Sea Breezes, Salty Air and a Lightbulb Moment

Hello friends,

It's been a while since I did a blog post but here I am again, finally!  We've been enjoying the half term holiday which flew by and we made the most of it by pootling south to see my sister.

On Saturday, we went to Aldeburgh in Suffolk.  Aldeburgh is a very pretty seaside town full of gorgeous old ice-cream coloured buildings that cluster along the edge of a very pebbly shore.  There are little black wooden shacks that sell fish fresh in from the boats, and some of these boats sit in a tipsy fashion on the pebbles surrounded by nets and lobster pots.

There was a fine sea breeze blowing when we arrived and the sky was a bleached white filled with large scudding grey clouds and the odd shaft of pearly gold sunlight.  Lone gulls circled above the fish huts and called out from high above.  It is music to the soul to hear a gull cry after many months of being restless inland.

Whilst the Smalls amused themselves chucking big stones into the waves, I wandered off to ponder the old boats that had been left to the mercy of the elements.  I like to get close and see all the different textures of the peeling paint, the colours, the layers, the rust and the erosion.

 

It was during my solitary wander that I got around to a bit of Thinking.  Over the last few weeks, I've been feeling increasingly flat (one of the reasons I haven't blogged to tell you the truth).  I couldn't work out why; I mean I was happy enough in general but it felt like something was missing and I felt as though I were drifting. 

I spoke to a fellow artist friend about it and he told me that as a single Dad he'd had a similar experience - all those years looking after a Small quite intently without a minute to call your own and then suddenly they're away to school and BAM, there you are, you get a big chunk of your life back to do with what you will.  In so many words he told me that this flat period was quite natural after the full on nature of being a full time parent non stop for four years, and he had a point.  It was almost like my body and mind were telling me 'OK - stop - you can relax now' but I was (foolishly) ignoring it.  Anyone with a child or children of their own will know how amazingly rewarding being a parent is but they will also know that it is a journey that shifts, changes and evolves all the time.  It can be tiring, testing and unpredictable but you go non stop, 24/7, without question.

And it all made sense.  I understood that I hadn't given myself the space to really unwind from that, and I saw that I needed time to re-adjust and to gently work out what to do next.  I looked back over the last few weeks and realised how BUSY I had kept myself, but despite that busyness hadn't really ACHIEVED much.  I had become exceptional at creating BUSYNESS, and I had become the worlds best procrastinator.

I was running away from all the empty space that my daughter had left behind, and I was terrified of facing my life head on again and reclaiming that time as my own.

It was time to stop procrastinating and get my joy back.  As I listened to the seagulls calling in that February sky I decided it was time to create purpose and direction in my life again.

 

So when we came home and Small went back to school, I took myself off into town for a Focus Meeting.  That sounds really important and business like but to tell you the truth my solo Focus Meetings rock; they take place in bookstore coffee shops, involve big mugs of coffee, lunch in delicious veggie cafes and visits to local galleries.  I took a sketchbook, fineliners and a pencil and wrote stuff down.  I asked myself questions and I wrote everything down.  I came to the conclusion that I would be happiest right now creating a new portfolio of work for my agent.  I would fill my days with stuff that filled me up but I wouldn't overwhelm myself in the process; my days would have structure and meaning and I'd achieve stuff without running myself into the ground. 

I can really recommend a Focus Meeting to anyone who feels a bit stuck in life, just make sure you wear something cheerful to remind you to keep it fun; it will also help the inspiration to flow if you're feeling marvellous.  Find a nice cafe to sit in, treat yourself and take yourself to places that will delight and inspire you.

Red shoes for me are pretty much essential on a Focus Meeting day...

...as is staring happily at ocean coloured waterfalls.

For the first time in a while, I have a purpose of my own.  It feels kind of nice, like putting on a comfy pair of shoes.  I feel like I'm doing what I ought to be doing, and I feel optimistic and vibrant, excited about the future.  I still love my role as Mum and unmarried housewife ;) but I'm now, at last, enjoying doing stuff for me too.

 

 

Julia x

Seedheads and Boats ~ A New Painting

'Seedheads and Boats' acrylic on paper ~ 34cm x 34cm


Hello friends,

I've just had the nicest possible morning ~ I managed to get a little time to myself in which to finish this painting that I've been working on in fits and starts over the summer.  It seems a long time ago since I began this one, and if you recall, it all started with a little drawing in my sketchbook...

I had been happily inspired by a book I had purchased round about this time called Plants and Places by the talented print maker, Angie Lewin.  I have long been a fan of her work and had coveted this book for ages before it finally came to live with me.  There is page upon page of her print work, featuring her trademark seedheads and other native flora; and peeks into her sketchbook which are themselves beyond beautiful.

I myself have rather a love affair with the latter end of summer, when the dry stone walls here become fantastically enhanced by the skeletal shapes of teasels and cow parsley.  I've been known to stop the car suddenley on quiet country lanes to collect small armfuls of them to bring home and draw.

