Flow

Sometimes it's good to just let go and see what appears on the paper; to abandon any preconceived idea of perfection; to surrender to flow...

I've been feeling more relaxed this week as I let thought flow more freely and generally loosen up. Sounds a bit bonkers but (I think) I know what I'm doing.

It's all the fault of this ere chap Michael Neill and his book The Inside-Out Revolution: The Only Thing You Need to Know to Change Your Life Forever. He gives clarity to life, our thoughts and conditioning. Very hard to explain, but it's all to do with how we view thoughts... sort of...  A short enough book that I read quickly and now start again more slowly, to digest and learn.

I'm too tired to go into this in any depth. Go read the book!

Sharing this artwork of flow with Paint Party Friday. A completely intuitive painting that told its own story - it wanted to be dancing jellyfish. Male and Female. Yin and Yang.

W is for White

Every month something special drops through my letterbox - another magical journal has found its way to me so I can add my own pages to the wonders within.

Eight artists contribute, adding their own interpretation to the journal's colour theme. This month I received Angie's White journal. A scary colour - but we were allowed a dash of another so mine became rose white.

I cannot tell you the joy this project brings. Sharing this journey with my friends every month fosters a strong connection. We are a tribe that supports and strengthens. I feel a great sense of belonging... they are very special ladies. It is ubuntu.

Sharing for Paint Party Friday and serendipitously we reach W in the Blogging from A to Z challenge ... nearly there!!

P is for Poppy

Well, given my proclivity for painting the things it had to be really.

Here are a few I prepared earlier...

I'm a bit talked out when it comes to Poppy art and I've been sat at a computer all day so need a break. Masterchef is calling... So I'll just let the paintings talk for me this evening.

I'm going to share with my friends at Paint Party Friday though - need a bit of a social!

Prolific Painter of Poppies

I have been a prolific painter this week and even discovered a rather marvellous new technique purely by accident. These poppies were serendipity gift-wrapped in petals and ink. I want to try more... me likey!

This weekend my son is away and I am supposed to be sorting out my paperwork and accounts... but then again, maybe I could just squeeze in another painting or six...

As always, it being Friday and all that - I'm sharing these with the crew at Paint Party Friday (who are probably sick of the sight of poppies from me by now, but what can I say...

What will art be distracting you from this weekend?

Waste not...

A bit of ink left on the back of a stencil goes a long way... in fact it may even present a result of far more interest than the original intention - especially when applied to the paint spattered reverse of the birthday card you are making... Then if you apply a little stamping, some tape and a dash of loving care and attention you end up with this. Rather like it if I say so myself.

I've never really been one for throwing things away truth be told. Birthday cards, bits of string, concert tickets, toys, drawings... all help to feed the memory, each containing a small part of the story of me.

I wonder what a psychologist would make of my art stash - tiny scraps of paper with interesting patterns, ribbon, acrylic skins, rusty bottle tops, beads, random words from magazines... It's almost as if the hard drive of my brain reached its maximum and had to download somewhere!

Sharing with Paint Party Friday - hello friends - what's in your art stash?

***

I'm running my art course again online if you are interested in participating. There's an early bird offer on until Monday - details here.

Happy Days

I've made myself a new website!

I'll be the first to admit that it's not the most amazing piece of coding ever to grace the world wide web, but hey, I didn't pay any fancy developer (mostly because I couldn't afford it - I have nothing against fancy developers...). It's not bad for a first go I think.

I would appreciate any visitors - in particular to the page entitled eCourse... (you know you want to.;..) There is naturally a glass of virtual bubbles and a selection of zero calorie canapés for all guests. Have a mingle - you never know who you might meet...

This painting is the latest to grace the gallery. It's another mash up of my art. You may recognise the face, but I've been playing with upcycling some old table mats this week and covered one in swirling inks. This lady then consumed too much of the virtual champers and found herself spinning in a whirling vortex of colour as the paintings span around her. Someone should get her a coffee.... Quick....

