An Artist's Date

An hour or so to kill why I kept my fingers crossed hoping my car passed its MOT, so I took myself off on an Artist's Date.

This isn't your normal dress up nice, flirt over dinner and try not to drink too much wine kind of date. Your 'date' is inspiration - wherever you can find it. Inspiration is a funny companion. They have a tendency to pop out when you're least expecting it, or sneak off to the loo and try and climb out of the window.

Today though, Inspiration was good company and shared with me some secrets to be found in the unlikeliest of places.

I walked through a small park by the river hemmed in all all sides by Northampton's urban interests. The railway, road and industrial sites framed the water lilies and wildflowers. Normally, I'm drawn to nature, but today was more about harder lines, the urban edge.

To thank my companion for guiding me towards such interesting photographic compositions, I took them to Starbucks for a beverage and we dived into my plethora of photo apps on the iPhone.

iPhoneography is my latest obsession - I'm two-timing on this date with inspiration! I haven't painted properly for weeks - it's all about photography...

(also on Instagram - https://instagram.com/lisawrightstuff/)

To the Lake District and back...

... in around three hours.

Photo by walkinguphills on Flickr

Normally it's at least a four hour drive to get there. Then, to take in all the scenery, to walk the fells, skirt the shores and nibble on the gingerbread, why that's a few days at least...

Well, thing was I didn't have time to escape and frankly the weather's not really that encouraging of outdoor activity these days. So I cheated... I watched a TV programme while on the cross-trainer at the gym.

I followed Herdwick sheep across their heaf. I rode the Ravenglass railway and soaked in the scenery like a sponge. I wandered lonely as a Wordsworth and watched Peter Rabbit dodge Mr McGregor through the hedgerows. I had such a good time that I actually set myself an additional program on the cross trainer so I could carry on watching. The sun even shone. It was a perfect Artist's Date.

Above all, I remembered childhood summers clambering the fells and dipping toes in the icy lakes and rivers. After our first trip there when the sun reflected the mountains in the still lakes we felt we had discovered Nirvana. It truly is a place of magic where coming across an ancient stone circle or the remains of a Roman fort is nothing out of the ordinary and romantic teenagers can dream about heroes striding across the fields. I have diaries crammed with memories, but sadly the sun never shone quite so spectacularly again, so there's a fair bit of rain-damage to my notebooks!

Ahh...inspired

Coton Manor c.2010

Last night I dreamt* I went to Coton Manor again...

Yesterday I posted a picture of this splendid abode whilst dreaming of living in a wisteria covered cottage. Today I went back there.

Of course, you can probably tell from the picture that it's rather more than a yokel's residence! However, it wasn't the building itself that took me there today, but the gardens which are rich with sumptuous colour and texture from Spring through to Autumn. May in particular is the most magical time to visit when the bluebell woods filled with colour and fairy folk weave their magic spell on you. (It's true! There's a sign that says that if you pick the flowers, the pixies will set the imps on you!)

Today was the last day before they shut up shop for winter and the sun was shining its brilliant best, turning the brown leaves of yesterday's rain filled sky to amber beads glinting in the light.

I dragged a reluctant six-year-old with me but knew once he got there he'd enjoy running around and getting lost in the tangles and his imagination. Secret pathways lead you to the hidden nooks where the fairies make their homes. We crossed bridges on tiptoes for fear of waking trolls and met Pan and friends in verdant glades who played enchanting tunes before bobbing for pears at the bottom of still ponds.

Could it be magic? Yes, I think it probably could!

Certainly a few spells were applied in Photoshop on our return home...

Oh and did I mention just how much I love Photoshop. There were three people in the top photo including two sat on a bench right in the foreground. I was too polite to ask them to move for my photograph so removed them later. Yes, definitely magic!

* I actually dreamt about cake - more specifically fruit scones with cream and strawberry jam and sticky pastries. This diet I am on is clearly having a detrimental affect on my sleeptime adventures... I want caaaaake I want caaaaake....

Filling the well

I've been soaking up the sun and feeding my soul with inspiration. I've sat in pavement cafes, savoured the soothing sensations of sweet and creamy ices and climbed tall towers. I was supposed to back here today spouting lyrical paintbrush in one hand, keyboard under the other... but you know what... maybe I need a little time to digest and allow the thoughts to regroup (some rest might not be a bad idea either!).

