As much as I would love to have hours and hours to sit and paint, the reality is, it just doesn't happen very often.
Like many of us, to be able to paint for several hours in one go is a luxury and one that doesn't happen as often as I would like.

With running art classes and an impending house renovation calling for attention, I manage to carve some time into my week to play in the sketchbook and lately creating mini landscapes. 

These landscapes are half an A4 size paper,or some are 20cm x 20cm.  The paper has a luxurious feel as it is 100% cotton watercolour paper and is a pleasure to work on.  Allowing myself an hour or so to work on a landscape or finish one off means I am still able to create for my art business. Most importantly, I continue to keep that creative muscle working.   

The joy of time carved out of a busy schedule helps to calm my mind, taking time to forget about what is happening around me, my to do list or anything else that pops up.  

Growing up, I had no idea my grandmother my dad's side was an artist.  It wasn't until recent years I found out she worked with charcoals and watercolour.  I now sit and wonder if this was her stress release from her busy life of being a nurse, mother and living on a poultry farm.

Besides the escapism, the joy of honing my skills with watercolour and gouache on small works. 

You can see some of my current mini landscapes created during these times. 

​Please feel free to leave a comment below. 
 
    

I can sit and while away hours lost in paint, brush and thoughts. Often, I get lost in the art, conjuring up stories or scenarios that fit with a scene. Take the piece pictured to the left.  I imagined myself on this secluded beach, nestled in the rocks with a book, the sun glistening on my skin and the gentle lap of the ocean coming up to the shoreline. I transport myself to that place, if only for the time I am creating, even though it may be raining and windy outside. 

Some people create art for their pleasure, a form of relaxing, rejuvenation of the mind and soul and a pleasure entirely for themselves.  There is no intention for the completed artwork, only for the moment.

Hobbyist's create for the joy of a hobby that keeps them active, connected and enjoying their pursuits. Often,joining a group with likeminded creatives.

There is also the part time or full time artist who creates art for not only the joy but for the purpose of selling their works. Some are creating for the purpose of their work to be hung in a gallery or museum.

Ask yourself, am I creating this piece for:
it to be in a museum?
it to be in a gallery?
to be sold?
to hang on my wall at home?
me to have no expectation?
me to enjoy the time relaxing, having fun and forgetting what is going on in my life?
 
There is no right or wrong to any of the reasons we create art. When I am in the studio or out an about creating, I don't have anyone in mind, I don't create with the intention to put the piece up for sale.  I create for the joy, the experieince and the sheer enjoyment and pleasure of creating.  I personally think, for me, it takes the pressue off, it allows you the freedom to explore, break the rules, have fun, create without expectation.  If someone loves what I have created enough to purchase it, take it to their home and enjoy it, that is all I can ask for beyond my pleasure.    

Are you a creator or an admirer?  Leave your comments below.

Recently I was asked how many art classes I run. I totalled them up and this year it will be approximately 120 classes. I also attend classes weekly, sometimes if I can fit it in I will attend an extra class during the week.
Being up the front and running a class is very different than being a participant, that's for sure.

What I have learnt running the classes is everyone has their way of processing the reference they are replicating. Every person has their own style. You can have a room filled with ten people, all doing the same reference photo, yet, there are ten different interpretations. A part of the reason to factor in is experience. Art classes have a range of people with varying degrees of creating art. The main factor, I believe is our interpretation of the piece. There is no right or wrong, there is no good or bad. There is no perfect piece, there is no dreadful piece. 

When I sit as a student in an art class, I love the ability to learn from the teacher, experiment, practice and enjoy the process. Sometimes, my work at a class I would prefer to throw in the bin, yet I keep it to learn from it. I enjoy finding happy little accidents, solving problems and developing my skills for future work. I don't define myself by the work I produce in an art class.

