Sunday, January 27, 2013

New Abstract Paintings

I am finally getting around to setting up an Etsy shop, and since I wanted to keep my existing body of work intact in the hope that I will organize an art show at some point this year or next year, I painted five new abstracts specifically for my Etsy shop. I have some stuff to read from the Etsy seller handbook before I list the items, just so that I can make sure that I know everything that I need to know about setting up the item, pricing and handling payments, but I hope I can go live by the end of this coming week.
Here is a sneak peak at two of my new abstracts that would actually make a nice pair if bought together.





Friday, January 25, 2013

Fashion Installation by Nuri Dimitrova

Tonight I had the pleasure of going to a very interesting fashion event by designer Nuri Dimitrova and Elena Filipcheva as the project's curator. Not really a fashion show but more of a fashion installation, the evening involved beautiful special occasiom dresses, gorgeously artsy hats and headpieces, and models posed like statues from a different time, coming down their pedestals from time to time to mingle with the decidedly modern crowd. The venue was appropriate; the ornate architectural details of the National Gallery of Art and big ornamental mirrors were the perfect backdrop for this surreal fairy tale. Nature sounds like birds chirping or waves crashing on the shore were the soundtrack of this show, bringing the crowd into something of an enchanted forest or fairy mansion. Had the lighting been lower, we would have been part of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Of course, I'm sure everyone would have taken out their smartphone and ordered a cab or turned on their flashlight app to navigate their way out of the dark forest, so our fairy tale's audience was trendy, current and yielding high-tech gadgets.


I have to say I liked the white dresses a lot; I enjoy beautiful relief ornamentation when it comes to wedding gowns. You can look at some of the details I photographed below. I was quite bummed that I didn't have my camera with me, and I has to settle for trying to squeeze OK looking photos out of my cell phone. I also particularly enjoyed the hats. Those were completely dazzling and decadently lavish. I would love to wear one for some occasion, even if it is a costume ball.






Saturday, January 19, 2013

Winter Decorations

I admit it. I love my Christmas decorations - the tree, the silver, white and gold ornaments, the snowflake-shaped lights, the wrath, my angel figurines...Most of the people I know took down their holiday decorations weeks ago, right after the new year rolled around. Not me, uh-uh. I still have my tree up in all of its glory.

The truth is that Christmas is probably my favorite holiday, and I always think of it as a time of being home, connecting with your loved ones, treating yourself to great food, listening to carols, and opening presents. It's hard letting go of the remnants of the holiday spirit in my life each January, simply because I would like to prolong the holidays as much as I can, at least in my mind. I am sappy like that.

The end of January is nearing, though, so whether I want it or not, I would have to take down the tree. I will keep my holiday wrath that I put on the table each year, as it gives my house a wintery look. Each spring I replace it with a spring wrath, but until that season rolls around, I will enjoy my pine cones, red berries and dried thistles.

 
Also, take a peak at some of my bird ornaments. I've gotten a bit obsessed with the birds in the past few years: what they symbolize, their imagery, how they pertain to my nickname and the name of this blog kosebose, how the fly in the sky...My bedroom was is pained with the silhouettes of birds flying, which you can see here, I did two twin paintings of flying birds for the living room,  and I have bird ornaments on my tree. It's great.

 

 



Saturday, January 12, 2013

Winter Wonderland Part 2: South Park in Sofia

This morning we woke up and it was snowing in that wonderful light and fluffy way that makes each separate tree branch white, and everything looks like it has come out of one of those magical looking Christmas cards. I had an appointment and some errands to run in the morning, but then around noon I took a walk in the South Park in Sofia with my camera. It was so beautiful! I don't think I've taken a walk in the park in the winter probably since I was a kid, so I got to rediscover, or maybe discover for the first time the beauty of it today. It was all quiet because of the snow, even though there were people strolling and kids playing and sleighing, and it was surprisingly not freezing at all, so the walk was quite amazing! It was a great opportunity to take some photos of winter landscapes, which is not something I do very often. I'm not a fan of the cold, you see :)





Saturday, January 5, 2013

Delicious Saturday Pancake Brunch

Today I decided to treat myself to another round of those cottage cheese pancakes that I made over the holidays (read more here). I spent last night and this morning doing some work for my Business Strategy class, and I am supposed to do some reading for my Strategic Financial Management class (which I am a little terrified of, actually), so I thought I'd reward myself with a nice brunch. This time I ate the pancakes American-style: stacked and with fruit in between. I stacked three pancakes and did a layer of cream cheese between the first two and a layer of kiwi and a delicious specialty pineapple and nuts cream cheese that I really love between the middle and the top pancake. Let me tell you, it was completely delicious! Check out my photos below:



Also, just like every year, my orchids are starting to bloom. This is the orchid I've had for the longest time, and it is the one that started to bloom first this year. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Looking at My Life & Some Resolutions


The winter holidays are a favorite time of mine, and I am normally relaxed and focused on nothing else but soaking up Christmas carols and movies, reading a couple of books, and eating delicious food. This year was not that different, except for the fact that I did a lot of thinking about my life. I have felt very stressed this past year, and I'm sure that most of my posts from the last six months show that in one way or another. I have been really busy, and I have often felt like I have not a single spare minute in a day to do something for pleasure or look at myself in the mirror.

Some of the people in my life have expressed the opinion that perhaps I am overreacting; after all, plenty of people work and study at the same time and don't feel like I do. I am not sure what to say to that. All I can say is that I am usually quite hard on myself, and I am generally not a complainer, so if I do complain, it's generally for a legitimate reason. I am trying to find a decent balance of work and play in my life, but lately it has been extremely hard and it bothers me. I feel really grateful for everything that I do have: my own home, nice parents, a guy that has been nothing but wonderful to me, to mention a few. I am just trying to find a way to live more, rather than do more.



I am looking to change a few things in my life in 2013. I am not going to mention some of them here, but I am going to talk about a big to-do item that I should check off my list, which is finally finish school. A lot of the other stuff follows from this one. So here they are, my Resolutions:

1. Graduate with an MBA by the end of the summer.
This one is a definite must. I need to finish studying ASAP or else I fear my brain will begin countdown to explosion. I write down all tasks and errands that I need to complete for work, school, and for home, but I catch myself forgetting one thing to make room for remembering another :). This coming term will be the hardest one yet - Strategic Financial Management and having to submit a full business plan for a new company, so I really need to be on top of my game for these. After that it's four marketing courses, and if all goes well, I should be done by the beginning of September. The next six to eight months are likely to be the hard, but I will have to push through. 
Finishing my degree will lift a huge weight off my shoulders in so many ways that I can't wait for that day to come. Having to study nights and weekends, I've had to miss lots of fun stuff and nights out with my friends. In fact, it is quite hard to work around my schedule to meet with my friends at all. I'm lucky that I get to see my guy at home every night, or I don't know what I would do. Not only that, but I would not have to work around papers and exams when planning vacations or deciding whether I can go on vacation in the first place. Of course there is also the financial part of getting a degree; finally having one means no more tuition fees.
A mini goal related to this big goal for 2013 is to complete my degree without being a slave to the textbooks. I'm not entirely sure how I can achieve that without having a clone study instead of me, but I will sure as hell try.

2. Do more of the things I love and connect more with the people I love. 
This would follow from completing my degree, but I would love it if I could find the time to do more reading, paint more, do more photography, meet more people and hang out with my friends, my guy and my parents more even before I graduate. Life is a lot nicer and I am a lot less cranky when I can spend time doing all those creative things I like to do.
I have been working hard to build a decent body of abstract paintings and collages for an art show, and my goal is to have an art show at some point. This point could be 2013 if I am lucky. I should also finally open an Etsy shop. I'm not sure how often people realize sales of artwork on Etsy, but even one sale would be a huge deal for me, so I should do it soon.

3. Socialize
With all this time in the office and in front of the books, I have become somewhat of a hermit. It sucks. I need to expand my horizons, meet new people, find new friends. I have felt a tiny bit lonely in terms of friends lately.

4. Look well-groomed all the time, not just sometimes.
 OK, I am allowed one girly resolution for all the hard work I've been doing, and this is it :). I am usually good at this, and I have addressed some issues with my skin this past year, but I have a tendency to put the finer points of my appearance on the back burner when I don't have much time or I am too stressed, which is often lately. I dress well, but when I feel tired I am less likely to think of a great outfit or give myself a facial. I do feel better when I know I have taken good care of myself, so my goal this year would be to try and exhibit the same level of care for myself that I exhibit for studying, for example.

 Hopefully these don't look ridiculous to most of you, but even if they do, they are mine and I'll stick with them :) Did you decide on your resolutions for the new year already?

P.S. The photos are from the trip I took with some friends to celebrate the new year. Unfortunately, there wasn't really any snow, but on the upside, our fireworks were amazing.
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