Sharing the opening of my new gallery space with my friends at Paint Party Friday.

Tulips, frills and shoes

This picture doesn't really do the painting justice. I'm thrilled with how this turned out - it's a biggie too - destined to go over the fireplace on my man's new pad. Hope he likes it!

It came very intuitively. I love it when a painting almost creates itself. I think the experts call it 'flow'. I like a bit of flow :)

It's also a step away from poppies to - tulips!

Tulips are actually my favourite flower - especially the frilly ones. I guess I'm a frilly girl at heart. I love floaty skirts, beads and feathers to wear in my hair. I found these shoes on Pinterest this week:

Wish I knew where I could get them from! If you look through my style board you'll find a bit of theme going on!

In fact, seeing as I'm not dressed yet (despite being up for nearly 3 hours!), today I shall mainly wear 'hippy' with copious amounts of jewellery. Yes, there should be much jangling as I walk and sparkles - lots of sparkles!

Whispering grass

What stories do the fields and fells hold of times gone past? Battle fought, love declared and lost, joy or terror? What do they witness and record?

When the grass whispers its secrets do you listen through the layers? Do you hear the histories of those who trod before?

I have been building on this piece all week, adding watery layers of inks, stamping and writing - trying to capture that light when the sun shines through the rain and the landscape melts and shape shifts in the distorted view - as if Mother Nature herself is stirring under her earthy blanket.

And as she shifts I like to think that the murmurs of the past, written and recorded by the fairies, sneak out through the grasses to pass on a quiet reminder of what had gone before - one that you can only hear if you're in tune with the landscape and believe...

***
Something a little different from me this week for Paint Party Friday.

Papaver somniferum

I guess there's only so much one can write about poppies and since I've already completed one post on the subject this month, I guess I am rather clutching at straws!

But the thing is... I just can't quite stop painting them. I appear to be succumbing to some form of narcotic addition.

Maybe instead, I could ponder on why I always want to go to sleep at around 7.30pm every evening (and it's nothing to do with poppy by-products I can assure you!).

Or perhaps bemoan the fact that I've cut the roof of my mouth and I keep getting seeds stuck in the wound which is incredibly painful. Funnily enough, they are usually poppy seeds... I feel a theme coming on here. What's going on with the poppies??

Of course, I know what you're thinking. "Stop eating seedy cereal bars and granola and go back to painting pretty ladies." You may have a point...

Sharing my poppy pain and pleasure with Paint Party Friday!

A winter's tale

That song has been on repeat in my mind for weeks and just when I thought I'd packed it away in the loft with the tinsel, I decide to share its name with this painting. Darn it.

I am following an Abstract urge. This may be due to a shift in artistic direction or just a slight post-Christmas laziness where I can't quite be bothered to find anything else to paint. It's really quite soothing though just letting the paint take its own direction and then allowing intuition to take over and following a whim.

This year I am determined not to spend time procrastinating, yet here I am playing with my blog and about to head over to hang out with the crew at Paint Party Friday when I should be doing.... MY TAX....

Can you blame me?

But no. It must be done. And, all I have to do is find all the relevant information, my accountant will do the rest... it's hardly the equivalent of being locked up in a tiny cell full of numbers screaming at me and poking at my skin with their sharp edges.

I am away to my spreadsheets and statements. Wish me luck... I may be some time...

Paradise

PPP Para para para dise.... who can guess what song I've been listening to? We need a few thoughts of sun-drenched beaches today as the grey skies linger and the drizzle continues.

Mind you, paradise doesn't require palm trees and turquoise shores. It's all there for the making if we only want it enough. The view outside my window today may be very monochrome, but inside I'm bursting with colourful ambition and joy.

I was thrilled with how this painting turned out - I'm loving the textures and layers. A little bit of this, a touch of that, new and old, not quite complete but promising more... A bit like me!

Sharing for Paint Party Friday - aka Paradise for Artists!

