Case & Skin

My dad got his ordered iphone 3 case and ipad 2 skin. At first I thought the skin would be tricky to apply without creating bubbles... but it's quite an interesting material and you can kinda just press out the bubbles. It looks really neat actually. If I had an iphone I would definitely get a case with my own illustration... but I don't :P I use a samsung I found on the street that likes to ignore my incoming calls and only gives me half the textmessages sent to me. Yeeeeaaah, the life of the unemployed!

Today they have free shipping in my store at Society6! 

Lollo wishes you a...

... happy weekend!

Sometimes it's hard to realize that we actually have the worlds most beautiful cat living in our house.

2 more days!

Hello, you're not forgetting the litteratur self-portrait assignment are you? (I was)
We have too few contributors to make a post, so let's make it this weekend :)

Remember, you don't need to have books in the picture, you can very well play out a story or a character from a book.

Send it 600 px wide to info@ulrikakestere.com

A little blue house

This is actually an old illustration I dug up from my files. It was in one of those sad "children book" files where I've started drawing for a story but never finished. I hate that drawing a children's book is so hard for me. But I look at it like this... if it's too hard for me now, it just means that I need to mature a bit more and maybe I'll be able to finish it after a few years.
Anyway, I thought I would practice coloring again so that's what I've spend my day with so far. I'm super slow when I color in the computer. Maybe I need to ask my boyfriend to teach me some tricks... 

Lund, part four

On the top photo is the university library. If you don't know it already, Lund is most famous for its many students. When they all go away during summer it becomes disturbingly calm. The sculpture on the left is an old one that used to be on top of the universities main building, but now they have more fancy polished ones. This angel doesn't even have a nose(!) oh no!
Then we have the building for astronomy... or something else to do with stars. I'm not sure actually. And the last picture is of my favorite sculptures in Lund. Near the university library there is a iron girl blowing a kiss to a rabbit. I love the artist that has made them. We had some sculptures by her at our elementary school as well, the only iron art I've seen in a city that isn't some abstract blob no one likes.

It seems Society6 had free shipping thru sunday, just so you know!

Dazzled Racoon

Hei, I've added these two in my print shop.

Ciao!

Lund, part three

A few more houses and some images from a really cute store we have. I wish there were more of these!
I feel like I'm portraying Lund almost to sweetly!

So you know I mentioned that I would be photographing apartments as a part time gig... well... they sort of never got back to me they way I thought... and then yesterday they wrote me an email saying that the market in my area is really bad at the moment at that there won't be any work for me at this time. I just felt so stupid. I remember thinking "I feel like I'm being tricked" when I signed the agreement... and then I thought I needed to stop being so negative. And when I went to Göteborg for the course they told me that I would have plenty of work.
Well, crap on the carpet... it looks like I've just got to keep fiddling with my portfolio and look elsewhere.
I think we bloggers talk too much about our achievements, but in order to keep things real and to avoid making our readers wondering why life is so simple for some - the crappy parts need to be mentioned now and then too. Not too often because then it comes a sad blog. But now and then.

Allrakäraste Syster

I have read most children's books out there. The ones with pictures in them that is...
One of my favorite children's book is this one by famous Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren, called "Allrakäraste Syster". The wonderful illustrations are made by Hans Arnold.
It's a really sad story actually and if you have a sister it just makes you miss her even more ;(

Ull kastrull

Ull kastrull is what I'm called sometimes. It means something like... wool sauce pan... or maybe wool cauldron. Because my name is Ulrika but I'm called Uli or Ullis och Ull or Bull or Kastrull. Sometimes Ull Boll (wool ball). Mostly because I'm crazy for wool, angora, cashmere and merino.
Our cat Louis is called Lollo but recently I've called him Lull Kastrull or Lille Kastrullen (little sauce pan). My sister who bought him in Italy named him after a fashionlabel. But now when he lives with me... I'll call him little sauce pan.

I'm so happy that I've fixed the last bits of my official homepage. Take a peak at it if you haven't already!

On the top photo are the pinecones we observed in the forest when we wanted to figure out what part the squirrel ate. I think they're quite beautiful half eaten. On the second photo are some gifts I really like, a silver rabbit necklace and silver pinecone earrings from Robert (he really knows what to give me). Vintage photo from Mina. Latvian coin with hedgehog from dad. Latvian silver ring from my godfather.
On the third are some things from Latvia. A knitted fox in a national costume that I bought this summer. Amber pieces from my granma. Old dog toy from my childhood. Little ocarina-like clay thingy.

I'm glad you liked the animal pictures from Italy! Always fun when I find pictures I've forgot I've taken.

Oh, and I pretty much forgot about the literature self-portrait, you too? 12 more days, I hope there will be some participants for this one as well!

In Italy...

... some cats don't have a home but they have bow ties
... some dogs have their own gardens
... some cats have their own jungle

Photos from my visit to Italy last summer.

