My spring art space: watercolor, gardening, books, studio refresh & some exciting news!

Hello friends, thank you so much for joining and welcome back. If you happen to be new on this channel, my name is Ksenia and I'm a visual artist based in the Netherlands. And here on this channel, Ksenia's Sketchbook Pages, I share all my creative experiments as well as show you the cozy atmosphere of my home studio. And together with all the amazing people who are supporting me on this channel, we are trying to create this cozy, friendly, supportive community of like-minded people who either appreciate art or want to bring a little bit more creativity into their everyday life. And welcome! We are happy to have you. So guys, I was absent from here for a while because I went on vacation and if you're following me on my Patreon, you may know that I have shared a little blog post there with some videos and photos from my vacation in Rome. Yes, I was in Rome and it was the most extraordinary experience. I think it's just such an amazing place for artists because you go there and you just get inspired on every corner, you know, by architecture, by sculpture. And if you have time to go to the museum or to St. Peter's Basilica, you just see all the masterpieces created by the world's most famous genius. This time it was also so interesting because I had such an amazing experience of seeing the paintings and feeling like, oh, I know how they did it. You know, most of the time when you see something created by a very famous artist, you feel like there is this big chasm between you and the artist. But this time, I don't know why, maybe because I could see, you know, the work of Raphael up close and I could see the individual brushstrokes and how he, you know, did the shapes and the color transitions. I was feeling like, oh, I know how to do that, you know, and it's such an amazing feeling when you do not look on these masterpieces in a way that like, oh, it's something so, you know, vast and grand, but you also feel like, I know the skill, I possess it. So, but in a very humble way, of course, so you do not feel like you can create something that will be gathering crowds for centuries, but still you feel like you already have this confidence in yourself that you can make something beautiful, you know, and you have this understanding of how the scenes were created. So, it was very interesting and it was the first time for me when I experienced art in such a way, because normally I feel more like an observer, like probably like every person, you know, and I didn't feel this kind of connection on the level of understanding the skill. So, yeah, I'm not sure I'm explaining it well. Anyway, it was very fascinating and I enjoyed it very much. And then when I came back, I rushed straight to the bookshop because the spring edition of Daphne's Diary went out and there is a little article which shares my art and it's just so exciting. I'm a big fan of Daphne's Diary. I think that it's like the magazine which just matches my lifestyle in general very much. And I always find a lot of inspiring nice scenes in there. And knowing that the team of the magazine also felt the same way about me, and they saw that we are a match and they were very kind to share my art in the spring edition. So, yeah, it's very amazing and exciting. And if you guys want to read the article, I'm sure that you can find the magazine in your local bookshop. I know that it's available here in the Netherlands, but I was also told that this spring issue will be published in many different countries and in many different languages. So, yeah, check it out if you are curious. Maybe you will be able to find it in your country as well. And anyway, yeah, it's super exciting. Among other news, I'm planning to do a lot of bigger watercolor works in the next few months. You probably remember that I started working on my acrylic canvas, but since then I've been experiencing some difficulties in finishing it and not just because it's a new medium and I feel like I'm not quite grasping it yet. Since got even more messed up because I play squash and I managed to injure my hand. So now it's a little bit difficult to hold my hand suspended in air. I always need some support for it, otherwise it hurts and it's really not nice. So, yeah, because of that, I decided that I will take a break from exploring the acrylic paints and I will switch back to watercolor art because I need to finish some bigger paintings for the summer markets. And that was the plan all along. And I hope that I will be able to do it with the acrylic paints. But, well, sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them to and we just have to go with the flow. So, yeah, I'm back to watercolors, so taking a little break from the acrylics. I'm sure that I will be back to exploring this new medium for me, but, yeah, it will take a little bit of time. Now to more organizational issues. First of all, I added a new category on my webshop. And if you wanted to buy something from my shop, but you felt like it's a little pricey, I added a category with all the older designs, which are now on sale. And I will be regularly adding older stuff in there because sometimes I just have a lot of stock and I want to clear it so that I have more space for the new things. So, yeah, if you are curious, please check it out. I will leave the link to my webshop in the description below. Also, I rarely speak about it, about the way how this platform, YouTube, treats creative people, because most of the time it's better than the other platforms. And that's the reason why I'm here. But also things have been changing over years and it was more and more difficult to reach out to people. And I noticed that some of my recent videos, they didn't get any views. And then I realized that there were like new changes to the way how the algorithm works and how YouTube show you the new videos or the older videos or the most popular videos in your feed. So, yeah, guys, if it's not much of a trouble, please check my channel for the new videos because sometimes you just do not see them in your feed. And even if you are following this channel, if you press the subscribe button, you still may not see the new videos because they are just mixed with more popular videos. So yeah, it's a little messed up and I kind of feel bad that I have to think about it. And moreover, that I have to ask you to think about it. But for me, as for independent artist, it's the only way how I can reach new people and share my art. So it's very important. And if it's not much of a trouble for you, I would be really, really grateful if you check my channel from time to time for the new videos and please like and subscribe. And if you can leave a little comment, I would be over the moon. It always cheers me up very much. So yeah, I think I'm going to wrap it up. It was a very emotional and exciting little update. I think that it wasn't too overwhelming because I was taking more time than usual. Thank you so much, as always, for being here. Big thanks to all the amazing people on my Patreon who are supporting me there. It means the world. And also thank you so much for everyone who is ordering from my shop. It means more than you can imagine. So thank you for being here. I'm sending you much love. I hope you are enjoying the sunny days and the beginning of spring. And I will see you soon again. Goodbye.