In the meantime I leave you with the beginning of my Valencian door obsession which became somewhat uncontrolled and led me to some Spanish secrets. More on this soon I promise.... I'll leave you to your imaginations as you ponder what's behind this one.

Back shortly...

Myth and Magic

I spent an hour today with foolish knights, devious and sensual seductresses, bewitching mermaids and tragic heroines. I was swept into a rapture of brilliant hues and textures, brush strokes, passion and colourful emotionalism.

I visited the J. W. Waterhouse - modern Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. I stood in front of priceless treasures completely enraptured and bowled over by what one man, a paintbrush and a few tubes of paint managed to convey.

With my nose just a mere inch away from the canvas I soaked up the inspiration flowing down the river with the Lady of Shallot; shining scales of mermaids sent glimmers of ideas into my heart, captivated as I was by her sweet song and light brush strokes; and magic floated from castles and battlements, hanging in the air like fairy dust.

I fear I cannot do justice what it felt like to be among such paintings. Similarly, the colours in reproductions do little to capture the iridescence of the real thing. I have become fascinated by the Pre-Raphaelite style as of late - the beauty of nature is such an inspiration.

I created this piece last weekend which I've called 'Back to Nature'. It doesn't really sit too comfortably alongside the masters but allows me at least a very tiny moment of solidarity with the Victorian rebels. How I wish I had studied the History of Art at University. I was so close to choosing that path. My mind is full of questions and craves deeper understanding. Aside from being stunning works of art, each piece tells a story, many on the theme of man falling bewitched by woman. What secrets and stories lie behind these paintings? My artist date proved somewhat expensive as I purchased a book from which to learn more and soak up inspiration.

Mixed media - collage, acrylic, oil pastel, mica and a dash of inspiration

A time-travelling artist's date

I do like a spot of time travel in my lunch break. And what better way to remove oneself from the tedium of modern transmission than a stroll through the centuries.

Following the winding cobbles down this street, the years peel back as you pass every quaint house and the noise of traffic thundering through Warwick fades. In fact, if you listen not terribly carefully you can actual capture the sound of a jousting contest floating to you from the other side of the river (and that's not actually a flight of fancy, I really could hear one!).

Coming from here... the view at the bottom of the road.

For the uninitiated, an 'Artist Date' is an hour or so a week where you take yourself off to soak up creative inspiration; to 'fill the well'. It's all part of a 'creative finding of yourself course' I'm taking through Julia Cameron's book. Regrettably, I'm a little over-committed at the moment - there's only so much of myself I can handle finding at one go - so I have stuck on Chapter 1 but with a definite ambition to move further once a few of my other creative projects have taken flight. I will however, endeavour to keep up my weekly date. This was actually last week, it's just taken me a while to post. This week was spent in HobbyCraft and cost me a King's ransom. No photos there but hopefully some creative output!

And so, where did this first date take me? Did we wander romantic battlements or lurk in haunted dungeons. Actually none of these, for the castle was merely decorative backdrop to a wander around a quintessential English country garden in a setting of such beauty as to send any pre-Raphaelite painter into a frenzy of oil and canvas.

Imagine what trysts and assignations were carried out in the shadow of this bridge. Did you ever see anything quite so romantic? And how kind of that swan to just glide by at the precise moment I chose to click my shutter. Then, dear readers, if you've not swooned enough over ruined bridges, how about diving in, all guns blazing into this riot of colour!

... all the more dramatic when you spend a patient time in Photoshop

I feel quite wistful composing this posting. Tomorrow I return to work after an absence of a week nursing a minor illness. I feel the garden calling me again. I want to envelop myself in the soft scents and drink in the magical elixir of colour and then stand, bankside and dream of ghostly knights in shining armour galloping over long-gone bridges fresh from slaying evil demons and back to claim the fair lady's hand. This lady of course would have been busy in his heroic absence saving the castle from the torment and starvation of a lengthy siege. By her wit alone, was she able to defeat.... Yeah, yeah, another time perhaps.....

And was the date with my creative muse a success? Is my well over-brimming? Well, actually YES, IT WORKED! Tune in later this week to see the output of what happened when I immersed myself in a magic garden and mixed it with an ear infection!