Winter Solstice - A Painting & A Poem
Inspired by the shortest day of the year. And now the light starts to tiptoe back in.
Little Treasures
Simple pleasures.
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.
Abstract
I spend a lot of my time in my day job as an event manager having to be very precise with logistics and planning. I find it very satisfying putting everything in order. But the other side of my personality is messy and free-flowing. Illustration and writing feeds this to a certain extent but drawing the picture book for example still needs an element of structure. This is why abstract painting is something I often come back to. I start with an empty page and watercolours, acrylics, washi tapes and pens and just see what comes. I'm a big fan of using words in art and at the moment I often find myself inspired by one word which I'll meditate on so it can become colours and patterns.
This one is inspired by the word 'resonate'. If you fancy, why not create something yourself inspired by that word too and share it with me on Twitter or Instagram.
Sunday Sketching
You can only just see the start of my sketch in this photograph but there is nothing quite like a quiet hour of drawing or painting to start a Sunday. My 'studio' is actually my coffee table in my lounge but it doesn't matter, I get as absorbed there as I would in a real art studio. With toast and Mary Anne Hobbs on the radio for company it's the perfect way to wake up.
Happy Halloween Little Pumpkins!
Sometimes when you've got a long to-do list and know the day is going to be full of juggling tasks, it's nice to get a little time out before you start. So I got up a little bit early today to give myself 20 minutes to paint. I've been drawing digitally a lot lately and felt the need to see paint on a page again. I had the radio for company and a good coffee from the cafe down the road and just 20 minutes made me feel as relaxed as if it was a Sunday : )
Happy Halloween to all little pumpkins!
National Gallery
When I get the occasional week day off of work I love to have a quiet stroll around an art gallery. Week days are less busy and it's easier to linger over the paintings. The below picture was taken in the National Gallery. It amazes me that we are lucky enough to just wander in to see such masterpieces for free.
Watercolour Classes
A couple of months ago I took myself along to a watercolour class organised by the lovely Emily Quinton from Makelight at her wonderful studio. The class was led by Emma Block whose work I have admired on Instagram for a while (see below for an example of her lovely posts). Emma taught us about how to mix colours, which pigments work well with others and why. We also learnt about different techniques to achieve different effects, such as putting water on the page first or using a dry brush.
Since trying the class I've applied the techniques I learnt every time I paint. It's made me feel more confident and I've experimented more with new ideas. And I had a lovely day meeting some fellow creatives and eating cake : )
For information about Emma's classes, click here. For information about Emily's classes, click here. I'd really recommend both.
Marloes De Vries
When I was starting on my own illustration path, Marloes De Vries was one of the first illustrators who inspired me on social media. Her style showed me a new little creative world that I didn't know existed. I knew I wanted to draw and paint but hadn't thought about how light and fun illustration could be.
Marloes journals her own life through drawings and paints with a beautiful palette. This morning she posted a sweet little video on Instagram, showing her process for painting a flourishing greenhouse. Below is my attempt at something similar.
Welcome to The Quiet Life
Welcome to The Quiet Life. I wanted to create a quiet place to counterbalance the busy nature of life today. This blog will slowly fill up with little things I find that make me happy, pretty things, interviews with creatives, writing, photographs, newly discovered music, films to help you switch off and a glimpse into creative projects. I hope that you find it a calm, relaxing place to enjoy a little bit of the quiet life too.
