Scattered

This picture is aptly named - I've just had a few technical problems and now my head is hurting.  I'm writing this on the family pc because I wanted to scan my picture (first technical problem) and now I realize my links that I promised the other day are on my laptop.  Bum ... 

I've been handed a glass of Pimms and lemonade.  Head starting to feel slightly better now.  :)

Where was I?  Oh yes, scattered!  My thoughts are everywhere at the moment, what feels like squillions of creative projects taking up lots of room in my head and jostling for pole position.  I'm also going through the 'what am I going to do with my life' questions, which is a tad silly as I know I want to be an artist and get my message of 'creativity is for EVERYONE' out to the world.  It's just, how to do it?  So I've been ruminating on that as well.   Amongst other things that are simply too boring to write about here, but are hugely important to our lives and where we will be in the future (geographically speaking).  No wonder I'm feeling all over the place!  Out of all this confusion appeared my mandala.  I do love mandalas.  My son asked what it was about, and I said 'no idea' but we both thought it was very pretty.  And colouring is so very, very therapeutic.  

Oh woe, my Pimms has gone.  :(  Need a cup of tea now.

Back to what I originally was going to write about.  It's cooler weather now (yay!) and this seems to have an effect on how much notice my husband takes of my crochet projects.  The other night he asked me why I was trying to work on 4 afghans at once, when it would be easier to finish one before moving on to the other.  I looked at his face and realized he WANTS me to finish my lovely pure wool afghan so we can put it on the bed because he's cold!  So, I'm working solely on this afghan now, which is 120 squares in total (only 60 to go).  He's also quite enthusiastic about me making him a pair of slippers - so tomorrow I'm off to Spotlight to source some manly coloured merino wool fibres to make a sheet of felt that I can cut slipper pieces out of.  I'm going to pull apart his old slippers so that I can use the soles.  I'll let you know how it goes!!

Well, I've written more than I intended, hope it hasn't got you too scattered!  It is a full moon tonight, perhaps that's having an effect? 

Going back to my roots

I had fun tonight punching out butterflies and hearts from coloured card, cutting out butterflies from pretty wrapping paper and sticking them into my mandala. Usually my mandalas are more 'organic', i.e. no symmetry, so this time I decided to use punches, printed papers and a stencil to make the inside of my mandala more regular in shape and design. Of course I had to depart from this because I don't like them to be too perfect, hence the lines moving away from the mandala and the butterflies who have have broken free.

As I was making the mandala I was thinking about my 'roots', where I belong, where I have come from and where I am going. Essentially, what makes me, 'me'. Came to the conclusion it's love and transformation, learning to embrace change (which I'm not always that good at, but it happens anyway!). I finished with a feeling of moving forward with love in my heart. Fabulous - what more could I ask for! And this is why I love creating so much - it's like a map of your journey through life.

PS The inspiration from this came from watching 'Who Do You Think You Are', which at the moment features Australians trying to discover their ancestry. Last night it was John Butler going on the journey and he found some of his ancestors came from Australia and Bulgaria! He's a very talented musician and played music throughout the program on a guitar that belonged to his grandfather, it added to the mystique of the journey. He was very moved to discover he had relations in Europe and that ancestors on both sides were idealists and stood up for what they believed in - much like he does in the present day. I guess as our family moves around quite a lot, I like to feel I have a sense of having my roots somewhere. Maybe some of my ancestors were also travellers or artists. One day I'll find out! ...

Calling my inner wizard - where are you?

Daffodils fully opened and looking gorgeous!


My first piece of original art for a while! Don't ask what was going through my mind whilst I was creating it, I just know it was very calming and time passed very quickly. I have a love/hate relationship with soft pastels, the sound of them on the paper and the dust on my hands is rather irritating, but I love the effects you get when you smudge the pastels on the paper. It's very soft and comforting in some way.

Today I went to finish off my bookkeeping data entry and found to my dismay that I've been entering the data for the past month into the wrong file! Our bookkeeper is going to see if she can save the day and import all the data from one file to another. If she can't I'll have to input the whole lot again (and you know how much I love doing that!) So I used the time to do some more patchwork, which I enjoyed immensely.

I get lots of creative e-zines arriving in my e-mail inbox, and probably spend too much time trying to read them all. The one I was catching up with today was quite good though, the author was talking about our inner critic and it's antithesis* the inner wizard. Apparently it's our inner wizard who gets us fired up again and silences the inner critic to allow us to move forward towards our goals. If you visit here, you can do a short test to see how much you are tapping into your inner wizard. The test asks questions about different areas of your life. My overall score was quite appalling - I only scored one out of ten for the financial questions. Oops. Think my inner wizard has found a cosy corner and fallen asleep somewhere!

*I don't know if this is exactly the right word for this context, but it sounded good so I've kept it in!

Live life abundantly

We've just finished watching the film 'Seven Pounds' with Will Smith. It was a bit of a tear jerker, and a heart featured prominently which is why I felt like drawing one when I came to write the post. The character in the film also takes something remembered from his childhood that helps him on his chosen path as an adult. As a child I was always drawing hearts and am still using them as one of my main symbols in art. This one is in the form of a mandala, the spirals 'reaching out' to everyone surrounding them. It's only a tiny post, but definitely from the heart.

