Happy start of the week!

Above all, thanks for all the people who left nice comments here and on Twitter about our beloved Space Dog, Paco.
He is stills bravely sporting his lampshade and his eye is recovering fine.

Today is one of those days when I feel the need of a lot of purple around me… Enough purple to face an hard day and hard week of work and errands!

Here is my Monday Moodboard for today, picked from European Street Team designers at Etsy.
I searched for “Europeanstreetteam” and “purple” on Etsy and those are just some of the wonderful items I found.

Clockwise from left:

“Necklace felt violet purple black ‘Twilight’” by JuliaFelt (Montenegro)
“Purple Gloves” by Afra (Turkey)
“Scandinavian Matryoshka Art Doll – Fru Vestlandet” by Ravenhill (Norway)
“Asymmetric purple neckwarmer” by Homelab (Greece)
“Abstract Original Textured Oil Painting with Sparkling Laser powder” by MGMartPaintings (Hungary)
“12 pieces Satin Flowers PURPLE” by Supplier (Turkey)

More Monday Moodboards at Fleurfatale’s blog.

First work in progress / Primi lavori in corso

More canvases to paint / Ancora tele da dipingere

I didn’t realize ten days passed since my last entry… Ten days! How a lazy blogger I am! Shame on me!

Going back to work full-mode has been harder than I thought.

I’m working on my upcoming little exhibition, both painting and preparing the graphics for the event, trying to accomplish multiple tasks all at once.

I feel a bit like I’m living many different lives: wife, homemaker, owner of two dogs, artist, graphic designer, enterpreneur, teacher, not last daughter, sister and friend.

Those roles keep stealing time to each other and it is easy to get confused!

Should I do the laundry, or paint a bit, or go for a walk with the dogs, or call that friend I was supposed to meet, or prepare the files for the typographer… Or maybe just collapse on the sofa in front of the tv with my husband – knitting that half-finished blanket?

Hard choices. I guess all of you understand what I’m talking about.

I’ve always had many interests, but sometimes it seems just too much to handle for just one person!

(I’m gathering information about a German course. And I would like to learn how to play that guitar that lies in a corner in the living room… And what about a swimming course?)

Which tricks do you use to keep all your life together? I’m curious!

I’m reading this really interesting book about “Scanners”… A name the author created to define people with too many interests.

It is “Refuse to Choose”, by Barbara Sher (www.barbarasher.com if you are interested in finding out more) and it has some interesting insights and tips about how to do everything you love… without going crazy in the meantime.

I’m still reading it. I’ll let you know!

I post a couple of pictures I took in my studio – just to let you know I’m working on the paintings… Really!

I’m not going to post any picture of the finished paintings before the exhibition… You have to come to see them! Or to wait a bit.

The six canvases I started turned out quite different from what I planned, that is a further proof that planning is not for me.

It is much more fun to just see what happens, and let the surfaces and colours have it their way. It is like watching a movie without knowing how it will end!
I bought three more canvases – another wonderful trip to Poggi! – and I think I will start to work on them tomorrow, or maybe on Tuesday.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, again, with trips to the airport, work and teaching.

And walking the dogs! I can’t forget the poor dogs… Sara is frightened by the rain and follows us around the flat with desperation in her eyes.
Unfortunately for her, I love the rain!

I added an “Exhibitions” section to the site- where you will find infos about the exhibition of the 23rd and 24th of September – and a little banner on the right side of the page.
I’m really nervous… I’d better go to do some painting!

Shades of blue around me/Toni di blu intorno a me

I retrieved the cable of my camera this afternoon, during a trip to our vet in Albano.

Paco is not feeling well yet and we brought here Gertrude the Turtle to feed her. She is growing bigger everyday… I guess in a month or two she will need a whole flat for herself!

I downloaded the pics I took yesterday, that are mostly on the subject “Variations of Blue”.

I usually don’t favour blue, but I’m overwhelmed by the intense shade of turquoise of the pool, and this house is mostly decorated in blue, so I feel immersed in a whole world of blue hues.

I spent most of the day at my laptop, trying to understand better the misterious world of social networks.

I registered on Twitter, and you can now “follow me” there – as the lingo tells us we have to say! – at www.twitter.com/ReingardDesign.

Etsy – www.etsy.com – and its vibrant community of crafters amazes me too, and I found a social network by interior designer Martha Stewart, “Doers into Dreamers”, designed for people who aim to turn a dream into a job – that is what I really would like to do, actually.

I added a Twitter and a FaceBook widget on the right side of the site, so if you want to follow me on those social networks you can do it easily clicking on them.

Now I have to do some seriuos work, or to lie on the couch with Ale and the dogs and watching tv. Or both.

Relax by the pool/Relax a bordo piscina

I missed one entry yesterday, breaking right away my promise to be a good blogger and write everyday.
But it was for a good reason: We finally went on a little vacation!

We had to bring along our laptops because of work deadlines, but we are finally taking time to relax.

These last two years have been quite busy and we didn’t take any break.
We moved to a new town and new flat, we got married, founded Reingard Design…

We are now based at my parents’ house near the sea, and we are enjoying the little garden and the pool, eating pizza and icecream and drinking cold beer.

The dogs are not so happy as we are, Sara is using all her dramatic abilities to perform her best performance as “The Sad Dog”. She is an urban dog, she misses terribly her routine, and she hates nature – really.

Paco is not so sophisticated, and he is adapting better to the new place.

They spend most of the time inside the house, while we are enjoying the outside a lot, going around in our bathsuits, swimming in the pool (or, better, floating in it and overusing the hydromassage option) or sleeping on the sunbeds.

I’m avoiding suntan like a vampire, covering myself with sunscreen, wearing my huge sunglasses and a stray hat. I feel like a old fadshioned lady!

I decided to bring with me my knitting projects, my sketchbook, journal, drawing paper, colored pencils, colored chalks, fixative. Ideas for inspiration are in the laptop.

I brough my camera too, but forgot the cable to connect it to the computer to download the pictures. I can’t show you the pics I took today… But Alessandro is going home to check how Gertrude the turtle is doing without us in a couple of days, so I will get the cable then.
I hope I will be able to post pictures soon!

I also took with me “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards and “The Drawing Book” by Sarah Simblet, two wonderful books about drawing, and “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote.

We are enjoying a lot of different ways to relax here: water-therapy, sleep-teraphy, pet-therapy, pizza-therapy… We really needed it!

I have a lot of ideas I would like to develop, too many, and I would like to use this time to clarify my mind on them.

I also would like to work on the current web projects, because Semptember is a lot likely to be full of deadlines and I don’t want to be overwhelmed by them!

Tonight some more pizza and icecream for us…