mind that she is five years old already and weighs nearly 70 kilos. Her job description is not too long. She is just responsible for being lovely and cuddly for family members and scary for imaginary intruders.

My teenage son lives in his own self-proclaimed kingdom in a part of our house where moms, pets and cameras are not allowed. He has grown up quicker than I could ever have imagined was possible and I require special permission to take a photo of him. Well… this time I didn’t get that permission 😃

And at last my wonderful, very supportive life partner Mike Bear, who persistently supports one of my hobbies – cooking. He probably is only Englishman in Georgia who has actually tasted every single Georgian dish. His current size of waist is directly proportional reflection of this support.

That’s it for now. Thanks for getting to know our family!

Hugs from all of us,

XXXX

Shorena

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