Hello subscribers! This is the first of my "Inspiration" series of blog posts. In January, I declared 2019 to be my year of "Inspiration"and as a way of reminding myself of this intention, the next 10 blog posts will be dedicated to this very subject.
So, firstly I'm celebrating the season of the Magnificent Magnolia with the launch of this hand painted, limited edition Mother's Day card. Their bountiful, glossy and voluptuous flowers have really caught my eye this year and I felt they were a suitably impressive image to celebrate the magnificence of our mothers on Mothering Sunday. The images are all hand printed and painted and I've left the inside blank so they can be used for any occasion.
I'm offering free postage to all UK addresses until 12pm on Tuesday 26th March, click on this link or the photo below to place your orders:
Back in January I also intended to undertake these three actions:
1. Plan weekly artist dates
2. Visit three seaside towns
3. Draw at 7am and 7pm everyday
Now we're well into March, it's time for a mini review of these actions...
I can say that I have been drawing most days, certainly not every day and not necessarily at 7am and 7pm but but setting the intention to draw each day has definitely helped me to develop a more firmly embedded, regular drawing practice that I now really look forward to. I try to give myself time each morning, before my laptop comes out or before I start my commute to the studio, to sit down with my sketchbook and my Rotring Art Pen and draw something that inspires me. Mostly, it seems to have been my Cheese Plant:
It's become my daily meditation time as I find drawing observationally really helps me to check in with myself, my observations (or sometimes lack of!) show me where I am but it always leaves me feeling calmer and more attentive than when I started. And the best thing is that this approach allows me not to focus so much on the outcome of the drawing but more the practice of seeing and following a line and enjoying the process of drawing. As Van Gough once said "I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing" and I feel lucky to be able identify with this sense of daily delight.
Visit three seaside towns...actually yes I have, we've been on two coastal walks (I'm intending to walk the Saxon Way along the Kent and Sussex coastline this year) and we've visited Ryde, Hastings, Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Whitstable on our weekend walks. I find walking by the sea a huge source of inspiration so I'm really pleased to have set this goal as it made me put the walking days in my diary and stick to them (mostly). It takes some effort to get out of London and some planning for a circular walk but it's absolutely been worth it to explore and discover the beauty of that coastline:
So the last one has been harder - the weekly Artist dates. I scheduled them in each Friday and I've been on a few, one I remember to Kew Gardens recently:
But mostly they've been sidelined by more "urgent" needs but mostly through guilt at taking this time to do something fun and "non-work-related". The resistance I'm experiencing when it comes to taking myself on Artist dates, has made me realise that despite having undertaken The Artist's Way three times (!) I still need to work on uncovering the blocks that surface along the way. Which brings me to my final point which is to let you know that on April 1st, I'll be starting my first pilot cohort of "The Artist's Way" online course. There are limited places available on the course so if you're interested, click on this link or on the picture below to find out more:
