Sea Salty Air :: Part 1

Sometimes I feel a yearning for the coast.  The lure of sea salty air, the call of gulls and distant blue horizons prove too much to resist, and so we fill the car and head off to our beautiful Yorkshire coast.  We can be there in just under two hours on a good day, and so it doesn't seem too far to travel, to quench that longing, that thirst that I have to be near to the sea.

Robin Hood's Bay was our destination this time, my favourite little jewel of a place on the east coast.  We were very lucky this time that our visit included a stay in a comfortable Bed and Breakfast with breathtaking views of the bay - a special treat to celebrate our daughter's 7th birthday no less.  Waking up to the cry of seabirds, a glittering sea and a brilliant blue sky was a tonic for the soul, not to mention a delicious home cooked breakfast, rustled up from the tastiest local ingredients.

Robin Hood's Bay, for those of you not familar with the place is a gem of a place steeped in history and legend.  Tiny fishermen's cottages with their cheery terracotta roof tiles, tumble down the steep incline of a hill towards the tiny slipway at the bottom.  Apparently in days gone by, Robin Hood's Bay was a smuggling hot spot, and apparently a bolt of silk could make its way from the bottom of the village to the top without ever leaving a house.  It is exciting to imagine the secret underground passages that linked the little houses in the olden days, and the people who used them to transport their contraband.
 

The houses here are an artist's dream!  Climbing roses smother the old stone walls and hidden pathways with street names, lead to tiny doors and hidden gardens.  There are enticing glimpses into windows; a table laid for supper, candles flickering in glass votives, a bottle of wine and a fresh rustic loaf in a bread basket...buckets and spades litter the doorways, and the scent of an outdoor barbecue fills the air with mouth watering aromas.

I think I could quite happily live here!

There's much more to tell, but I'll save these bits to share with you soon; think boats, beaches, coffee and cake, heavenly peeks into shop windows and other delightful coastal details that I noticed on my wanderings.

See you again soon.
J xxx

A New Start

Hello friends,

I'm really not sure where the last few months have gone - to find myself in May already, and realise that my last blog post was way back in February is pretty mind boggling to say the least.

In case you've been wondering where I've been, and what I've been up to then let me fill you in.

I have been spending alot of my down time taking some e-courses; including Holly Becker's Blogging Your Way (BYW) which has just concluded, and the Lilla Rogers MATS Bootcamp, which I'm working on now - the artwork below is part of our current assignment which is for an editorial on meditation.

BYW is really very good; I wasn't sure what I'd glean from it, but considering I felt that my blogging mojo had taken a pretty long hike with no forseeable return date, I figured there was probably something I could learn from it, and I absolutely did!!  I'd highly recommend Holly's course for anyone who feels remotely stuck or bored with their blogging efforts.  It's also for people who want to tidy up their blogs and learn exciting tips and techniques for making their blogs stand out from the crowd.

As well as this, I've been busy working away behind the scenes, boosting my portolio with some much needed new art work (see top for new birthday card art) for which I have some new plans for.  I'm also working with a talented graphic designer on some proper grown up branding, which I am really excited about!

In the middle of my blogging hiatus, I turned 41, and decided that I really needed to invest more energy into my dreams and making them real.  Being one of lifes natural dreamers, Im easily seduced into rolling with what life offers and being happy with that, but now, I feel that I'm at a point in my life where I'd like to make some big leaps of faith.

So, together with some creative friends and the help of this book we've decided to start working on some goal setting and I'm immersing myself into learning about creative business more deeply.  I think 2014 is turning into a year of self education!!  My friends and I have agreed to provide mentoring and support for one another, and it's really postive to know they're there behind the scenes to listen and help because stepping out of my comfort zone isn't always going to be easy.

I'm really happy to be back here, blogging again.  Look forward to sharing so much more with you all.

J x

Something Different

 

 



Hello

 

It's been a bit of a while since I last did a post, but new things have been unfolding, something new which I'm finding oh so very exciting and I'm going to tell you all about it today.

 

An email plopped into my inbox a few weeks ago, from Lilla Rogers.  For those of you who are not familiar with this super creative lady, she is the owner of a rather marvellous art licensing agency in the USA, and as well as looking after some top class artists with amazing portfolios, she has also created some fabulous courses for artists of all levels, to help them tap into new ideas and discover hidden potential.

 

So, I read this email with some interest...a Make Art That Sells Bootcamp was being advertised, running for several months over which several assignments would be launched.  It sounded fun.  I read the email through, toyed with the possibility of signing up and then forgot about it.

 

And then the day before it was due to start, I noticed the email, still sitting there in my inbox.  And I clicked on it again and read it and sat staring at the screen, thinking.

 

I decided, upon a bit of an impulse, to sign up.

 

Like a breath of fresh air, the following morning the first mini assignment arrived.  I felt a bit giddy - it was kind of like being back at school and having a teacher tell you what you needed to be doing.  There would be research and sketches, deadlines and a gallery to post work to...my goodness, it had been so many moons since I had done anything like this, and in a way I felt I was crossing the line of my comfort zone, moving away from the familiarity of coastal paintings and cheery harbour scenes to...

 

....cuckoo clocks.

 

Yes.

 

I didn't see that one coming, but none the less I settled down to pore over Pinterest and find out a bit more about these pretty clocks.

 

The emphasis of this course is FUN.  We are encouraged to leave any notion of making sales (at the moment) right at the door, and just play around with images, make really crappy doodles and just see where the pen takes us.

 

I filled in quite a few sheets of such drawings, and amazed myself with what evolved.

Truth be told, it had been rather a long time since I sat down and drew for fun, with no other agenda and it was a very relaxing and inspiring experience.  How on earth had I forgotten how to do this?? When had I let my work become so organised and structured?  Oh my, this course was only in the first week yet already it was opening me up to lots of new thoughts and pathways.

 

Instead of reaching for my paints, I dug out my marker pens and a Bristol Board and got to work - sorry, play.  I had decided on a woodland theme, and took it from there, just drawing and letting the pen roam about the paper until something took shape that I liked.

 

On week 2, the main assignment arrived, and we were told that we had to design a mobile phone case using our images.  I had great fun messing about in Pic Monkey and my Photoshop Elements programs tweaking my designs and I confess right now that I more or less fumbled my way along doing this, learning as I went.  I'm by no way an expert in any of these editing programs but by jove, it was brilliant!

 

So, the pictures above are of some of my efforts, the one on the left being pretty near as damn it to finished, and the one I will be submitting to the online course gallery to show.

 

I'll keep you all posted on my assignments as they unfold.

 

Another nice bit of news is that I finally have limited edition prints available of two lovely paintings.  Home, and Holy Island are now available in my new look gallery shop, both in runs of 100.  They are professionally printed onto Hahnemuhle German Etching paper and the feedback I've had so far from my customers about them has been fantastic.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming to visit me today, I'm always pleased that you do.

See you next time.

J x