Winter Solstice - A Painting & A Poem
Inspired by the shortest day of the year. And now the light starts to tiptoe back in.
Sunday Song - This Is The Point
My sister brought this beautiful song by Alex Cornish to my attention as we drove back from Cornwall. I love the simple nostalgia of the lyric, “I was in the crowd with you.” It inspired me to paint as soon as I got home.
Sunday Song - I See You
This song opened the Art Is Everywhere show this weekend and is 8 minutes of retro loveliness. It’s exceptional on headphones. You can see my piece of art inspired by it below the video.
Art Is Everywhere
This weekend Maryanne Hobbs hosted her wonderful annual Art Is Everywhere show dedicated to creativity. Listeners are encouraged to make art while they listen to the music and interviews with inspiring artists. This year’s show included conversations with Blondey McCoy, Will Gompertz and Martin Parr. I was particularly swept away by a piece with Kate Tempest talking about how she became inspired by William Blake. In her words, “I was meant to discover this person’s poetry…”
Below is one of the pieces I submitted on Twitter during the show.
National Portrait Gallery
I can’t walk past the National Portrait Gallery without popping in. How wonderful to see such masterpieces so easily. These two particularly caught my eye today.
Tools
It doesn't take much to create happiness : )
Brush Lettering
Easing into the New Year with a little brush lettering. It's such a calming and meditative way to give me time to stop and think about what I'd like to achieve creatively in 2018. I did a course with Quill London which was a lovely relaxing way to learn. If you're London based, I highly recommend them.
Experiments In Watercolour
This is a little corner of one of the mini abstracts in my watercolour sketchbook. I've mentioned before how therapeutic I find drawing or painting and playing with watercolours is a wonderful meditation. I am learning about how the paints behave with more or less water. And letting them seep into each other teaches me to relinquish control and to let the painting be what it wants to be.
A Piece Of Art - Christopher Wool
I absolutely love the simplicity and complexity of this piece of art by Christopher Wool.
Skating & Creating
"Everyone is an artist until they stop playing. That’s all it is. Art is just play." - Ed Templeton
I was introduced to Ed Templeton's photography and art by an old friend who taught me a lot about how creative skateboarders can be. I love Ed's spirit and tenacity and the creative connection he has with his wife Deanna. This is why I was intrigued to see him featured in this trailer on the Huck Magazine website this week. A teacher, Kelli Watson, has created a documentary about the connection between skaters and art which is being launched later this month. It should be a good watch.
You only have to spend five minutes watching the skaters on the Southbank to understand their tenacity and singlemindedness. It makes complete sense to me that this partners perfectly with the creative mind.
