We are very fortunate to have a fantastic little art shop here in Singleton aptly named “That Little Art Place”. It has an amazing range of products at very reasonably prices, and the owner Lisa is so supportive and generous. They recently ran a competition for artists again aptly name “Peepers” for which we were supplied with a little gessoed panel with our brief which was to create eyes using the medium of our choice. I of course left it until the night before deadline and had little time to spare and little to lose so decided to throw something together using my amazing Liquitex Acrylic Inks. The art gods must have been smiling on me that night because the result just seemed to flow so easily from me and without boasting too much I do loooove my little eyes... I gave them the title “Behind The Masquerade” because many of us (me) have learnt to hide the pain we feel inside by putting on a bright and happy persona… I did it for oh so many years. I will never forget one Christmas the place I worked at did this lovely thing where they sent a card for each staff member to all the other staff members and we had to write something nice about each recipient in their card… it was a lovely idea. When I received mine it was full of messages like… so bright and cheerful, always happy, always smiling. Little did they know how desperately unhappy I was.
But I think, underneath the brave and happy smiling face, behind the masquerade, the eye’s always tell the story and I think I captured that in my painting which is what I like most about it. Take the time to look into the eyes of those you care about when you casually ask them how they’re going… that’s where the true answer lies. Then, if you don’t see that happy sparkle.. you know, the one that can only come from a truly happy heart... ask again. Oh and a nice little footnote… I sold my little eyes to the lovely Lisa at “That Little Art Place” who loved them too and will display them in her shop if you want to see :) Thanks for all your support and encouragement Lisa xx
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Phew… I loved my 50th birthday celebrations but it’s also nice to be over that particular hill so to speak :) Aaaah… time to paint again and get on with living my dreams. As I mentioned in previous posts I rather ambitiously (and insanely:) signed up for three E-courses by my three fave artists all at once and have been frantically trying to keep up with each for the past 6 or 8 weeks. I firstly completed Kelly Rae Roberts Hello Soul Hello Mixed Media Mantras which I looooved, then began Tracy Verdugo’s Paint Mojo and Flora Bowley’s Bloom True E-Course’s, both of which I’m about half way through, again I am just loving every ounce of both these course. I’m learning soooo much, artistically and personally. Kelly Rae, Tracy and Flora are not only amazing artists, they are also such beautiful, creative, passionate, inspiring, ambitious, kind and giving souls. Their presence in my life right now is pure joy and divine timing... thank you again universe. So besides partying :) here’s what I've been up to of late… Lots and lots of layering and letting go. No plan, no expectations, no mistakes. Nothing but me, my paint and my fave music… bliss!!! Ps. I feel the need to mention... none of these are anywhere near finished... all 5 of my current works are very much still in various stages of "the middle", as cleverly depicted in the illustration below which I can very much relate to! Except mine would be much much longer. Also known as 'the ugly teenage stage'... because every painting (and everyone :) goes through it. Lots of noticing and sketching the world around me… shapes, colours, lines, the micro and macro. Wow… loving this!! We overlook and take sooooo much for granted. There really is magic and inspiration all around when we remember to look for it...
Lots of other fun creative stuff... Not much time for much else… I promise my crazy layering techniques will morph into ‘something’ in the coming weeks. I have no idea what which is what makes it so fun and exciting. Stay tuned :) Oh and I've sold some paintings at my exhibition at Gimelli Estate which is major exciting!!! Including this one to a lady holidaying from the USA who loved my art and is having it shipped back home… how good is that?! :) October certainly has been kind to me. Life is good :) something I don’t take for granted and am truly grateful for. I hope November is equally kind to you too.
Yes… apparently I turned 50 last weekend. I don’t feel it and I’m told I don’t look it but we celebrated it anyway. It was very nice… a little gathering of 20 close family and friends for a relaxed Sunday lunch at my very fave WOW Café and Floristry (where I work). Delicious gourmet finger foods, surrounded in flowers, red polka dot cushions and lots of bubbles of course… very me! Plus a few lovely dinner dates with those who couldn’t make it. It was a really really lovely week. I feel blessed and younger if anything… I received so many beautiful compliments and kind words. And I found the most perfect little sun dress to wear (cause that’s most important :)… the print was so lovely and painterly, I was even asked if I had designed it myself. Here’s a few pics… As far as turning 50 goes… I feel better now within myself than I have for soooo many years so I really don’t mind what number is attached to my life. What is much more important to me is that I find a way to take all the amazing lesson’s I've learnt from the last 50 years and use them to make the most of the next 50 (and beyond :) and along the way help as many others as I can to do the same.
I've been through and overcome some pretty rough times but looking back now I wouldn't change any of it… it’s been my journey and those were the lessons I needed to learn to finally find myself and create my own happiness instead of relying on someone else. I won’t settle for anything less than what is right for me now. It seems my life at the moment is a lot like my paintings… a blank canvas, my boys are always the first layer but after that I have no idea how it will end up… I’ve learnt to be ok with that which feels amazing! Each day is another layer filled with beautiful possibility. I just have to keep adding layers, let go of expectations, enjoy the process and trust that in the end something beautiful will emerge. I can do that! It’s very exciting! Thanks so much to all of my wonderful lovelies who made me feel so special this week. Bring on the next 50 I say! |
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