Mandala Magic and Embracing the Sensual!

Hey everyone

Just doing a little catching up with the Flora Bowley Bloom True Bootcamp prompts 

Prompt 9
Mandala magic:

I was not sure how to go about this, I did know I wanted to use pebbles some how or other and ended up painting on one using acrylics. I then immediately painted a similar one into my art journal. I found the whole process very pure in all senses, and am looking forward to creating more mandalas maybe on canvas.

The coloured beads (orange, pink, yellow and the hidden green) were left for me by my daughter in a pretend tea-set tea cup and so I used her gesture for inspiration for my pallet for today...

Prompt 10

Embrace the sensual:

Seeing as I already had a pallet of half used paints just sitting there, I decided to delve in and take Flora's suggestion to have a go at embracing the sensual through finger painting. I work with young children and so this is something I do frequently, though not for me. It was a liberating experience, especially when you remember to select colours that wont mix and end up giving you brown sludge!

I had a blast doing this and may layer it, write on it - perhaps my creative manifesto...who knows?

Really looking forward to the next lot of prompts! 

Happy arting everyone xx

  #bloomtruebootcamp

My Creative Manifesto

Hey everyone

So, prompt 8 of Flora Bowley's Bloom True Bootcamp "Your Creative Manifesto"

This was incredibly easy to write, especially using Flora's suggested guidance. 

My Manifesto

Creativity is an undeniable part of who I am, and it feels utterly vital like drawing breath. 

I have always been compelled to create since being a young child - even then seeking to use materials around me to try to make sense of myself. This is partly why I create - to discover the self, to delve inside my being, and to find what art means to me.

I also create to discover my own style, to experiment with materials and tools to see where it will take me, and to play, to explore, and to make connections.

I believe that creativity runs through us all, we are all born with the capacity but it needs to be nurtured. As a result I believe that we often need to give ourselves permission to be creative, and to let go of those inhibitions. This is why I endeavour to teach and encourage others to be creative.

When I am being creative I feel free, peaceful, unafraid, joyous and exhilarated. 

Creativity is life. 

Happy arting everyone xxxx

#bloomtruebootcamp

Let Go!

Hey everyone 

The next Bloom True boot-camp to grab me was prompt 5 "Let Go!" At first I wasn't going to do this one, it didn't seem relevant to me right now unless I wanted to go down the "woe is me" route about emotional baggage. Hmmm. Not fun blogging material. 

Then it hit me today.

I need to read more.

I have had a lifelong love affair with books, and all things literary, but busy modern ways have meant my reading habits have changed. 

For the worse. 

I still buy books - more so lately thanks to pottering around the charity shops close to my favourite coffee-house - and borrow them from the library (I can't resist!) only to have them half read or barely touched...

The current pile, 

the top three have

 actually had some attention...

So, today I decided to LET GO of this bad habit, and LET GO of the routine which means I don't have time to read. I actually sat down and finished a bool and read some of another. Progress indeed. 

I am that kind of person who needs designated reading time, at least until I LET GO and allow myself to indulge more in one of my other passions...

Happy arting everyone

xxxx

#bloomtruebootcamp

Bloom True Bootcamp continues

Hey everyone

I am catching up with the Flora Bowley Bloom True bootcamp this weekend, with day 3 "Gather your Supplies" and day 4 "Get Quiet"

Day 3:
My interpretation of this prompt surrounds looking at what my go-to supplies are, and why. Also, how I like to use them.

Here are my essential supplies, I could not function without them!

These are my bare minimum supplies. The other essentials are here:

Then of course we're getting into paints, decorative papers and all kinds of embellishment loveliness. I have reams of that stuff but the above is what I use the most.

I seem to be obsessed with spirals and circles. Always going back to them. Repeatedly. Unavoidably. They just fall out of the tool I am using, I cannot help but include them in almost every single piece:

I know circles and spirals have a vast amount of symbolism and meaning - 

circles can represent completion, wholeness, infinity, feminine power, unity and the sun. 

spirals can represent serpentine energy, fertility, movement, looking inward and descent into the self and much, much more.

I am pagan and so it makes sense for me to be drawn to these symbols, they pull me, draw me in and reveal depths within myself and will no doubt continue to do so. Here is my current WIP (work in progress) 

See what I mean?

I think Flora Bowley would say that I need to go with this flow, run with it, explore it fully and see where it leads :). 

Day 4:

"Get Quiet" saw me take myself to my fave coffee shop today for some real chill time. I took along all kinds of reading material, basic art supplies, and my new study materials for my next Open University module "Childhood". It was perfection. I love the peace in coffee shops, no one will bother me, I can set up "base camp" as I call it and just sup latte's and do my own thing. Perfection.