I do see from time to time, a person wanting to replicate the reference photo exactly, like a photocopy. They admonish themselves for not doing it correctly or right. Occasionally, there are silent tears and bright red faces as the person tries their hardest to find perfectionism in art. Emotions come to the surface of "I'm not good enough", "my art needs to be perfect", and "everyone else is better than me". Negative self-talk that serves no purpose and is definitely no good.

Take Vincent van Gogh, one of the world's most renowned painters, yet he is synonymous with the term 'a tortured artist'. He died at the early age of 37 and sold only one painting. In ten years he produced almost 900 paintings and around 1100 works on paper.

Sadly, Vincent didn't get to see how some of his works are the most expensive in the world, his art style laid the foundation for future artists and he was one of the most influential artists in the history of art.

So, my biggest takeaway and advice if I may...... enjoy the class, learn the process, develop skills, use what you learn for future work and don't define your ability by what is done on the day. You do you, comparison kills creativity and joy.

What are your thoughts on comparison and self-talk? Share your thoughts and leave a comment below.

I remember years ago, I used to go to the hairdressers to get my hair streaked.  Sitting in front of the mirror with the cap on, hair pulled through tiny holes sticking out everywhere, it was an ugly sight. (i'm giving my age away!)
As I sat there waiting for the colour to develop I would put up with it knowing that when the cap came off, my colour would be vibrant and my hair would feel great.  Of course, there were many steps to getting my hair from looking like I had put my finger in an electric socket to coiffed and ready to take on the world with my new hairdo.  Can you relate?

So often in art classes, I hear from the room many times, OMG, this is ugly, followed by a big sigh.  Sometimes, I am asked for some more substrate to start again.  The fact is nothing is beautiful during a process.  Building a home, you start with an empty block, building on it and developing it over years to get it where it is today.  Baking a cake or cooking your favourite dish, you wouldn't eat part of it during the process, it would taste awful without all the ingredients put through the process.

The same is true when creating art.  It is a process, artwork has many layers to it.  Building on it, lovingly adding a brush mark here, a pen stroke there, mixing colours, adding subtracting, highlighting, toning down, mark making, pulling back.  All of the different components make up the work.  All artwork as with everything that has a process goes through an ugly stage. 

We wouldn't get up from the hairdresser chair and with the cap on and say "hey, this is ugly, I'm giving up on getting my hair done." or "Stop building my house, I wanted a landscape garden with a path to walk up to the front door, even though it's not there yet."  Get my drift? 

Art work is the same, it takes time, patience, perseverance, vision and faith.  Not every artwork will work out how you thought, it could work out even better.  If you give up, or walk away and not go back to it you will never know and you will never learn. 

I find if I am stuck and not sure what to do, I walk away for a little while and come back, looking at it with new eyes, a new perspective. I work through what I need to do to take it from the ugly stage to developing it further.  You never know you might just make your most perfect masterpiece if you work through the ugly stage. 

Does your artwork go through an ugly stage?  How do you overcome it?  Share your ideas and leave your comment below.  

The idea of every day being able to paint, create and live a stress free life is a picture of an idyllic world. My mind conjures up an art studio filled with canvases, paint brushes, old furniture and light streaming through an open window with a light breeze playing with the curtains that hang on either side. Ok, then I wake up to reality.  
Having an art business is not all art, there is so much more to running the business. Just like, any small business, you need to wear many hats throughout the day, week and month. Those hats vary from doing accounts, marketing, class planning, resource investigation, purchasing supplies, loading and unloading the car, driving to various venues, preparing and posting social media posts, writing blog posts and working with art class clients for the sessions. Boy, all this, plus more and I haven't even touched a paintbrush. 
I love all the moving parts that come with my art business, every day is varied and full of opposites. Creative to the mundane, silence and seclusion to chatter and people filled rooms.  

Generally, my week is dictated by my diary, where I will be, and what medium we are using in each class. My main priority is preparing for classes, I want to make sure I am prepared for each class, running over 120 classes a year takes a lot of organising. Once the classes are prepared, now I slot in all the other things on my to-do list. Some tasks are daily, some weekly and some monthly, it makes it easier to keep on top of all the little tasks that add up. 

