Reading is as strong a passion of mine as art. Whenever I get the chance I take a book and submerge myself in its world. Be it in bed, on the train or in a comfy armchair on a rainy day, a book is always my companion.

When e-book readers started to become fashionable I was the first to shout no way! I firmly believed reading a book should satisfy all your senses: you see it, you smell it, you touch it and you hear the turning of the pages (OK, I think we should all have stopped tasting our books by the age of 3). I believed that a book’s pages should be turned by hand! And besides with an e-book you don’t have the satisfaction of putting it on a bookshelf and seeing your collection growing, right?

But tastes and opinions change. When you are interested in a book that is not and will not be available in your country. Or you just cannot wait for a new release to be translated to your language. Or simply the book you crave is so darn heavy that you don’t want to carry it around with you on your journeys. So I gave in. And I think you can guess, that now I am the one to shout oh yeah!

I had my Kobo eReader for about 4 years now. I don’t want to bore you with the statistics of how much I’ve used it. It is sufficient to say that its cover is showing signs of serious wear. Since it has seen better days I think it is time to part with it and make a brand new one.

sketch cozyAs I sat down and started collecting ideas the picture of a bird became more and more prominent. Maybe because I find my mind and fantasy flies as free as a bird when I read. Or maybe it is just the fact that I fell in love with the snowbirds I made before the holidays. All in all I think this is the idea that I love the best.

I made a couple of quick sketches, jotted down some ideas. Next I’ll have to think of how I’ll make it, what colors I want to use. I know I should be thinking of practical things as well. Like choosing colors that are light so I can easily find my Kobo in my bag. Or choosing a color that is still dark enough so it won’t get dirty too quickly.

Since the design of the snowbirds reminded me of folk art I decided to explore this a bit more in detail. I’ve seen it before, but never submerged myself truly into what are the prominent designs, what are the colors that are chosen, how are these executed. Of course I will definitely have to decide what region’s folk art I want to look more deeply into. All I know now for sure is that I still have a lot of work cut out for me. However, I really enjoy research,  so research (a lot) I shall. I need to remind myself though to remain focused and not look at cure monkey pictures. Oh, but this will be exciting!