Lost Tapes

Some time ago I was asked to do the art for the upcoming album by Lost Tapes released by Cloudberry Records and now here it is! Their music is really wonderful, so feel free to give it a listen, on their web, or on their bandcamp page!

I was inspired by the idea of simple sensible things happening on a quiet image, and in a way, I believe there's no better place to be than in a special spot in the forest where magic seems to happen, at the right time of the day. But a little secret is that any moment can feel like magic if we allow ouserlves to feel the magic of the moment.

I also did the art for the labels, inside the 7" album. Which are meant to be a prolongation of the main illustration, as well as the back cover. Added the river path as well as the beard scratches on the trees! (you know, the beard from the main illustration).

And here you have the back cover art, as you can see the meaning of it was as if the magic moment was fading as the night was getting darker, and so the lights are now off and there's no bear, just the scratches on the tree it has left behind.

Hope you like the illustrations and hope that you like Lost Tapes' music! You'll be able to order their new album from Cloudberry Records page soon enough!

You can  find Lost Tapes on:

• The web
• Facebook

And Cloudberry Records on:

• The web
• Facebook

Have a great week!

Dec 16: Decorating the Tree

And though I try to tell you that I need you
Here I am without you
I feel so lost but what can I do?
'Cause I know this love seems real
But I don't know how to feel(...)

So change your mind
And say you're mine

Don't leave tonight, Stay.

Stay - Hurts

There's so much love this days. And I was wondering how much love can you feel when you're decorating your Christmas tree so when your loved ones see it, it cheers them up. 

And maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that, when you're doing something for someone you love, you can't help yourself and you give it all that you have, and you do it so tenderly and with so much love. Even the most trivial things can be done with so much love, such as making a sandwitch for someone or hanging up some Christmas balls..

Dec 12: Frozen Moon

There's something in your eyes, there's something I can see.

You've got a dark side no one is allowed to see.

Always lonesome in your eyes, 

the eyes of a lonely child.

I wish there was something I could do.

But all I do is ask the frozen moon to shine where you are

and tell you that  I am here, thinking of you.

Frozen Moon  (by Tona)

I'm really, really late for this one, but still on time. This one, though it is part of this Advent Calendar, has been done to be the cover of a Christmas special and wonderful album. So it's finally done, and it really took me so long to finish this one. 

I'd like to say so many things about it, but I feel that none feels as alright as that little text I've posted before, it's Christmas, it's Winter, the nights are beautifully cold, the stars shine brighter than ever, the cold gets through you and somehow makes you sad, but there are always some little electric lights slightly glimmering through the blue of the night, the blue of your heart, bringing that bit of joy.

Goodnight everyone, happy enchanted 12/12/12.

Dec 10: Have A Merry Birthday

Today is my sister's birthday and so, I did this for her, actually, I made a whole postcard because she's so amazing and she's really, really wonderful, and I am so, so happy to have her as my sister. 

She's my sister, but she's also a really, really good friend of mine. We spend such good times together just doing weird things (that I think no one else would understand but us). And she always makes me really happy. SHE MAKES ME HAPPY and cheers up my days. I am so glad and I don't think I could ask anything else.

So happy, happy birthday to you, Andi, I love you so, so much :)

here's a photo of how it looked like!

         ¡HAPPY BIRTHDAAAY!

Dec 9: It's snowing outside!

.. and that cheers me up.

It would, if it was really snowing here, but it isn't. I hope I'll get to see snow this year, if only a little. 

I just wanted to point out that I did not get my cup of hot chocolate, yet, but instead eat a little bit of a chocolate bar, which is, indeed, pretty good.

As you might see, I'm a lot better than I've been this last days! but now I have a lot of work to do, to catch up what I haven't done this last days.  I'm almost done with it, but not yet.

Anyway, if it's snowing where you are, I hope you're really enjoying it and, if you go oustide to play in the snow you know Jack Frost will nip at your nose!

Dec 6: Drawing by the Tree

I'm sorry, I did not have much time today to do anything I got planned to do. I just worked traditionally so... 

