Finding My Way Again + New Art!

Since I last posted things have been improving a lot! I realised I just need to embrace all aspects of myself which includes different mediums of art. Somehow accepting that has really turned things around and I feel like I’m back in the game so to speak.

So yesterday I decided it was time to put my art on the walls, I had been enjoying the blank walls but knew I needed to decide what I wanted to put up. I wanted it simple, uncluttered and showing my range of art.

So this is how it looks and I am delighted! I’m displaying my ACEO’s on my memo board and they look fab! And a new thing.. I framed some of my drawings for display and they look really stunning. It’s great to be able to share these pics with you so you can see how my work looks up on the wall

This is the wall near my computer, I put two of my 10 x 8” drawings up here and they look wonderful.

This is ‘The Village’ framed. I won’t be selling it framed but it gives you a great idea of how it looks. I’ve realised my drawings look far better un-mounted and just framed, keeping it simple shows them off a lot better.

Besides doing that I have been working on new originals and I have a few other secret projects in the works which I am totally excited about. More on those later but for now please meet….

Mr Mouse-

Inspired by my ACEO cards featuring my newest character I decided to do a A5 (8 1/4 x 5 7/8)” version. The paper is gorgeous, slightly off white and the pencil marks really pop out, this drawing will look great framed.

My other new original is ‘Signs of Spring’ inspired by the bulbs popping up in the garden and my fav time of year…

You can find both now in my Etsy shop and see more pics of the full sized versions.

Off to create more… and thank you all for your support x

Blessings

xxx

Butterflies and Blue Skies

I was sitting sketching in the garden yesterday, look what I saw!! Not one but two Red Admiral butterflies enjoying sitting on my new top on the washing line. I worried at first they might be eating it lol but on closer inspection they were just enjoying sitting there together…how sweet!

How beautiful they are! They stayed there for ages, at least 30mins, I also had lot’s of Cabbage Whites fluttering around the garden and then would you believe it another Red Admiral came and sat on my other washing but as soon as I went to take a pic it flew off. Seemed quite a hyper butterfly to me by the way it was flying around lol.

In other news, my Etsy followers will be pleased to know I’ve decided to re-open my shop. It’ll be running alongside my website and other sites.

I’ve just listed my latest painting ‘Sun Rise’ over there, hope you enjoy.

Blessings

xxx

Sketching in the Garden

After a hard mornings gardening I came out and was admiring the beauty of our garden that has gone from mud heap to tranquil beauty and has turned out even better than I had visualised all those years ago. The sun was shining, it was warm and I just wanted to soak up the atmosphere of my dream garden finally being real.

So I got out a blanket and my sketching stuff and just drew. It was bliss! I wanted to stay out there, I had Paulette’s Divine Romance class to attend and the silly laptop did not like being outside so I packed up and went back inside. I hope I get to enjoy more sketching in the garden, it’s so much fun and I get to add those sketches to the pool at ‘The Journal Project!’

Hoping you’re enjoy sunny days out in your garden too.

xxx

Sketching

I’ve always been passionate about drawing, it’s something that has brought me much joy and while I’m in the process of drawing something, everything else around me is silenced and I feel at peace. Losing your self in a drawing is wonderful.

Just lately I’ve been trying to make drawing a bigger part of my life and I’m really loving it.

At the weekend I was feeling particularly anxious on a car ride and whilst waiting for Hubby I decided to get out a piece of paper from my bag and a pen and just drew. It didn’t matter what it was, or if it was any good I just drew because I wanted to and instantly the anxiety left me. There’s something about refocusing your energy into something positive that drives the fear away. So I intend to make this a habit, to help keep me calm when I feel vulnerable and also just to enjoy more of this wonderful gift I’ve been given by God.

I started up ‘The Journal Project’ recently and it’s been such a great thing to get people drawing again and making drawing a bigger part of their lives. The simplicity of taking paper and a pencil just makes it so much easier to begin.

I hope you’ll join us and share your sketches.

xxx

Spreading My Wings

I’ve been feeling really restless for a long time now, itching to spread my wings and work in other mediums but the thought of not doing my cute whimsical paintings, well it made me sad. How could I do both?

I’ve struggled with putting all the different mediums together in my Etsy shop and feeling like it just looked too confusing, and while some of you may say no, I felt it just wasn’t working.

The pull to create in other ways has been a recurring theme for me for years and I didn’t know what to do about it. Recent events have helped me to decide that I need to honour the different parts of what makes me ‘me’ and be creative in many ways.

I’m currently taking Paulette Insall’s Divine Romance class which is helping me to paint in a way that is less thinking more doing, connecting with God and allowing Him to flow through me. It’s exciting to see what will come out and I look forward to sharing more with you about this later on.

In the meantime, some of you may have seen my recent ‘Ellie’ sketch which has got me really excited! I totally loved the experience of creating in this way, again it was more doing rather than thinking and simple yet so striking. I decided that sketching is something I want to do a lot more of and am now offering custom pet sketches along with my photography and abstract paintings on my new website.

