Painting Summer

After a rather wet Summer here, I sit at my easel and I'm noticing that Autumn is approaching; creeping in quietly and unobtrusively.  I notice in a sudden gust of wind a spiral of crisp leaves whirling to the ground.  I see that it's ever so slightly darker than usual in the mornings when we get up, and there's a chill come early evening.

September also sees the little people toddling off to school again, and a wistful feeling pervades the air.  I was in Brighton recently and walked past WH Smiths, I was instantly transported back in time to my own childhood; the smell of that shop reminds me of going to buy new pencil cases and pens, ring binder folders and wrapping paper to cover our exercise books with.  September is very much a time of New Beginnings, and with my girl back at school now, I can turn my attention to my painting again, and capture the essence of Summer on my mini canvas work.  My latest piece is this ever so tiny offering (above) ~ just 9 x 7cm!  It's called 'Cream Tea' and depicts the perfect scenario of a jam and clotted cream scone overlooking a sparkling turquoise sea.

Over the last few weeks, I've had the pleasure of creating several mini canvas commission pieces featuring things all seaside related - so to remind you of warm days with toes in the sand and boats on the ocean, here are a few of them for you to see:



Tea by the Sea



Camper Van



Lighthouse and Boat

So, with the wee one back in school, Im settling into my own routine again.  I've been updating my website a bit and I've finally got a gloriously colourful gallery store front which I'm chuffed to bits with!  I hope you like it too :)



I find now and then, that I'll have a burst of ideas, and they present themselves at the strangest moments when I've no way of doing anything with them.  The idea to do this to my web shop happened when I was 100 metres up the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.



The children thought the glass floor was a hoot by the way...



...yes, those small things below really are boats.

But anyway - what to do when inspiration strikes and you can't act on it straight away?

I creatively percolate it.

This means day dreaming about my idea regularly, and by doing this,  it gives it the capacity to grow and transform into something bigger and better.

I also write my ideas down in a small book.  This is very useful for me to come back to, as it captures the essential buzz I had about the idea in the first place and gives me a starting point to work from when time has passed and the idea has become a little fuzzy around the edges, or even forgotten.  It's also a positive way of recording things that I can't get to do right off, and that feel important.  It's easy to feel frustrated or impatient when you can't work on your Next Big Thing right off, so harness that energy and use it to creatively percolate your idea instead.  You can use this energy to shape your idea into something bigger and brighter and all you need invest is just a few minutes doing so.  Your imagination is a poweful tool and you can use it to expand and change your vision into anything you want.  You'll know you're on the right track because you'll get that fizzy feeling of excitement in your belly about it.

Using these tools, the web page I finally designed was something much better than what I first pictured.

Try it.

One last thing before I go ~ many thanks to all of you who answered my short survey which appeared on the last blog post, Im very grateful that you took the time to do that and appreciate your feedback.

See you all soon,