Actually, I did everything I had to do, but in fact, did not finish one thing.

I spend today decorating everything for Christmas and I did had much fun with it! Hope you had a great time too and that you're enjoying the way your home looks now that everything is brighter with some little lights here and there.

I'm gonna be sitting by the tree just listening to christmas music and drawing and drawing.. goodnight.

Dec 5: It's finally Done!

It feels great when you finish your snowman, and you sit on the snow, so cold, but in a way, so warm, and just stay there, looking at what you've done. It's wearing your warm clothes and it's smiling at you, and, at the very first moment you think of a name, it becomes he.

I've always enjoyed doing snowmans, but it doesn't really snow here (just like once in a few years) and when it does, it's never much, so you don't have much snow to work with, and I've never ever done one which was taller than my hips, but I loved them anyway. And they were always there till the snow melted away..

The name of this piece has two meanings, as you can probably guess by "when" I'm posting this (11:30 pm, aprox). I've struggled hard today to get something done, but finally I'm happy about what I ended up with. It's cold and it's snowy!

ps. Tomorrow I'll hang up my Christmas decorations... can't wait!

Dec 4: Gleaming in the Night

I feel that somehow, magic is so alive when Christmas time comes, as if every little piece of earth was filled with magic, and that's so wonderful!

I saw Rise of the Guardians yesterday, and all I have to say is keep believing! There are great things waiting for you out there, and I don't even know how or when, but if you believe things will turn to be wonderful, then, somehow, they will. 

Magic is waiting for you, so walk with your heart open this days, it's gonna make you good, everything turns to be wonderfully magic this time of year, and I can't help myself but saying wonderful and magic all the time, because that's the way I feel it, and as I'm writing this I swear you my heart is beating faster and faster.

Look at the little Christmas lights out there, can you feel it?

Dec 2: Hanging Christmas Decorations

It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistletoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When loved ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year

Some little critters may help you hang this year's Christmas decorations and you'll wake up to a nice, magic surprise. So keep dreaming on, magic is there and more alive this time of year.

Hope you're enjoying this days and really looking forward to Christmas, because I am! Maybe here I sound too enthusiast and I don't know if I'm that much, or if I should. Anyway, here's the start of my little project.

I was planning on doing an Advent Calendar and so, do one drawing a day. I might have already failed (not a surprise) as I missed December 1, but today I woke up to the wonderful surpirise (and I hope it's true) that this year's advent calendar started today. So, whether it's true or not, here is the very first piece of this little calendar. Hope I'll be able to make one each day.

Small Hope

All those dreams lie unfulfilled

All those lives that pass us by

Careless thoughts torment my lonely soul

But my trust is still pure

Virginia Astley & David Sylvian - Some Small Hope

Fled Far Away

..I guess we all want to

And as I looked around, I began to notice
That we were nothing like the rest

Hold your horses now

We sleep until the sun goes down

Through the woods we ran

Deep into the mountain sound

Mountain Sound - Of Monsters and Men

Running under a storm that's approaching with all your friends and feeling nothing can stop you is one of the best feelings ever.

I was just going through Of Monsters and Men songs (as requested by my sister) and I really liked them, all their songs are like a fairytale, or just a simple tale, and they made me dream and remember, and so when Mountain Sound came into shuffle this image came into my mind. The running no matter what and having fun with that.

I think I had forgotten the feeling, well, no, that's false, we never forget anything, it's just that we aren't able to remember. Anyway, mountain sound made me remember the feeling, that feeling when you are a child and you start running with all your strenght not caring about much but the running.

Like that moment in Narnia when Lucy starts dancing with the trees under the moonlight. She doesn't really know what's going on, but she starts moving with the trees, she succumbs to the moment and enjoys each single thing of it. And so this is it.

Do you remember when every little thing was a big brand new adventure? When you could enjoy every little thing no matter how ordinary? Any stone with a weird shape was a magic rune waiting for you to find it. When being under the rain was much more than hiding somewhere trying not to get soaked or weeping out all your feelings. When being under a storm was fun just because you were getting wet and you could run and run and feel as if you where never ever going to stop.

