Creative Spark Week 6

I feel slightly sad that my time with all my lovely class mates in the creative spark e-course has now come to an end. I feel I have packed alot in and have probably been at my most productive in terms of drawing and painting for a long time.

Our task for week 6 was to collage/paint onto canvas and rather than 'over think' the process, Tara, our course teacher wanted us to be in a space where we get out of the way of ourselves and just allow for something to develop.

Step 1: Sorting out collage papers

Step 2: Deciding on the final arrangement and sticking them down

Step 3: Working with 3 colours only

Step 4: Turning the canvas around and noticing a woodland feel

Step 5: The feathers weren't working and my wolf was looking a little lost

Step 6: Poor light quality in this photo, I made my wolf slightly bigger but not happy with the foreground

Step 7: I toned down the foreground and added some spirals to create a relationship with the patterns in the trees

It was really interesting to go through this process and watch the canvas develop, there are things I would like to change but sometimes we just have to allow it to be finished!

Creation is never about changing yourself....

......it is about meeting yourself, probing deep into your own core. (Life, Paint and Passion by Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley).

There seems to be alot of meeting ourselves currently taking place over in the creative spark e-course
with lots of conversations about why we judge ourselves when it comes to making art.  I was particularly struck by the words of one creative spark who wrote in the facebook page " Just as I look at everyone else's work and wonder the same! "Compare and despair" they tell me, the story of my life! Rather than enjoying the journey of making a piece of artwork, I project myself to the finished article, find it lacking (in my head) and stop.......or just never start! I know I am not alone in this, but 61 years of lack of confidence really is showing in this course"

This really hit an arrow into my heart, I was witnessing my relationship towards my own art! So last night I decided to do another blind contour drawing (with a little peeking) as I find them quite therapeutic and used lemon yellow and  yellow ocre as these colours don't feature strongly in my colour story.

I spent a peaceful hour or so painting, listening to music and enjoying the crackle and heat of a coal fire and found the entire process very meditative and deeply satisfying. 

I wanted to add a background but believing I may spoil the picture, I took a photo of it and added a background in picmonkey, then added a few words around it:

Feeling further inspired by what I read in Life, Paint and Passion, I added some words onto a picture I took of my paint palette - "creation wants only to fulfill your deepest desire, to know and accept yourself as you are.  There are no conditions, no invitations to show at the door.  You are at the door and your brush is the key"

Small Stones 5

Painting, peaceful and meditative

Lemon yellow and gold, warm a winter evening

A happy stillness glows within my heart

Black, White and One Colour

Over at Collage Obsession, the theme for this week is  to create a collage using shades of black and white, and one color of your choice.   
 
For photo editing I use picmonkey, a free app, so I decided to see what I could create with the challenge:

Using Ombre within the paintbox tools, I chose blue as my one colour and was able to manipulate the direction of the colour tint and I added a weave element to create texture.

Small Stones 4

My word for October was commit.  I think I am sticking with this word for November too and so I am hoping I can commit to writing a small stone each day.


What is a small stone?

A small stone is a short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment.

Why write small stones?

When we translate something we’ve seen or experienced into words, it is necessary to pay more attention than we usually would. A few minutes of mindful attention (even once a day) helps us to engage with the world in all its beauty.

My knitting resting in the sun

flowing with colour and pattern

Bamboo needles, waiting for hands

to play a song

If you want to find out more about small stones, visit here Mindful Writing Tool: small stones.

Visit my friend's blog Tara Leaver, she is creating beautiful word art with stones she finds on the beach.

Small Stones 2

Blazing fire, orange glow

Weaving magic in Autumn's throe

Toasting toes, fireside bliss

Small Stones 1

Love my lemon slice
A floating mandala
A loving cup.