Oh and the title of the post is a quote from the film - it really caught my attention. I'm sure there's a painting in there somewhere ...

Afternoon Tea

Take a look at this mandala tote painted by one of the ladies from my creativity group. Isn't it amazing!

After the kids finished school today we sat round our kitchen table eating afternoon tea and chatting about the events of the day. I realized how well my children are coping with growing up and what lovely people they are. I really appreciated the time we had just 'to be' with each other. So much so, I'm starting a new label for posts describing things that I am thankful for. One thing I am learning from my mentors and books I'm reading is that being grateful for something every day, even the small things, gives you a much happier outlook on life and gives you a mental lift. A bit like art really!

Growing all the time

I created this picture using water soluble oil pastels on cartridge paper. They have a lovely thick texture as you pull them across the page, very soft and squashy! Art isn't just about the colours; it's about feeling the materials as you work with them - or at least that's what I believe. It's a truly emotional experience to create something! I didn't have any agenda in mind, started in the centre of the page and drew in an outwards motion. Expansive - growing. I like that, it's a positive feeling of moving forward. Like I'm doing with my art dream.

Real work?

I ran another creativity class today and it went so well we lost track of time and will have to finish our project off next week. As I posted yesterday we painted mandalas onto a calico tote, using acrylic paints. The bags look brilliant, but I forgot to take my camera - aach - so I've taken a photo of my bag at home, and will hopefully remember the camera to photograph everyone else's creations next week.

We were all feeling somewhat stressed this morning when I arrived, associated with work, family, school runs - the usual busy lives we lead. So after Linda gave us a reading on the Aura-Soma bottles we'd chosen, I eased us into the class with some wet-on-wet watercolour - I have posted about this before; you simply wet a piece of watercolour paper with water until it resembles a mini swimming pool, choose 3 colours for your palette and then brush, splodge, flick, dot paint all over the page. Don't let your head lead - it's all from the heart! Then take a look at what you've done and you'll be surprised what shows up. Our symbols ranged from angels, starbursts, flowers to pebbles! It really relaxed us, and made us open to painting some of our favourite symbols into a mandala for our bags.

It's a real honour to be working with the 'girls' in the group. They are all very creative, even though most of them would deny it! And they inspire me - hopefully I do the same for them. I told my husband about my 'work' today and he teased me by saying that it couldn't be work because I enjoyed it too much. (He's just jealous!!) Maybe I should call it a blessing instead of work?

Blue lines of society

"Everyone has a masterpiece within him from birth ... when we are young, society draws pale blue lines, as if your life were a paint-by-numbers kit. The message is: If you stay in the lines your life will be a masterpiece. That's a lie. You have to constantly battle to be nobody but yourself. If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted." - Gordon MacKenzie

This mandala demonstrates my creative process (or at least one of them!) It all started with the doodle on the back of an envelope that I posted 2 days ago. After ruminating on it for a while I decided to use some of the symbols and colour schemes, and that I would draw a mandala including these elements. Then I decided to take the concept of the 'pale blue lines' and drew my circle and the spokes with blue pencil. The inner circles are drawn with my compass, but the designs on the outer edge are drawn freehand, to reflect the desire to break out of boundaries set for us, but which may not be appropriate for our lives.

I like the way the colours sometimes run into each other, have fuzzy edges or are fainter in some places than other - it all gives the impression that this is all quite tenuous - society holding onto us, or us holding onto society - I'll leave you to mull that one over.

The art of creativity for me is a step by step process, that can evolve at any time along the way. I only thought of using blue to draw the mandala tonight after reading the quote - in fact I had only rediscovered the quote today as well - I'd decided to draw a mandala a couple of days ago, but the individual elements fused together today. The writing and designs around the outside of the mandala came into my mind as I was colouring the outer edge. Creativity is a continuous journey of discovery, a way to discovering who you really are.

Do Everything with Love ... Part 2

I can't believe I'm still up and about at this time! I've just finished working on some bookkeeping for tomorrow, and I slightly underestimated how long it was going to take. And I was so pleased with myself that I'd finished my artwork and taken photos of it before 5 pm this evening. Never mind, I'm here now and it will help me relax before going off to sleep. (Might actually nod off over the keyboard!)

Well, here is part 2 of my 'absolute love' theme. It's called "Choose Love" because after saying yesterday that I aspire to dealing with situations with love, but that it must be very difficult, today I realized it is a matter of choice, and it's that simple. I'd had the idea of producing a mandala style heart combination, but initially I was going to draw the heart inside the circle. However, after doing a few doodles to see which looked best, I really liked the idea of a circle of light being inside the heart and radiating out. It became a collage when I rediscovered some of the collage papers I'd made with the other ladies from my creativity lessons, so I just ripped away and glued to my heart's content. Before sticking on the collage papers I'd glued on some tissue paper and 'squidged' it around a bit with PVA glue to give some texture. Where I hadn't stuck collage papers I painted in amethyst acrylic paint (another of our favourites at creativity group), then painted gold acrylic over the top and scratched some patterns into the paint with the end of my paintbrush. Final touch was to add some stamping of a heart, and some gold rings - from a small pot I'd found and turned upside down to use as a stamp in my gold paint. I love it that the heart is so self-contained, radiating out all that love, even though it's slightly chaotic around it.