When seeing the sun shining in the rain made you feel as if everything was going to be alright forever and ever. (I couldn't help but thinking about The Secret Garden, but I guess this wonderful book express perfectly what I'm trying to say here).

Hope you all remember of this things, the big adventures you used to dream about, all the wonderful things you imagined or lived, all those tiny perfect childhood adventures. 

A closeup of the girl and the forest critters..

I must say I had lots of fun and trouble drawing/painting this. And I know maybe this critters are not the best you've ever seen, but it's the first time ever I've drawn a deer and painted a fox, so I'm really happy of how they turned out. One more thing I really like about this one is how the clouds turned out, tryied to made a kind of silver lightning and I did not even know where or how, but I did it, somehow.

Anyway, I wanted to make them all happy, running all together and simply having fun with that. And at least I did have fun with it! 

Golden Autumn

Hideaway,

well they'll seat us in the sun

By the way

Know you've always been the one.

You'll ask your reasons why

what once was yours is mine

My baby's gone.

Ride away,
Gonna take me from my man

By the way

No they'll never understand

We'll have a bit of fun 

Watching everyone pass us by.

You'll ask your reasons why

what once was yours is mine

My baby's gone.

Hideaway - Karen O and the Kids

I just love Hideaway, and I don't really know why (maybe for line two) I always think of sunset when I listen to it. So I finally did a drawing that could really go with this song, if only in my mind. 

I feel as if, when you put both things together there's an ancient magic floating in the air, among the leaves that slowly fall to the ground.

It's been a week in which I've seen golden leaves fall as if it was snow every single day. And it was too beautiful. I simply couldn't stop looking. Sometimes, while walking, I stopped under the trees just to capture the moment in my mind. I hope that, as years go by, I'll always remember it.

This is sort of a different thing (not at all, but I tried my best). I had to make an illustration for a school project. So we had to choose one illustrator that we liked and try to reproduce its style. And that's what I did (well, tried).

Among all the amazing people around here and there (now or in the past) I chose Chuck Groenink because I've adored his style for so long and had in mind to try and make something like that, so when I had to do it for school I almost immediately knew who I would choose.

Actually, over the week I went through so many illustrators I love, and the doubt about which one to choose increased each day, so I ended choosing my first thought.

I worked hard on this, trying to reproduce the gouache he uses and things, but it's not that easy, I swear. Anyway, and though it was really tiring, I can say I've learned a lot going through this, and I had lots of fun. I know that this does not really look like one of his paintings, but I love how it turned out to be anyway. I think you can guess I love sunset lightning, especially when it's autumn and it makes it look as if everything was golden..

Here I leave you the complete piece I had to do, I made it as if it was part of a calendar:

Lonesome

I moved around from town to town

lots of people around 

but still so lonely.

Friendships would grow

then I'd hit the road

making up excuses for why I had to leave.

Always been too scared and unprepared

to let anybody get too close to me..

You Love Me - Kimya Dawson

I love the rest of the lyrics. I really do. But I left them out just because I don't think they really fit in here. Not at all. Not y..

As you can see I'm in a kick for Kimya Dawson lately.. but the idea of drawing this has been on my head for days. So please don't blame me. I can't help myself but thinking like this when I hear this song.. Because maybe I'm wrong and just being dumb, but I feel someone must be so lonely right now, no matter how many people around or how many little lovely things in the air (cause it's autumn). And it feels so wrong not being able to do anything.

So if I'm mistaken, sorry for caring too much. If not, please, please, please, even if only for a moment, close your eyes, think of a wonderful thought and I'll send you some pixie dust so that you'll be able to fly tonight.

Don't Cry All Alone

"I'm here, you won't have to cry alone anymore. I'll be here whenever you need me. I'm here. Please, don't cry all alone. I'll always be here for you..."


Maybe one day I'll feel needed like this. I want someone to really need me.


I was about to tell you what I was listening to, but I thought it would be better to keep it as a secret and then, everyone could think of their own melody to sweet this.

What's the use?