When we were young...

I used to love drawing cute little bunnies...

Just found these tucked away in an old art folder. They date back a few years (about 28 to be precise!). I think I was about 13 or 14 when I created these characters. They lived in a smart town house in Mayfair during the season but preferred their country estate - much more suited to rabbits. I'm not sure why his Lordship is dressed in hunting gear though... I would have thought he was a vegetarian!

I guess they were a sort of Downtown Abbey for bunnies. That's the Dowager Countess in the bottom picture - the one with the top hat with a feather who looks like she's about to go out riding (though I do wonder how she's going to get on the back of a horse!). What a 'game' old gal she was... always had a twinkle in her eye when telling a story.

Maybe it's about time I told it for her... what do you think?

Sharing a spot of nostalgia with my friends at Paint Party Friday.

I'm so happy I found them again. What a lovely blast from the past. I can still remember creating them!

OK you win

Blue-eyed girl

It seems that my blog wasn't the only one to miss me. I'm touched.

Right now I am tearing myself away from a newly discovered piano app on the iPad to keep this aspect of my social media life happy. I've just played Greensleeves, Moonlight Sonata and the theme from Angry Birds all without a single lesson - not bad. I can't say I'd even noticed that there was a theme from Angry Birds mind, but who is one to argue.

Needless to say, my eight-year-old son is already mastering the art of keyboard tinkling much better than me - he'll be playing for the Royal Philharmonic by Christmas... I, on the other hand, think I might be getting RSI...

While we are on the subject of music, I shall be unveiling a special YouTube link on Monday - my debut single. Forget about the X-Factor winner... No, the real musical sensation for Christmas is yet to be revealed. Stay tuned readers, stay tuned....

Now, back to the business in hand. No, this girl was not crying because she'd just heard my contribution to popular music (it's not that bad). She's just feeling a bit blue at not being invited to Paint Party Friday. I've tried to explain that it wasn't for lack of invitation that she hasn't attended these past weeks or so, more just that I've not taken her as I've not been there myself. She wasn't really impressed with either explanation. Frankly I can't blame her. It is party season after all and who wants to be left at home alone?

So, I've told her to put her party frock on - we're going out on the town!

Still life

Well it's hardly radical, but I have actually created a painting that doesn't involve faces!

I went at this without much planning, just loosely copying from a beautiful photograph in a book. It all stems from my 'letting go' phase. I just wanted to draw, so I did. I couldn't be doing with the hassle of making sure my ellipses were elliptically correct (or even spelt right!). I needed to see the colour run across the paper and so it did.

It's all Inktense pencils - lots of layers of dry then wet then dry then you get the idea.

I really love how this turned out, it's got an interesting energy to it. However, as soon as I tried to do another I found myself slipping back to the more structured approach and it lost all the fun.

I think sometimes I forget why I paint. Of course, it's lovely to end up with some wonderful artwork that might one day grace a wall in a fancy frame - even better if someone pays for the privilege, but really it's as much about the process of getting there as the end result. It should be fun and never a chore!

Right I'm off, busy day, must dash...

Sharing with the folk at Paint Party Friday and Art Every Day Month

A turnip for the books

A friend asked me to paint something as a Christmas gift for her husband. "Sure", I said. Then she warned me it was something a little out of the ordinary!

She had this idea in mind of depicting the pair of them as root vegetables - specifically turnips! They had to be snuggled up together and in love...

Ever one to grab a challenge, I grabbed its leafy tops, gave a jolly good yank and went for it!

I present my turnip couple, the perfect mash-up.

Who said romance had to be all hearts and flowers?

Sharing this piece with Paint Party Friday.

Mapping friendship

Doubly inspired - by both Orly Avineri's class and my beautiful friends on our round robin journal swap, I created this piece that maps our friendships. Layers of maps, letters, postage remnants and scraps from here and there* while the watchful eyes offer up the gateway to the soul.

