Family tour

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The first days in Buenos Aires before our trip to Jujuy in the north, we saw family and good family friends. And yes, this is what Argentina is for me and now for my own family: our family country and a deep connection with our origins. The visiting was so intense that at some point my children would wake up and ask: "whose house are we going today, mum?" 

The first of our visits was to my cousin Anna's house. She has my age, and two boys close in age to mine, so it was great. My cousin is just fantastic. She's always engaged and generous and I love her so much. She's changed house since the last time I'd seen her, the new house is an old charming one, and it was such a delight drawing it while we ate pizza and the kids played around. Besides Anna and her family, we saw my aunt Marta and my cousin Caco, Caco always so funny, Marta so attentive and gentle. She will be reading this, I know, así que tía Marta, te mando un abrazo muy grande, espero volver pronto a veros. That evening I also met my cousin Maria and her two beautiful daughters. A truly special occasion for us. Thank you Anna, for organising all this.

The day after we went to see my godmother and my mother's best friend, Ana (yes, there are many important Anas and Annas in my life!!). Even though we ate a lot, there was a lot of food left. And yes, this is the same everywhere: when people invites you to their house they offer you the best, and you always eat like you were not to eat in a week! But Ana and Carlos were beating all records here :) This is the view of the living room from the dining table, of course :D

The following day we visited my other sister in Argentina, Laura, and my nephew Juani. Juani is just one year older than my middle one and they played greatly along. It was a pleasure see them together, as it was to see my sister again. Because Argentina is so far away from Europe and I don't get to see my sisters as often as I would like to. I got to see Laura a bit more after that day, and to spend some time with her alone. And now writing this is difficult because I miss her so much.

After these visits I still saw my aunt Maria Inés who I hadn't yet met. There is no sketch of that one because we were in a bar and well, we were too busy talking. It was impressive to look at her eyes and see how much she resembled to my mother. And now, well, when I hear my mum's voice I hear hers as well because they are so so similar. I am so happy to have finally met her in this occasion, and happy that the sketch will come next time. She will be reading this as well so, tía María Inés, te mando un abrazo fuerte y espero verte pronto otra vez.

And well, this is mostly it before Jujuy. Only preparations are left. But preparations are part of the trip, so this will come some other day :)

Our wild chicken coop

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Last Saturday it was 21 days since one of our hens has been incubating... so you can well imagine that these days there's a bit of excitement going around our chicken coop. We expect, if we are lucky, some little chicks to come out soon! I must say I don't take care of the chickens unless my husband is not around, but these last weeks I've been going over twice a day at least to check on the hen, and now, to see if there's some activity around. So far we haven't been lucky, as we only found an egg with a dead little chick... but there are still 4 to be born, and we keep our fingers crossed!

Today, as I went to check, I stayed a bit longer to draw again the chicken coop... which is, yes, in a quite wild state... 

After the hailstorm... at home

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Wind, rain, thunderstorms... my dog does not care about anything, he will always want to go out for a walk. And I will take him willingly, because really, everything has its own charm. But I think he liked as much as I did being caught in the hailstorm today. And after that, while some of the children were playing board games, the small one was having his nap, the only thing that felt good for him was to nap too, and for me, to draw again from the sofa, again my living room but probably from a slightly different angle, and probably with more stuff added to the general chaos since the last time I drew it a couple of months ago. 

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Home sweet home

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Cold, foggy, small children in holidays, my husband still working... not ideal to find places to draw outside. Still, I find little moments to draw at home. 

19/12/16

This is a view of my living room from what we could call my sofa spot. I use to sit in this corner of the sofa because I have the bookcase next to me, and I can easily put there my mug, my computer, my books... So as it happens, I have drawn this view more than once already... and also in these three last days!

20/12/16

Yesterday I engaged one of my sons to sketch objects while the other was taking his nap. It was so fun, and he was eager to use the water brush. So I just used it a bit, then I had to do with markers or no color ;)

Later in the night, just sketching the chaos in my room... The sketch is clean and it makes it look better than it actually is.

21/12/16

Late in the morning my sons have watched a bit of TV. Even like this, peace lasts only a bit... they don't stop moving. Ever.

In fact, after few minutes the youngest was already climbing over my back while I was trying to sketch the dog, Ludo, who was napping next to me. This has of course made Ludo move before I had finished... so only the silhouette.

And the last one of today, already tonight, again from my sofa spot, but this time trying to just draw lines, and also getting to that really busy corner at the right, which is really really chaotic, and my father tells me I leave out on purpose. But, as I told him, I had already drawn it once...