OK, I really have written enough, my little head is waiting to fall upon the pillow, 'perchance to dream'. So have a lovely day wherever you are, and remember to "choose love".

Colouring and Writing

Today's post is a live broadcast of sorts - I'm sitting at my desk with a glass of Pimms and lemonade (the true taste of summer!) and my art book is open, and I've started a mandala. So I will be writing thoughts and colouring my mandala in between.

The weather has been hot today. Now I know it's a terribly boring British thing to talk about the weather, but honestly it's a big part of our lives! Today it's been in the high thirties, and I have not been a happy camper! My husband joked today that I must be a cross between a Pom and a vampire because I shrivel in the sun. I gave him my best scary horror movie scowl in response. It's not kind to laugh at another's weakness! So, yes, I have been a true whinging Pom today moaning about the hot weather, so much so I even got fed up with the sound of my own voice - I've decided to make amends and draw a mandala showing my gratitude for today! That is my artwork for today, and it will appear as if by magic by the time you get to read this.

I wrote some notes in my other journal today - with proper paper and pen. I really enjoyed writing, I don't seem to do it very much these days, and my blog has replaced my journal writing. It made me think that people don't write letters very much these days either. I still go to my mailbox with a bit of a skip in my step expecting a letter from a friend, but all I get these days are bills or junk mail. It would be a real shame if we lost the skill of writing letters or journals - it's fun to read over entries from years ago, or to re-read a letter from a loved one. I've kept a couple of letters from my grandmother that she wrote to me when I was very young. Although she's passed on, I still have that piece of her presence, her writing on the page, her voice in the words, and it's very comforting.

OK, I've finished my mandala, and it has made me feel better, much better to be thankful than grumpy! It is slightly meditative colouring in, and I just love drawing those spirals - very therapeutic! Strange though that you'll have seen it, before you've read this far ...

Think I will write once a week in my 'paper' journal and keep up those writing skills.

Some art therapy

Here's a picture of what I painted for my art therapy session I did a couple of weeks ago. It's lovely and bright, I call it a sunburst; I just kept seeing lots of them popping into my head whilst I was doing the visualization. It was just beautiful. It was also great because I got the opportunity to use some gorgeous, expensive brushes and they just made the paint flow so easily! Looking at the painting a few weeks later makes me feel happy, I remember on the day feeling that I'd got something out of my system that was threatening to burst out - it was very freeing! Like I said before, you don't have to be having emotional problems to benefit from art therapy, sometimes it's good to express yourself just for the sake of it.

Back again ...

Feeble I know, but I finally succumbed properly to the 'bug', whatever it was and spent lots of time lying around feeling sorry for myself. And after making fun of my husband for being victim to 'man-germs'. That'll teach me!

Anyway, back to feeling fairly normal, and the creative buzz flowing again. Hooray! As we've been talking about mandalas I thought I'd share a work that didn't initially start out as one, but ended up as a mandala style and could be quite healing in the process I think. It's a very rough drawing from my art journal, you might not be able to read the notes scribbled in the corner, but they explain I just had to get the idea on paper - I want to turn it into a painting very soon. It's quite personal - I was challenged to look at myself as a little girl, and to imagine being with her now - what would I do and how would I react to this younger me? I've always been a bit disappointed in my younger self as I remember being painfully shy and awkward around people, but as I imagined that little girl being me I realized I didn't dislike her, I just wanted to befriend her and encourage her - and that's where the picture came from. When I've painted it I'll publish it here, then you can see the continuation of my idea;jottings;painting process. I just love it when an image comes together!

More mandala stuff ...

Here is an exercise I did after looking at the book 'Mandala' by Judith Cornell, who is an authority on mandalas. Can't remember why we had to draw it now, but looking at it reminds me of energy moving. It actually looks better in this photo than the real thing, I think the light from the flash must be reflecting off the white! The white pencil didn't work as well as I hoped, might be better if I had used pastels. Quite pleased with how it looks here though.

Meant to mention that the mandala from yesterday was drawn and coloured with 'Inktense' coloured pencils. You use them the same way as normal watercolour/aquarelle pencils, but they give a much more intense result just as their name implies. They aren't cheap, but every artist must have their vices!

Not much doing today

Just a quick blog today - the house is full of germs and we are all feeling a wee bit poorly! So thought I would choose a mandala to show today, think I had been investigating Celtic art and nature religions to come up with this theme of being 'one with the earth'. It was the first mandala I'd ever drawn and I found it very relaxing, also I love round things (explains the dotty blog template) so I think I will probably produce some more in the future. Will post a couple more I've done recently and explain a bit more about mandalas another time. This virus turns the brain to mush and I just can't think straight! Apologies for short and uninspiring blogging!