Lund, part two

For this part I'm showing a bit from the botanical garden and the city park in Lund.
All the green areas in the city really are a blessing. When I want to photograph bugs I come to the botanical garden. When I want to photograph ducks I go to the city park. 

Knitting Cats

This illustrations has been lying around for over a month now, and since my dad asked if he could get it as an iphone case before the free shipping expires I finished it this morning. The print can be purchased in my Society6 shop! Remember, free shipping ends tomorrow!

This illustration will be dedicated to my boyfriend. Because a few years ago when I was away in Latvia during christmas, he knitted a pair of pink socks for me that I got when I came home. And he hadn't knitted anything before. I don't think any guy would do that!
However... imagine Lollo having knitted socks to me when I get home!

Prints for sale! (+free shipping)

Yay, finally I'm getting started with selling prints through Society6!

There is a promotion going on which offers free shipping worldwide thru midnight on September 16, 2012.
And since everything is in dollars it is a lot cheaper than when I sold before (you can get a large print like 60x40 cm for 28 euro), also the paper quality is super:

Fine art print on natural white, matte, ultra smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using an advanced digital dry ink method to ensure vibrant image quality.

Now you can even buy iphone cases and computer skins... well the possibilities are endless :) 
Find the shop HERE

Lund, part one

I thought that it would be interesting to look at the city I've lived in for 20 years like a tourist. I went into the heart of Lund (it's located in south of Sweden) with my pocket camera (Canon S90) and started noticing things I've never paid too much attention to before. It was surprisingly fun. Appreciating what's been in front of me the whole time in a new way!
Here's the first sneak peak, more photos will come :)

Cat hug

I drew this picture to my sister almost a year ago... but I never got around to coloring it. I've started practicing how to color on the computer so I thought I could try to finish this one.
Tomorrow I'll have a little free time so I hope I'll get the chance to draw a little. I do however have to take a stroll around the town and see if maybe I can't find my bike... since someone decided to steal it today :(

Weekend

Halloj-a!
Me, Robert and Mina went to the forest and tried to figure out what part of the pinecone that the squirrel actually eats. We didn't really figure it out. Then we saw some squirrels. They were bouncy and pretty. Dropping pinecones everywhere. Then we were lucky enough to see a woodpecker going at it. Tuck tuck tuck.
I've started a new illustration as you can see... but it's being following me around all month but I never get time to finish it. I hope there will be time next week. My internship is over and know I'm heading over to photographing apartments or sale. Sounds boring? I actually think it's kinda fun ;)

A girl and a fox

A friend sent me this. It's quite beautiful. 

September task: Literature

It seems some weren't really aware of the "rules" for the assignment, so I'll try and be a bit clearer this time:

Type of photograph: Self-portrait
Theme: Literature 
(It can be anything from using books, typing machines, letters to being inspired by a story you've read)
Format: 600 px wide and preferably not vertical formats. 
Deadline: 30 September
Submission: Send to info@ulrikakestere.com

Good Luck, can't wait to see what you come up with!
(can't believe this is my 900th post!)

Blue theme submissions

Claudia Voglhuber
What a great location! I think Claudia already grew as a photographer since the last assignment. Super cosy photo and of course it deserves a place among my top favorite contributions this month!

Caroline Kaufman & Dylan

Alright, so there might have been some cheating when shooting this self-portrait since it seems to be a collaboration... but the photo was so lovely that I let the rules slide :)Foggy and moody and chilly... my favorite weather!



My Aina Eriksdotter Gustafsson
I think Lilla My shot this in a forest I often visit. Or maybe it's just a similar one. Either way it's cosy.

Ulrika Kestere
Yes this one is mine, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I shot it like one hour ago... hardly keeping my own deadline, ajja bajja. I thought I would keep to the same flying theme as I was in on the last assignment.


Khor Wen Xi
Aaah, this picture is so happy! All the may from Malaysia... I like that we have contributions from all over the world. It's like having super-fun penpals!


Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard
My Norwegian girlfriend Signe joined us this time too. Now with a very "popsong"-ish portrait. She's just begun on a new photo school, good luck girl!


Regina Svensson
Miss Regina contributed with a portrait of her self-portrait. Cruising down on her minibike through the world. Fun!

Angela Fransisca
Hanging out with the birds by the pond. Simple photo but quite calming. Nice hat too!

Linnea Stenlund
I think Linnea looks so much like the girl in "Prince of Persia"! Very greek...or perhaps egyptian. I would have liked this picture even more if it was horizontal...haha, there's something about the vertical format that doesn't feel natural to me.

Mathilda Steén
I really hope she's resting(and not being dead)! Lovely colors on this one.


Thanks for all the contributions for this months self-portrait assignment! I really hope that the ones that weren't published for this one don't feel let down but try again for next months assignment. You can only get better :)
Enjoy the rest of the weekend folks!!!!