Illustration Friday - 'Influence'

I haven't done one of these for a while.  This is something I had to produce as part of my coaching course, something that reminds me what makes me feel joy and authenticity.  So I drew all the things that influence my feelings of well-being, like the grass tree that reminds me of the nature and forest surrounding my home, the rainbow as a symbol of hope, words explaining the influence of creativity in my life, my feet reminding me of the importance of being grounded ...

this all before I read the quote to go with this week's theme -

"In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope." ~ Henri Matisse

Illustration Friday - Warning

“Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky at morning, sailors warning.”

As soon as I saw this theme I visualized a red, glittery exclamation mark which has stayed in my head all week - so it had to come out of my head and be created on paper.

For the past couple of weeks I've been working on making my own collage background papers, of which these are the most interesting - the red and blue colours are from raspberries and blueberries - I'd been using kitchen towel to cover my frozen brekkie fruit whilst it was thawing!  See, you really can use anything to create with!  The orange colour was added later using watered down acrylic paint, after reading the above quote - I was trying to achieve a sunset of sorts.  And of course, the centrepiece of the red exclamation mark.  What's it warning about?  I'll leave you to decide ...

Illustration Friday - Layer

My heart - my 'feeling' and thinking place - a place of many layers ...

Illustration Friday - surrender

"Art is nothing but the expression of our dream; the more we surrender to it the closer we get to the inner truth of things, our dream-life, the true life that scorns questions and does not see them." ~ Franz Marc

 
What an awesome topic for this week's Illustration Friday.  As the week has gone on I have been contemplating the theme of surrender, which has spoken to me in so many ways, and my painting has evolved as time has passed.

So, what does this picture mean to me?  The swing is surrendering to my inner child - seeing things in the new way that children do naturally, also not to take life or myself too seriously.  Like me, do you love that feeling of freedom, total letting go of fear as you make the swing go higher and higher, the wind brushing your hair alternately over and away from your face?  I surrendered also in my painting methodology - I usually paint in acrylics so watercolour is a totally new medium (which I am loving), I left myself only a little time to complete the picture so had to surrender to looser, free-flowing techniques and just 'went for it' - how free it felt to paint like that, setting no expectations for myself.  Lastly, note the white streak in the hair - that's me accepting that I'm getting older!  I'm turning 41 this weekend and I do have my fair share of grey hairs; I want to accept myself as I am as I age and not get too frightened by it - and I am really happy and comfortable as I am.  Wow, that feels really good to state that here, after many years of fighting with depression and low self-esteem - this assignment has helped me surrender in many more ways than I could have thought possible.  Hope you take something from the picture too - art is for everyone, as you know I'm a firm believer of that.  Have a fabulous Friday. xx

Illustration Friday - Chicken

Part of my New Year 'intentions' is to get back to my sketching and painting.  I love my craft, but I think I may have let myself get distracted by it last year! 

Anyhoo, I've decided to take part in Illustration Friday (at least monthly) as an inspiration to help me start drawing again.  This week's subject was 'chicken' and my first reaction was that I would never be able to draw a chicken.  But then I tried to imagine an illustration for a children's book and that brought to mind a gorgeous, colourful bird.  It also fits in I realize with the fact that I am somewhat of a chicken when it comes to starting new ventures, so I wanted to make my chicken as friendly looking as possible.

Do you think I've succeeded? 

Check out the Illustration Friday site for more awesome artworks.