So anyway, I think what I'm getting round to saying is that Angie's book was the catalyst for this particular painting.  I decided I wanted to paint a late summer window scene with found objects from the shore on the ledge, overlooking a harbour.  I also wanted to focus (unusually for me) on a limited colour palette.  The colours I worked with mainly on this painting were:

Titanium White
Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Paynes Grey
Cobalt Blue (hue)
Buff Titanium
Cobalt Teal
Cadmium Red

These paints are from the Daler Rowney Artist Acrylics, and Golden Acrylics ranges. 

 

I also use Derwent watercolour crayons to add texture and detail.

As the painting progressed, I was reminded of a time I had spent in St Ives one October a few years ago.  We stayed in a little fisherman's cottage just up from the harbour, and although there were still plenty of people about, the town seemed much quieter since the summer hoardes had returned home.  It also had a beautiful light to it.  I remember there being a warmth to the days too, warm enough to sit down the harbour and catch the sun, but which turned to an unmistakeable autumnal coolness come teatime.

I hope I've managed to convey a feeling of this time of year in this painting.  

As well as using my imagination to create the layout and Angie's book as inspiration, I also wandered down the riverbank beyond my house to collect some real seedheads to use in the work (alongside the ones I had drawn in my sketchbook).  It was a bonus to discover a huge undiscovered bank of blackberry bushes as I went foraging and I shall be going back down there later on with a big bowl to fill up!! I feel a blackberry and apple tarte tatin coming on!! (something else that is very much a part of this time of year).

So once more I am at the point of feeling euphoric that another work is done, but am also on the brink of 'what next?'  It's a bitter sweet feeling to complete a painting; I've probably said so a hundred times but the journey through a painting is so deep and involved, there are highs and lows, there are absences and intense periods spent together...it is really like a love affair and I miss it when the journey is over.

However, I have a few small ideas I'm keen to start on so the fact I have projects lined up is a good thing at least!  I recently ordered some tiny canvas boards and have Great Plans for those, not to mention designs for new Christmas cards which are already happily percolating away!

 

The painting will be available shortly in my gallery, in both original and printed format. 
I hope you all have a glorious weekend, sending love and thanks for visiting ~

Julia x x x

Seaside Sketchbook

'The One That Got Away' ~ Watercolour on Paper

Hello!

I thought I'd take five minutes to share some of the sketches from my holiday with you (and work done at home inspired by my travels), as promised in my last post.  

 

I tend to carry a small hard backed sketch book with me in my bag most of the time (either a small moleskine or A6 Daler Rowney), along with a pencil and fine line waterproof black pen (a Staedler number 01), so that I can catch interesting moments that might make for good paintings later on.

 

Do you remember the photograph I took of the harbour wall in Falmouth in my Holiday Post?  Here it is:

 

I drew the above sketch whilst waiting for a little boat to take us back to St Mawes, just before it started to rain!

Drawing in a sketch book has the same ability to transport me back to a place in time as does a favourite tune.  I can recall sounds, atmosphere, scents, how I was feeling, and the weather just by looking through my sketches.  

These little boats were drawn from our car, parked up above the beach at Portreath.  It had lashed it down with  monsoonal style rain all morning and we had taken our wee girl to 'Build a Bear' as the beach was out of the question.  After this, we drove the odd mile or so to the coast and after we had finished our picnic, all huddled in a steamy damp car (no, not the nicest of scenarios!), the rest of our little party, wrapped up in waterproofs,  took her down on the sand to look for shells.  The rain had turned to drizzle with a blustery wind by this point, and I remember making the most of ten minutes solitude to capture a couple of little boats in my book, that I could see out the window to my right.


Looking at this sketch now, I also remember armies of dark grey clouds marching heavily across the horizon, and the sea was leaden and dark, with a bright aquamarine band on the shoreline.  Raindrops spattered across the car windscreen, and gulls shreiked and harassed the occasional huddled figures of tourists, who seemed intent on making the best of it despite the soggy conditions.


When I came home, I used the sketch above to do a sunnier painting:

I like turning something 'real' into something more illustrative!
The top painting is unfinished, I decided to begin the second one below instead and embellished it with stamped letters.

The paints I used for these pictures are my New and Compleeeedly Delicious White Night set (shown above in spanking new condition before I got stuck in!).
The paints are Russian, and have been produced by a company in St Petersburg since 1934.  They use very fine pigments and even honey in their colours.  The colours themselves are extremely fine, fantastic to blend and mix and are proving to be a very valuable investment.

I have been using them again this morning, to create something slightly different...

'Party' ~ Watercolour on Paper

I hope you have a fabulous weekend, thanks for dropping by - i'll be back soon to talk about crocheted blankets on a budget, and an Almost Finished shawl!


Love J x