Friday 30 September 2011

Relax and float away.....

I was so stressed today!! Help!! Then... I remembered this little video. It always cheers me up and the words remind me that even when I don't have time to sit and draw I can still "Relax and float away" in my head...... Happy weekend everyone.x

Wednesday 28 September 2011

A bicycling video ....Love this! Have a look!



This great little video is by "Andydorfman" on Youtube. I love her videos.....will post more!

Resurrection of ...... the bike!



Today was a big day! Today I resurrected my dear old bike which I haven't ridden for two years four months....since the last time I discoved my cancer was back in fact. Since the last operation my poor bike has been lying unridden in the big shared cupboard in the hallway of the house where we have a flat. Well....to be exact, my husband resurrected it for me yesterday when he resurrected his own to get it serviced. He had mine serviced too which was so sweet of him and actually finally put the firework up me to get on it again.

So.....out the cupboard they came and this morning there they were all shining and oiled and renewed and....raring to go. Can't say I was....or Benn .....but we went. Benn has very high blood pressure and a few other problems at the moment and so we thought it would be good for him. Nowadays my exercise is mostly walking which I do do a LOT of. Two years ago before I was ill again though, I was also cycling and swimming and those are the two things I haven't got back to ....so this seemed like the best opportunity.

Well...off we went. We are so lucky as we live just two minutes from the seafront in Hove, which has a cycle path and which is flat....so perfect for unfit and out of practice cyclists....like "what we is!!" :-)

Anyway, it was great of course although it took more out of me than I realised whilst I was cycling. It would be easy, to be honest, to stick it back in the cupboard again but I am determined not to. We will see.....................



ps I think the photo is by Mark Kaufman. It made me smile.......we really are old though!

Monday 26 September 2011

I wanted to draw this girl simply in pencil and then add just two colours. I added blue to her eyes and red to the tatoo on her arm. I like to simply draw sometimes and I think it really helps me to learn. Learning how to shade has been something I had to teach myself years ago as I never had that teaching at school. I remember when I chose to take art as one of my specialist subjects when I did my B.ED I was terrified as I was surrounded by school leavers (I was 36 at that time) who knew all about it. When I first heard one of them mention "cross hatching" I wanted to run and leave the room. Somehow I got through that blind panic and fear of looking like a fool though but even then for the next couple of years, I tried to avoid drawing, working mainly in colour, printing, textiles etc. I know exactly that it was my fear of looking inferior to everyone else that prevented me doing more drawing at that time.

So stupid. As a teacher, I spent my entire life reminding children that it is fine not to know how to do something because school is a place where you can learn. Why is it that so many of us are "experts" in helping others and useless at following our own advice?

It wasn't until two and a half years ago that I finally summoned up the courage to try and really improve my drawing by admitting that I was a learner. I joined a wonderful social network art site that was running at the time called "Taking Flight". Somehow it was so much easier to admit I wanted to learn to draw in this anonymous way to the other people on the site who were not sitting in my front room looking me in the eye!

That was when I started art journalling. When I look back now at those first tentative drawings and paintings I can see my inhibitions and anxiety looking back at me. As I turn the pages of my first journal I can see the moments when I tried to make a "quantum" leap forward in courage and I can also see how my courage slowly grew and grew and by the end of that first journal a whole exploration of not just my drawing skills had taken place, but also an exploration of my confidence.

I have three more journals now and for a while, I put that first one away in a drawer because I knew a lot of it was inferior. The other day though I saw it looking up at me almost indignantly. "How could you do this to me?" it seemed to be saying. "Once....I was the light of your little creative life." I took it out of the drawer then and went through it page by page. I had written on each page when I had made it and on some pages, what was happening in my life at the time. As I went into hospital for major surgery quite early on in the journal, it really is a recording of deep emotion. Looking back through it, I felt very comforted to know I had made it to here. I found myself reliving not just the experiences then but also the very feelings I had had, as I had made my journal pages. Living memories for me.

So making this drawing above, "Girl with a scarlet tattoo" reminded me in particular of the very first page of my very first journal. I do like her anyway but for some reason, because she took me back to the beginning of my love affair with art journalling, she is rather special.

Starting afresh!

I have found myself enjoying so many other peoples' art blogs of late that it has spurred me back onto using my own again. Having "Freeing Your Wings" as my own site finds me spending most of my time on there where I do have a small blog spot too....but it is not the place to blog to any extent really.



So much about my own exploration into creativity is whirring again in my mind and I have started writing again which I had stopped really as I was working hard to improve my art.




Finding Tamara Laporte on "Willowing" was the BEST possible thing that could have happened to me art wise. How lucky I was too, to live right near Tam and so I have consequently got to know her, her husband Andy and their little son Dylan. I could never thank Tam enough for all I have learnt from her. If you don't know her site yet you really do need to take a look. It is at http://www.willowing.ning.com/




Back to my....well I think my blog needs an overhaul and an update really so I am going to work on that. For now I am going to post some of the paintings I have done more recently just to give it a bit of a fresh face. The one I have posted here was on canvas and part of my 6-week course with Tam above. This course was called "Magical Mythical Makings" and is now running on Willowing as a self-study group. There were four main elements, Goddesses (I did post one of mine goddess earlier this year), Angels, Mermaids and Fairies. This was my final piece on the course and I was pretty pleased with her. When I look back at work I was doing a year or so ago, I can see I am getting much better....but I also know I still have a long way to go. Still this is my faerie and this was my second piece of work on a canvas....my goddess was the first and the first time I have ever worked on canvas. Actually I really like it and must try another one soon. Think I will try a smaller one next time. These two were big!




Ah well....that's today. I think I only have about 3 followers anyway and you lovely ladies have probably long given up on me.... but thank you so much for supporting me when you did. Maybe my blog will slowly build up again.




Love for now




Lynda x