I attend an art class myself, once a week, which helps me to keep developing my art. I also like to schedule my time to create and produce artwork for my open studios twice a year. Now, that is a whole other list.

Being able to block out time to create is so important to me now more than ever. I get to create what I want, and what I love and take my time. I savour every minute that I get to work on a piece that takes my mood and uses the medium that speaks to me on the day.

How do you prioritise your to do list to include creative time? Share your tips below in the comments. 
 
 
   

I remember as a small child the gift of a point and shoot camera, the type that had a flash cube click on top. ​Pocket money was saved up for the purchase of film and then developing. Being able to capture moments in time was thrilling to me. 

My love of photography continued into adult life when I completed a  photography course which also had a component for dark room developing.  
Nowadays, we are so lucky to have a camera with us wherever we venture.  Our phone can capture those moments in time. We can capture any exciting or beautiful inspiration right then and there.  

I take many photos when we are out and about.  It may be the perfect rose bloom, an unusual colour combination, a bike leaning against an old fence, a cloudy sky, some shadows playing amongst trees or the reflection in a pond.  If you look with art in mind, it is amazing you will find something for inspiration, everywhere.

At the art classes I run, I am often asked, where do I find ideas for my artwork.  The answer is everywhere.  I take photos when I am out and about, I save photos from the web, I cut out photos from magazines that have a colour, texture or design that speaks to me. Found objects such as shells, twigs and leaves are a particular favourite. All of these combined offer me inspiration for creating a new piece of artwork. One piece or many pieces together may spark an idea for an artwork, sometimes it could be a single word that carries me away.

​Where do you find inspiration?  Leave a comment below.
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To easel or not to easel, is the question today.  
When I got back into creating, I purchased a small desktop easel to hold my small canvases.  It was good enough; I didn't know if I was going to continue the creative journey when everything when back to "normal" so I went with a cheap and cheerful option which suited me at the time.   Within a few months, I realised the cheap and cheerful just wasn't cutting it, so ordered in a desktop easel which was so much better with larger canvases.  I soon learnt I much preferred standing to paint than sitting. 

A few more months later during one of the breaks in lockdown, my gorgeous hubby came home with a studio easel for me.  I love it and use it every day I am in the studio.  It is sturdy, holds large canvasses and is now covered in paint, I think the paint gives it character.

I found as my circumstances changed and also my painting style I needed a few different easels.  My larger desktop easel is still on hand for when I am sitting at my desk and creating, my studio easel is a must and I have a few portable easels I use for open studios and displays.  I have also been using the portable tripod to take to my art classes. 

The tripod easel I have been taking to various classes is great, yet it is bulky to leave in the boot of the car. I had been eyeing off on Amazon a tripod easel with a shelf etc. (pictured).  So last week I ordered it, and it arrived 2 days later. I was pleased to see it fits in a small bag and is so light and versatile. I can now use it at my art classes, along with en plein air excursions and also painting demonstrations.

You don't need to be like me and have multiple easels, pick one that suits your needs, ask yourself, will I be painting on paper or canvas?  Will I be creating large or small pieces? Do I need to incorporate storage?  Does it need to be portable?   Can I leave it up or do I need to pack it away?  Do I like working on an easel or on the table? What type of medium will I be using?

Once you have answered these simple questions you will have a better understanding of your easel requirements.    You can check out some of my favourite tools and a couple of easels. 

How do you like to work?  Leave a comment below.
  