This seemed the perfect way to have the best of both worlds, I’ll be listing all my cute whimsical paintings and prints on my Etsy store and all other art and photography at Big Cartel. I’ve added new links on the menus here to help you find what you need.

Excited to be on this new journey,

xxx

The Journal Project–Come Join Us!

 

It’s here, it’s here!! I am so excited about this project, I do hope you’ll join me!

How to take part:

Take 1 sketchbook, 1 pencil and 1 eraser and draw for at least 5 mins per day, whilst waiting, watching tv, sitting outside, whenever you can find 5mins or more to sketch, doodle or write.

1 Rule:

It must be positive! Only draw things that are good, positive and loving, no dark art or adult content please. Drawing good things will make you feel fantastic even if you had been having a bad day till then. Conjure up good memories and draw from that place.

The aim:

To get people who have a passion for drawing back to it, in a simple way just taking a small amount of time daily, building up a sketchbook of happy doodles to make you smile.
For project ideas or just for yourself this project will help you to enrich your life, use the gift inside of you and feed that passion of wanting to draw.

Join us on Flickr where you can post your sketches: http://www.flickr.com/groups/journalproject

Have fun! Feel free to grab our button on the left and tell your friends about us.

xxx

Expo-ditions (As Pooh Bear would say..)

I seem to have ‘expo-ditions’ on the brain and thought it would be fun to start doing them as a regular thing to inspire me. Of course we already walk through beautiful countryside daily whilst walking Ellie and I sometimes glimpse something that will make me stop and catch my breath and then race back to the studio to paint it.

Lately, that hasn’t been happening so much and I feel like I am going through a huge transition with my art. I have this strong yearning you see to paint more from life and I can’t seem to shift it. I always thought that painting in this way was boring, I couldn’t sit still long enough to really look and draw what I saw. In many ways I am still like that and have a lot of growing to do as an artist (which feels quite exciting and yet quite scary at the same time).

I love Impressionism and the whimsical paintings I have been doing to date and so somewhere in there is ‘me’ waiting to emerge. I don’t think I’ll ever be a realistic painter.

Anyway, back to the point, my adventure started on Monday when I declared it day 1 of my new experiment and expo-dition, didn’t have a clue what or where I was going but headed out with sketchbook, pens and pencils in my Hubby’s side bag and felt like a student again which was great! :D

I wandered down to the local High Street and parked myself in the Cafe Bar garden in the corner, out the way and ordered myself an americana which I hardly ever have (adventure remember?) I sat by the trickling water in the fish pond and surrounded by very old buildings (1800’s or earlier) I sat and pondered the view.

I never sit in front of what I’m going to paint or draw, I’ve always done it by memory or imagination. So this is pretty new for me. I felt intimidated at first but thought what the heck and just started drawing parts of what was around me in pencil and actually enjoyed it – yes I really did!

I started on the next page and drew more in pencil then I got fidgety. So out came my new Zig pen bought on holiday and I started going over my pencil lines – Oh yes now I’m having fun, I thought to myself. I scribbled away and then out came the pencils, I had limited colours with me so decided to just pick parts out to colour. There is something about squiggly lines I just love!

Doing this really did something for me, I felt free and learnt something new about what I enjoy artistically, I wrote words that came to mind to help me remember.

After about an hour doing all this and long finished my coffee I thought I had better move on…

I walked through the country side, taking my time and really looking, out came my camera…

I ended up taking quite a few photos, above is most of them. I’m thinking they will make great studies when I need something to sketch, if nothing else they were fun to take.

I still don’t quite know where all this is going and I’m searching for a new theme for my next paintings. Hopefully inspiration will come soon and I’ll be back painting.

In the meantime I plan to keep going with these expo-ditions and also sketching daily to keep things moving.

Yesterday wasn’t such a great sketching day, not a lot came from it but I did finally make my Teesha Moore journal, which came out really cool. Not sure what I’ll use this journal for but I am so glad I made it.

What inspires you for your art/paintings and do you go out on adventures to inspire you? Where do you go?

xxx

Soothing

The past 2 weeks I’ve been on a new journey of discovery with art. Trying to get deeper into what is so desperately trying to leap out of me and onto the page. Up to now I have been avoiding what was inside, not wanting to discover it out of fear mostly but now I find as I get braver and allow myself more time to play I am finding some amazing things!

This sketch I decided to call ‘Soothing’ it is from my sketchbook and it part of my new way of delving into my heart thanks to Mystele’s wonderful teaching, in her GUT Art class. I saw this image in the background and the beauty of the flowing lines were so strong to me that I felt painting her in would ruin it. So I kept it as it is and went over the sketch lines with charcoal.

To me this sketch says so much about how I’ve been feeling for a long time and how I am being transformed in my heart, it’s like a self portrait expressing where I am right now. I love it!

I’m not sure where this journey will take me but I’m sure loving the goodness I am finding! I’ll keep you updated with my discoveries as I travel on this wonderful journey.

In the meantime I’ve added some whimsical paintings to ebay, you can find them here.

What wonderful discoveries are you making today?

xxx