Unfurling

There's an English Maple tree outside my office window that has, in the course of a week, begun to glow.

Each day the green tinge has become just that little bit brighter and the shapes more defined. It is Spring! Now, if the sun would just come out...

I am slowly unfurling this morning too. Pulling myself out from the blanket of a cold virus and attempting to dislodge the thick layer of down in my head. After two months of exercising nearly every day, a week without and I feel like my joints are rusting.

The new me had felt like she had a full tank of fuel on board and was ready to hit the road. I was bursting with energy and drive ... until POP! Flat tyre!

Be gone runny nose and tickly chest - you are no longer wanted!

I took the photo this morning (in my PJs - to give the neighbours something to talk about as I haven't done anything eccentric outside for a while), and was rather pleasantly surprised to see a little friend hiding among the leaves. Can you spot her?

Ah.... the weekend

Ah... the weekend. It stretches out before you full of promise - all those activities you promised yourself you would embark upon, the walks in the sunshine, the books to read, words to compose and paintings to dive into.

Then, quite suddenly, it reaches its limit and PING.... Suddenly it's Sunday evening again!

This weekend will be different though for I am making a LIST. Yes, my to do list is migrating from a weekday habit over to leisure time and I shall take great joy in ticking off...

1. Paint a masterpiece
2. Run a marathon
3. Tidy the house

OK, maybe just one of those... and after I've put my feet up ... and written a blog post.... QUICK! Add those to the list!

PS: The image doesn't really have much to do with this post - it's just a bit of fun I did a few weeks ago with a copy of a Matisse I painted and a holiday snap. It's my Muse on holiday...

Inspired by ... Jennifer Judd McGee

The Magical Journal Journey continues again in 2014 as myself and eight other artists continue to send our books around the globe to share our art.

This year our theme is Inspired by... Each of us chose an artist we love and that we felt would provide suitable creative lessons to our friends. We are studying their work closely then producing our own from the inspiration gleaned

I took Matisse as my maestro. Kat Wright, whose journal I received first, chose a living artist who fresh, lively and fun work she felt truly drawn to. Jennifer Judd-McGee is passionate about nature and her patterns.

Now, here is confession time. I looked at her work and thought it would be easy to create something inspired by it. I couldn't have been more wrong! I laboured long and hard to create this first spread. I pulled my hair out as nothing quite sat right next to each other or fit. I pulled off collage and layered more. I swore... I know, naughty me... I got really angry when my base layer of book page came unstuck too!

Things got a bit better on the other side, but I still wasn't entirely happy:

But then finally I felt I got into my stride. I stopped looking too closely at Jennifer's work and let my Muse pull the strings. We'd soaked ourselves in JJM tea and now it was simply time to pour.

It's a fine line to tread between copying the style and being influenced it - "making it your own" as TV talent show judges are so fond of saying! I'm not entirely sure where this work ended up but it was a challenge from which I learnt about the power of the line, the 'doodle', positioning and colour choice.

 

I loved the organic shapes of her work and the simplicity which hid a carefully planned composition.

 

Jennifer Judd-McGee - I am your newest fan!

 

Final part of the project promises to be the most nerve-wracking - we are collaborating on painting the covers of the journal. I guess I was lucky to have a blank canvas so didn't have to put anything over anyone's work. Although, I did cover up Kat's painstaking layers of gesso with a sheet of paper I had created a mono-print on... Sorry Kat!

 

 

I wonder what my artist friends will add to this! I felt it was the kind of background Jennifer would approve of!

 

Before I go, I thought I'd also share these greetings cards made once the inspiration was fully flowing through my veins.

 

 

 

Beards and other things less hairy (although a little hair-raising)

 

Have beards suddenly come back into fashion among smart young men? I saw some incredibly attractive specimens while travelling around London town today - beautifully groomed they were too - no shabby fuzz balls or harbourers of crumbs and bird nests. Nor were they masquerading as full facial hair under the guise of a bit of a stubble. No, these were class hirsute young men, carrying their accessory with aplomb. I wish I had the balls to photograph a few - I should have pretended I was a model scout or something...

It was a strange day for people watching to be honest. There seemed to be a staggering quantity of people who looked or sounded 'familiar'. Faces that rang bells somewhere deep in my subconscious but for whose names I just couldn't pull out. Then I popped my head in the National Gallery and could have sworn this chap smirked at me... We definitely made eye contact...

Perhaps he was trying to tell me why he had shaved his beard off!

Later...

As a respectable writer, I thought some research might be called for. It turns out that I am about 12 months behind the times - beards are "so 2013 darling". In my defence, I do live in the boondocks where it takes a year or too for any trend to catch on, unless it's a new type of tracksuit of course...

Are you a writer or a typist?

Photograph (c) Lisa Wright

When I'm brainstorming writing ideas it has to be with a pen and paper. I mind map, scribble, snake lines across the page, underline as my stream of consciousness runs rings around thoughts and words. It's a mess yet organised chaos.

Then, when it's time to pull everything together, to allow the prose to flow then everything calms. The thoughts organise themselves into a neat line which marches down from brain to hand and out of my fingertips onto keyboard.

Once on screen there's a little jostling for position as the words decide where they are most comfortable and if they'd much rather be in another sentence entirely. It's a method that just doesn't quite work on paper. The jigsaw builds itself.

The craving continues...

It appears that the flood of paint that spilled across paper last weekend was merely a quick fix. I need more art... I have signed up for two new online creative courses this month - the first began on Monday - although after the long wait I couldn't devote any time to it (the day job got in the way - darn it!)

It almost feels like I have been holding out for these, as if they are going to be the medication I need to settle my soul. True they will provide direction and tribe to share the ups and downs, but equally I should by now be able to cope on my own, to trek my own path.

Perhaps instead they are simply the perfect antidote to a busy life that often leaves little time for searching for my own inspiration. Being given direction takes a little stress away and gets paintbrush to paper which is the magic first step - for is it not the case that once the art starts something else takes over and the inspiration you sought so fruitlessly suddenly arrives unbidden from the corners of memory and imagination?

And what inspiration. In our first week with Jeanne Oliver 'studying the masters' we have been given the gift of Matisse. It's a real push away from comfort zones as I venture into the world of interiors, full figures (yes, arms and legs!), nudes and still life. And PATTERN!

Normally I shy away from such complications but my teachers held my hand and gave me confidence. Here's a copy of one of his pieces - I used oil pastels to try to get as close to the original as I could without spending a week on it! I was thrilled with how it turned out. Next I'm working on my own thing inspired by his techniques - a lot harder I fear!

I've begun with a few tentative sketches playing with perspective and composition...

Sharing with the crew at Sunday Sketches.

Night bloom

I had an urge to paint - a pulling from my soul. PAINT, PAINT, PAINT it shouted and screamed at me as I lay in bed swamped under a blanket of insomnia and with a head fugged with a cold virus.

And I tried, I really did. But the hours ticked away, the day job beckoned and the days drifted...

And then, finally last night I got paintbrush to paper and it all flooded out. Nothing profound or earth shattering but a creation of sorts. Buds became flowers and seeds grew to bloom - a meadow of floral sunshine danced across the page.

And then, for the first time in days I finally banished the night time demons that had been keeping me awake. I slept long and deep. Coincidence?

Next time I listen to my Muse - she clearly knows best!

This piece I'm sharing here was one of my favourites from last night's prolific spree. Blobs on a page that I'd used to mop up a surplus of paint from another piece grew into a painting in their own right and the title (which just jumped out at me) particularly appropriate!