A few years ago, I did a course on using a limited palette.  I found it to be a stretch initially using just a few colours and black and white.  
So what is a limited palette? Imagine you're baking biscuits, but you only have a few ingredients in your pantry. A limited palette in art is like that, it's when you choose to work with only a small set of colours instead of having every colour available, just like having only a few ingredients for your biscuits.
So, instead of using every colour in your art supplies kit, you might pick just three or four main colours, like red, blue, yellow, and maybe white.  I also like to have black or Payne's Grey.  With these colours, you can mix and blend them together to create all sorts of new and exciting colours.
Working with a limited palette is a fun challenge. It helps you focus on learning how colours work together and how to mix them just right to get the shades you want. Plus, it can make your artwork look really harmonious and cohesive because all the colours are related to each other, just like all the ingredients in your biscuits work together to make them taste great!
One of the main reasons I love to work with a limited palette, it makes me stretch myself with blending colours to get just what I need and want for a particular piece.
The photo of a work in progress in this post is using a limited palette of cobalt blue, Payne's grey, cadmium yellow and burnt sienna with white for adjusting tones.  Mixing colour with a limited palette is one of my favourite ways to paint.  

If you are just starting out, you can start with a few colours and mix your colours without buying every tube on the shelf!

So, think of a limited palette as your artistic recipe. You might not have every colour in the world, but with a little mixing and experimenting, you can create something really special!

​You can find some of my favourite tools here 
If you have favourite colours you use in a limited palette, why not share them in the comments below.

I am an all or nothing type of person.  When I start a new hobby or project I seem to swamp myself with he must haves and a few might grabs. I can't help myself.  
​There are a few essential items to have in your kit if you are planning to start creating. 

Instead of starting on canvases there is the option to start in sketchbooks/journals or pads. Not only is it cost effective, as someone that is starting our you are more likely to experiment and have fun than worry about wasting a canvas.
  
A few quality pencils starting with a HB and then a range from 2H to 6B is a terrific starting point and often can be purchased in packs. A kneadable eraser and a rubber eraser are also ideal to have on hand.  

For those wanting to explore painting a basic brush set is indispensable. Include a variety of sizes and types such as  filbert, round, flat to give you different brush strokes. A couple of palette knives are also a worth while investment.  You can buy packs of brushes with a few palette knives to give you a reasonable variety of tools. 

Choose your medium, do you want to use watercolour, acrylics or gouache?  Start with a basic colour palette of your chosen paint, this will inspire your to mix your colours and experiment.  You can always upgrade the quality and colour range as you become more comfortable. 

You don't have to spend big on palettes and cups.  I use recycled food jars for my water cups and a plastic palette.  I also use a perfect for me size cardboard and tape greaseproof paper to it.  This is perfect for acrylic paints and for watercolour I have an old plate.  One tip I do have is try and work on a whit palette so you don't change the look of the colour you are mixing by the distraction of another colour or a pattern. The photo above is of my mixing palette using the greaseproof paper. 

Finally, learning resources are something to tap into.  I run over 80 classes a year if you live near my studio or use the internet and check out some of the great resources on Youtube.

There you have it, you can get creating on a small budget and enjoy the process.  I have put together, my favourite tools as a starting point, if you are not sure where to start.

Do you have your favourite tools you would like to share?  Leave a comment below.   

I love painting, I love sketching and I love spending time in my art shed.  As soon as hubby heads off for golf with his buddy's, I have whipped open the door of the studio before he has even reached the end of the driveway.  There is something about having no one around, no distractions, no noise, nothing for me to even think about. 

I open my sketchbook and lose myself in the pages.  sometimes I decide to use watercolour, other times acrylics or there are times I delve into the art supplies and enjoy the freedom of mixed media. There is no rhyme or reason to what medium I choose.  Sometimes, I flit between sketchbooks,  Just the other day, I went from sketchbook watercolour (the photo is the end result of my sketch book watercolour) to a canvas using bold vibrant colours with impasto medium.  As one part dried I worked on the other.
  
Can you believe three hours had passed by without me even knowing it. There is something said about immersing yourself in art.  For me I go to a place where worries, sadness, hurt, frustration and negative thoughts don't live.  This is a place that is void of negativity and a place where time stands still. This is a place that time forgot and peace exudes. 
Does art give you a happy place?  Does art give you a sense of peace that can reinvigorate you and send you back into the world refreshed and positive?

​Leave your comments below and let me know what art does for you and if you can relate,  

In the art classes I run, I use photographs and artwork for students as inspiration. It is easier as a student to have a reference shot to learn techniques and to develop skills.

So what if you are no longer a student and now creating your own artwork, can you still use reference shots?

When you stumble upon a stunning artwork or photo that speaks to you, it can spark a flood of creative ideas. It might ignite your imagination, to assist you in developing your own unique creation.
You may draw on elements of the reference be it the colours, composition, theme, or mark making and reshaping them through your eye and interpretation. 

When coming to creating your own artwork it is about making something that is uniquely your own. In the realm of creativity, using a photo or artwork for inspiration can be powerful as a reference for your own imaginative journey.
It is about interpreting, reimagining, and creating something that has your stamp of style, voice and take on the piece. 

Personally, one of my favourite things to paint is flowers in vases.  Whilst I may look at a van Gough for inspiration, for his use of light, colour and texture, I don't want to recreate his piece, I can do that with a photocopier or camera.  I do however, want to look at his work and identify some of his prowess with the brush strokes, colour, texture and light, even seeing how I can incorporate some of his elements into my piece. 

Although imitation is the highest form of flattery, true creativity lies not in replication but in the ability to weave inspiration into something uniquely your own. No to mention, copyright laws. 

I once knew a lady who spent so much time talking about how little time she had that she never actually got anything done.  We all have the same mount of time in our day 1440 minutes to be precise.   It is how we choose to use those minutes which makes a difference. 

Personally, I am a paper diary gal, I write everything in it and schedule time for particular tasks. Yes, I schedule medical appointments, classes I run, business tasks, cleaning the house and also studio or painting time. I also have non-negotiable times which often my painting or studio time falls into that category.  Non-negotiable means it must be something super important for me to schedule over that time.

If your hobby of art is important to you, you will schedule in time to spend pursuing it.  It may be as little as  30 or 40  minutes a day. The first step is giving ourselves permission to take the time to enjoy our hobby,  I don't know about you, as I was growing up the fun stuff could only be done when the work was finished.  Our brains have been programmed to allow ourselves pleasurable pursuits after the work, chores and responsibilities have been completed. Guess what?  They never end, they never are completed so we don't end up enjoying our hobby, art, painting, knitting or any other hobby.

Think about the last time you "indulged" in your hobby or a pleasurable pursuit. How did it make you feel? Did you feel calmer, less stressed and revitalised?  If like me, the answer is yes, this is the time to grab that diary, planner, phone and schedule in the time to enjoy your hobby.  You are no good to anyone else or yourself if you are frazzled, stressed or feeling down.  

Making our art or hobby a priority is helping ourselves to a better, less stressed and more rounded life.

Leave a comment below on how you prioritise your time to pursue your hobby or what you plan to do now.  I would love to see your ideas. 
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I opened my first business when I was in my late teens/early twenties. I loved it and it gave me the taste of entrepreneurship from a young age. Fast forward to today and I have navigated the corporate world for quite a few years, owned and operated several businesses, and was on the board and president of a radio station. In each of these roles and businesses, it taught me to review.  

Goals are great to have both personally and professionally but we need to know where we have come from, where we are now and what worked and didn't work. 

Toward the end of December of 2023, I sat down and wrote a list to wrap up my year. It wasn't until I started checking my diary, checking my notes and really drilling down to see what I had achieved over the last twelve months. 

We can get so caught up in the day to day over our business, craft or lives that we forget what we did often without thinking about it and sometimes in adversary. Putting pen to paper and really thinking through achievements, processes and highlights can be quite eye-opening.   
I for one, was pleasantly surprised at my achievements through 2023. Once I had a gauge on 2023, I was ready to put my plan together for 2024.

Do you review and reset or do you leave it to chance? Leave your comments below.