Chilled loveliness!

Looking forward to delving into the next prompts, whoop!

Happy arting everyone!

What rituals surround my art?

Hello everyone

So, yesterday Flora Bowley announced her "Bloom True Boot Camp" which sees Flora release 7 prompts at the start of each week of September, giving one prompt a day. Flora does not expect you to do them all, but choose what speaks to the individual. Active participation and dedication also gets you in with a chance of winning one of ten places on her "Bloom True e-course". 

However, I would be motivated to do the boot camp without the added bonus of possibly winning the e-course. This week's prompts are beautiful, simple, inspiring and perfect.

In this post I shall merge day 1 "Invite the Sacred"and 2 "Prepare your Space" these both link to something I have already been considering "What rituals surround my art?"

So, thinking about both prompts I stood back and considered 

• how does spirituality and sacredness come into my art 
• what rituals I undertake when making it in the space I have carved out for myself

I view myself as a spirituality aware person, I see my art as a way of expressing all that exists within me including the "Divine", as well as the joy of playing with the materials.

For me, great art is that which explores beauty in all it's facets - and beauty has obvious links with the spiritual and sacred does it not?

"Women of the Earth" 

Summer 2013

As for what rituals I undertake when I prepare my space, I have a kind of process which sets me up nicely:

• shut bedroom door!
• cover bed with purple throw-over
• set up music on laptop
• put my hair up
• apron on
• supplies out
• work in progress set up on bed so I can look at it and decided where to go from there. 

With a new project/piece I just get stuck in and see where it takes me. I either sit on the bed or kneel next to it on a cushion. I also sometimes sit on a stool next to the bed and lean on it like a table. My secret is TRAYS! I could not survive with them!

In considering what rituals surround my art it's also about the process, how do I work, what techniques do I return to again and again, ditto what patterns, shapes and colours? This will be discussed in the next post about supplies which is covered in day 3 :).

Happy arting everyone!

#bloomtruebootcamp

Seeking Permission

Hey everyone

While out for coffee today I got chatting to a young man who works in the cafe which has become a regular go-to with several of my friends. We got talking about the joys of working with young children (I'm a pre-school supervisor) and how he wanted more out of life than working in a cafe, which  possibly involves moving into the early years sector.

That always does it for me, whenever people around me say things like this, whenever they're wanting more but are yet to do anything about it. 

I then take it upon myself to give them permission.

 I say "Do it then. Do it now. Make plans and see them through. Project it out there. Be the change."

Sometimes you have to give people that nudge, become that catalyst, and give them that wake up call they have been waiting for.

I love doing this, I love seeing the flicker of renewed life in their eyes, and the fire of possibilities starting to kindle.

I love to share my passions with others, "Passing on the Love" as I call it and in doing so helping to make the world a better place in some small way.

Today has been a good day, I gave someone permission to seek more from life and it is a truly beautiful feeling. 

Be the change, people, always xx

Ways of Seeing

Hey folks 

Hope you are all well.

I have had one of those blissful days, wandering my city alone this week. I purposefully set out to have some 'me' time, sit in cafes, makes some art, read and take photos. I did all of these things and more. 

It is amazing what the world can yield when you really LOOK. I took over 40 photos on my day out, because once you attune your eyes to that of an artist inspiration is truly EVERYWHERE.

It's funny because a book I bought the same day called "How to Be an Artist" by Michael Atavar told me the very same thing after I had snapped away and then sat down to peruse his book. 

Michael writes

 "Everything is your process and worthy of attention, so don't let anything skip your grasp. All is art and can be fuel for your artistic endeavours."

Eighteen months ago I bought Michael's other book "12 Rules for Creativity" and I highly recommend BOTH!

So, here is me doing just 

as my instinct told me...

An early lunch, spot of reading and sketching

A very happy couple having their wedding photos taken at my city's castle, I couldn't resist getting a sneaky snap :)

And I just had to take a pic of my spilt milk, it made an interesting shape on the tray and this of 1/3 images I took

These are but the tip of the Misty Mountains of what I snapped while out. 

I also sat myself down in my local art gallery which was hosting a World War I centenary exhibition and sketched a portrait of an RAF pilot from 1917. I was there and hour and a lot of people wandered past, no one said a thing to me but I do wonder if I may have inspired one of them to do the same? 

Get out there

Be seen making art

View everything with your creative eyes on

Make art

Be creative in whatever way suits you

There are NO limits, only the ones you let take root in your own mind!

Happy arting everyone

xxxx

(credit to the marvellous PicMonkey free editing tool, mwah, love ya)