Our round robin has wrapped eight friends together through art. Next stop on the journal's journey is the original owner, so I'm incredibly excited as I anticipate the arrival of mine back in the post any day now.

We have resolved to share all through a little blog party, so watch this space to share in the globe-trotting wonders.

While we're on the subject of parties - I'm sharing this with the Paint Party Friday revellers.



(*including one from Orly - or it might have been Teesha - it's the transparent piece over the right eye with the 4 on).

Doodles on Doodles...

and whiskers on kittens...

Just playing in my journal and letting the paint take its own direction and map out the story.

This one speaks to me of adventures in Arabia.

When she arrives at Paint Party Friday she will have tales to tell of secrets in the sand, ancient treasures and mystic stones.

Hair-raising

Hair-raising

I'm not too sure where I'm going with either of these pieces, they are just finding their own way.

They both began with pieces torn from magazines.

The hair-raising lady had her missing body parts drawn back in with a liberal dose of colour and imagination. She feels almost finished, though part of my sees a pencil sketch of something appearing through the blue background... What it might be is still floating around my right brain somewhere...

The second piece is sharing a story of a tender heart exposed, laid bare. I should point out that the 'Chinese' calligraphy is purely a product of my imagination - should it actually spell anything I would love to know! Imagine... my subconscious may be able to communicate in other languages... what a marvel that would be!

I may continue with these today or just leave until their stories more fully reveal themselves to me.

Sharing today with Paint Party Friday.

An open heart

October Girl

It felt like proper Autumn today - like the leaves were hanging on just to be sure it was October. As the temperature dipped and the dew rose there was the scent of ripeness in the air and a shift in the wind.

It's a day to wrap up in warm scarves and dance with the leaves under the trees.

This is the first piece of art I've created since returning from retreat which seems strange. I've written plenty and played in PhotoShop but the pressures of the week squeezed my painting time. I wanted hours... not just a few minutes here and there! I wrote elsewhere this week about Time being voracious for it does seem to gobble up the days - and when it gets together with its buddy Procrastination then we're in serious trouble...

This is just a quick page in my journal where I was inspired by the crackle and colour of the season and a sudden desire to create a face.

More painting over the weekend methinks...

Sharing for Paint Party Friday where I've been absent for a few weeks. September was strange for me... I wasn't really in a 'party' mood for much of it. October though is a new month and I return from retreat rejuvenated and refreshed!

When will I know...

...when I am good enough?

I am going through a frenzy of painting over old canvases. Not much is safe and paintings I once adored are rapidly disappearing under a thick blanket of gesso as I wonder how I ever thought they were worth hanging on a wall.

Will the pieces I created fresh this week meet the same fate this time next year? Will I ever be satisfied?

Mind you, didn't many of the great Masters do the same thing? Aren't there instances of restorers finding older paintings hiding underneath those prized today? I wonder what lies beneath the Mona Lisa? I think it might be something saucy - which possibly accounts for that enigmatic expression she's been wearing for the last five centuries or so.

Maybe one day the experts will apply the digital thermal x-ray techno wotsits and see the large eye that resides beneath this mermaid. I'm pretty certain there's something else below that one too!

If you own a masterpiece and another is found underneath, does that make it twice as valuable? Imagine rubbing off Venus because you preferred the 'still life with old shoe' underneath! I wonder if there is a law against such things?

I am starting to talk nonsense now! You should really read yesterday's post where my philosophising was of a more intellectual nature - and I won't be painting over the art I share there either anytime soon (particularly as I no longer own it)!

It seems appropriate that this piece I am sharing for Paint Party Friday this week is very much a work in progress and, given the number of paintings underneath her, I assume she will remain so for many years to come!

Tune in next week for the next version!

Postscript: Carol just left me a comment mentioning the male figure behind the siren. Well, I thought for a moment she was seeing things, for I never painted a male figure. But then I looked again... and what do you know... there he is! How spooky is that?!! Thanks Carol. Namaste!