If words can't touch you, what's the use of using them? If I'll never reach you, what's the use of stretching out my hand?  If, whatever I do, you'll never care, what's the use of keep trying? 

If you try not to get too attached to things, what's the use of having those things? They become meaningless and I don't believe you if you say so.

I'm tired of trying, of feeling stupid, crazy, of being a foolish always repeating myself, always doing the same, and things always ending up the same way. Why can't time make any difference?, why I keep on going and walking the same way, falling every single time in the same gaps?

I'd say it's even boring. I don't know what to expect anymore.. someone who'll care? maybe? Is that even possible? Someone who really cares? not being number two, three, four.. etc. No, being number one, just for once.... I think I'm asking too much. I'm sorry.

Not at my best, and making a big effort not to say a word where I shouldn't.

And it's all for a reason as simple as this:

No one cares about the ones that care.

Summer's End

I drawed something for Judith Viorst's poem "Summer's End". Sorry it is an awful photo. (Maybe I'll scan it someday)

I just wanted to try an illustrate a text this way. I was really inspired by Pauline Bayne's work (not only the amazing drawings, but when she used to illustrate cooking books or things like that) so I did this trying to reproduce the last Summer flowers, and the sunflowers are dying (some of them).

I've never really felt completely sad for summer ending, 'cause you know, then comes autumn, and as you might have guessed already, I love autumn. But it is always sad to leave things behind and also, being helpless at keeping the things you love with you. 

You give the best of you, you have the best intentions, but that's still not enough.

Anyway, good end of summer and start of autumn! Here rain has arrived, and with her, a little bit of cool air. I hope finally we'll have some autumn weather!

Hiding Under The Golden Leaves

My yard is full of leaves today

Brown and yellow and gold

I think I'll rake them in a pile

Higher than my head

Then I'll pretend it is my bed

I'll jump in very quick

And pile their leaves up over me

For covers soft and thick

I'll just lie there so nice and warm

And look up in the sky

And watch more leaves float down for me

To rake up by and by.

By Marian Kennedy

Sometimes I feel like this, just running away from the world and hiding somewhere in the forest, waiting for some magic to happen and take you far away.

Somewhere there is this place where autumn leaves cover the earth and the sky, and as sun is setting down you can see them glimmering as if they were made of gold.

Been listening to Jens Lekman all the time, I think it has took part in the way it has turned out to be.

Her ring

"Why, when you wanna see someone, and that someone is near and alive, why do we have to suffer, unable to see each other?"

Why is it so hard to be with the ones we love? 

The other day I started watching Once Upon A Time.. and though I'm just in the ep 3 I already really like it. The thing is that I kind of really like Snow White, I love the way she is, her story (with prince charming and everything that goes with it) and her outfit. I feel familiar to it in a way, though she sure does wear much more sweet things.

I got caught with the idea that in real life she still has the ring. 

I've still got a lot to know about their story I guess.. it's mysterious and enchanting and filled with magic!

Not at all a twilight dream

Fleeting glimpses hard to find,

Imagined wonders of lovely kind.

In night times waking in pleasant dreams,

In the moon's gossamer, silver beams.

Fairies dance the night away,

Gone at dawn, in flight of day.

- L. C. Gerstenfeld -

Today I borrowed "Of This And Other Worlds" by C.S. Lewis, and though I've just staretd it, it has already captivated me. Another thing that fascinated me was the book's cover. So I stared using it as a reference to do a quick sketch, and I'm kind of proud of how it turned out to be. 

Then I did a search of the illustration's author, which happened to be Arthur Rackham, and I've completely fallen in love with his work! It's so wonderful, and full of magic! I love his drawing technique (The ink, watered colours, and the light). And he illustrated so many fairy tales, like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland or Grimm's tales, among others.

The original piece I used as a reference is "Twilight Dreams" by Arthur Rackham.

The Other Self

..is always there, waiting to arise

I don't know, but I have this feeling that you only show what you want the others to see, and that there's always an other self of yourself (better or worse) hiding there. 

This was just a quick, quick doodle. At first I wanted to play just with brown and yellow, but...