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"Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come, we have only today. Let us begin." -- Mother Teresa. A fitting quote just as we enter a new year. I'm not quite sure of where the time has gone, it's flown past far too rapidly. And I have tons of wonderful work to complete as yet, so off I go to organize 'stuff' before I launch myself into what awaits me in 2016 ... Cheers.

As always, the printable above (as well as the rest from 2015) is free to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter, so if you'd like this to print at home, then just sign up HERE. Cheers.

"Follow your dream". I think that pretty much says it all. I live mine daily. I work at what I love and love what I work at. Everything else ... well, if it's something I love it becomes a part of the dream too, something else to work on, to aim for.

Are you following your dream? I hope so -- but if not, perhaps this print might give you a bit of a motivational start-up kick. It's free to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter, so if you'd like this as a printable (as well as the rest from 2015 so far), then just sign up HERE. Cheers.

This month I've invited good friend and talented designer Lisa Zainuddin from oxoloco.com to kindly contribute one of her lovely calligraphic pieces for the free printable that's available to subscribers of the monthly newsletter. What do you think of "Flourish & Bloom"? Absolutely delightful, right? Here's a shot of her work in progress ...

Lisa is also collaborating on the children's books with myself and brilliant author Jennifer Poulter, so you'll be hearing more of her as time goes by.

Meanwhile I'm back at college and the workload is pretty intense at the moment. I'll be posting pages from the sketchbooks here as I go along, as well as at the new site for my persona as children's book illustrator Mariana Black! It's all a bit confusing right now but I'm sure I'll get everything sorted out eventually, though some lines may remain blurred forever - I don't quite have a problem with that though.

As always, the monthly illustrated quotes are available as free printables exclusively to the subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. Click HERE to sign up for it.Have a lovely week! Cheers.

"Change Your Thoughts and you'll Change Your World" -- Buddha

I've always believed that it's we decide our own futures. Our thoughts dictate our attitudes, choices, interests, and that in turn decides our lives and the paths we choose to take upon our journeys through it. It just makes complete sense to me.

In the last couple of years I've been reading books and watching videos by certain spiritually and/or positively motivated individuals, some of whom have become my mentors as far as this approach to life is concerned. I'm going to share a few of these in case anyone else out there is interested, so just click on the links below ...

• Dr. Joe Dispenza
• Dr. Wayne Dyer
• Dr. Bruce Lipton

Apart from all this refreshing philosophising and thought meandering, I've been at work on my new project whenever I have the time, and will be launching a new blog all about it soon. Meanwhile, have been sketching more elephants, and here they are:

If you've been following me on my facebook page you'll have seen some of these already, and I'll keep posting more there as soon as they sneak themselves into the sketchbook.

Cheers.

I don't normally take a month off from blogging, and can't believe how that much time has managed to just slip away from me - but it's the summer holidays, and we went as a family to Italy, and although I DID take my sketchbook and watercolours with me with all the best intentions, obviously that didn't quite work out. We walked everywhere which was wonderful but by the end of the day were absolutely exhausted.

"Appreciate This Moment". It's the most important moment of our lives, wouldn't you agree? If we don't value it we screw up a past that we're in the very act of creating, and walk blindly into a future that's composed of an infinitude of more 'present moments'.

I'm a bit late with this, I know, and I apologise profusely for that and hope that you'll bear with me while I catch up on work and art and life in general. As always, it's available as a free printable exclusively to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. Click here to sign up and have access to all of the free printables of 2015: Floating Lemons Newsletter.

Cheers.

I'm in recovery mode. College is finally over with for the year, the exhibition was finally taken down (our bit anyway, the rest of it goes on till the end of June), and I'm taking a deep breath before I sit down and organize my life, work, and art.

I have a very exciting new project to work on next year, and will be starting on it very soon, so will fill you in on it once I have everything settled. All I'll say now is that it's something I've wanted to work on for a very long time and am looking forward to it and rubbing my hands together in glee - can't wait to get it going.

Meanwhile, here's my printable for June: “Believe in Miracles. They happen every day."

As always, it's available as a free printable exclusively to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. Click here to sign up and have access to all of the free printables of 2015: Floating Lemons Newsletter.

I'm taking a few days off to enjoy a break with good friends, and then it's back to the drawing board. Wishing all of you a week full of miracles, great and small. Cheers.

This is a fun one, and I do love the quote:

"Alice: This is Impossible.

Mad Hatter: Only if you Believe it is."

Enjoy it, no matter what you believe. As always, it's available as a free printable exclusively to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. Click here to subscribe: Floating Lemons Newsletter.

Wishing you a week full of positive belief & energy. Cheers.

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
- Rabindranath Tagore

A bit late with the printable this month, it was supposed to get posted on Saturday, so am finally getting around to it, with many apologies for the delay ... life got into the way this month. The good news is that I actually do have a life after all!

I picked this quote not only because it seems so relevant to my life at this moment, but it sounds so beautiful. I do hope that you like it too.

As always, I am now offering it as a free printable to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. So if you'd like to download it (or any of the printables being given away in 2015) to print out for yourself, just sign up HERE.

Wishing you a week full of colourful sunsets. Cheers.

The quotation, as a whole, reads:

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world." -- Buddha

And there's a version that has "the" world instead of "our", but I prefer the idea that it's our world that we are, each one of us, constantly creating, changing, evolving, and choosing to live in.

Here are a few of the in-progress shots I remembered to take while drawing and painting ...

It then went for a huge clean-up in Photoshop, and will now be offered as a free printable to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. So if you'd like to download it (or any of the printables being given away in 2015) to print out for yourself, just sign up HERE.

I'm now off to think loads of good thoughts, and wish you a week full of wonderful ones. Cheers.

Here are a few in-progress images of my watercolour steps ... before I took it into photoshop for a clean-up:

I truly do believe that there is no limit to love or loving. You can give one person all of your love and still have an infinitude left over for your family, friends, pets, neighbours, your work, your life, the world. It's immeasurable -- and powerful too, yes, because when it's given freely and unconditionally it gives the giver all the strength that comes from the joy of the giving of it.

Valentine's Day is celebrated in February. This month, why don't you express your love to all of the special people in your life. Spread the love and experience the joy of it.

I normally give my monthly free printables away only to subscribers of the Floating Lemons newsletter, but this month I'm giving this one away to anyone who wants it, freely and with only one request: that you in turn give it away freely and not use it for any commercial purpose. To get the free printable (A4 size), just click on the very first image of this post, or HERE.

If you'd like to sign up for the monthly newsletter, and receive future free printables or giveaways, just click HERE.

Wishing you an abundance of love. Cheers.