Needles and pins

Some things needle me about Pinterest, and some just tickle...

Here's a list:

Needles

1. Why would you repin a personal comment? I mean, if I write something like 'this would never fit in my bed', why would anyone else want to share that as their own? Is it just laziness or do we have the same bed?

2. People that post artworks but don't share who their creators were. I always try my hardest to find out... but I know it's not always possible. But do try really hard people.

3. People who have enough spare time in their day to find all this stuff.

4. People who have been to/live in all these beautiful places.... I'm just a bit jealous - and even more so because they are all such good photographers.

5. Pictures of immaculately tidy children's rooms. Today I even saw some crayons colour-coded and stored in different cups. Not in my house...


Err... that's about it for needles. I'm not really a needly sort of person to be honest - much too glass half full for that.



Tickles

1. Saw a pin of Number 10 Downing Street with the comment 'I think this is England?'. It's probably the second most famous address in the country! The first, naturally being her Majesty's town palace. I'm guessing the pinner wasn't from these shores. If they were, they should be thrown in the Tower!

2. Finding your own artwork pinned (and credited!). I was tickled pink that day!


Well, I might write more, but to be honest I keep hopping back to my Boards and getting distracted...

Plus, can I let you into a little secret? This whole post was just the staging so I could use the headline Needles and Pins. These don't really bother me... well, not much anyway!

You're gonna need a bigger...

I've been dreaming away the hours on Pinterest. It's easy to lose oneself in the boards of fellow creatives with a soul's yearning much like my own - especially when you're supposed to be doing something else... notably something difficult that requires much thinking (I'm putting the finishing touches to one of my lessons!).

I keep trying to convince myself that if I had a bigger house (with hundreds of cupboards and my own art studio), I would be so much tidier. It is true that half of the problem with the Mess in this house (note capitalisation - it's serious!), is storage - and space for the storage.

However, I have to confess that I'm also not terribly good at putting things away. I like to have everything to hand when I'm working on a project. The only trouble is, that I tend to work on at least a dozen projects at any one time, then that's a lot of 'things' to have around me.

I can barely reach the keyboard to write this. Those that have have had the 'pleasure' of working with me in the past will know that desks, in particular, usually resemble the contents of my jumbled brain after a particularly viscious roller coaster ride.

As I type I am looking at several piles of books (reference and inspiration for my course - these include everything from my Mess Journal to Marketing and Business texts and stuff about fairies; There's an empty box of champagne truffles (bought, consumed, and partly the reason for, my diet!); a laurel leaf in shades of green and brown that looks like it has been polished; various works of art; a baby blanket; notebooks; scraps of paper covered in hastily scribbled notes - there's even a post-it with the number 8280 written on it (no idea what that refers to); a pile of receipts that need to be logged for my accounts; pens; a camera; wireless headphones - big chunky ones and a packet of chia seeds. For once there are no mugs - but there are three on the windowsill, and two glasses (all from today!). There's a half-used packet of cress seeds up there too, a CD and a very tiny cardboard model of a Boeing 747.

I could tidy it up I suppose, but I'm supposed to be writing course content... That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Wild at Heart

I want to cry. I'm just bursting with emotion and it requires release. But don't worry, these tears are not those of sadness, but more of a sense of overwhelm that comes from experiencing the joy of untold beauty. All I have been doing to kindle this outburst of passion  is simply immerse myself in beautiful art on Pinterest.

There's so much inspiration out there that it fills my heart, fuels my desires and creates a longing to dive into a vat of paint then roll about over canvas. To squirt, smudge, tweak. To add detail, texture and crazy, wildly abandoned lines.

Art does something to me. How can the placement of line and colour on paper bring out such emotion? Perhaps it is because we see something of the soul of the artist. We are given a free pass into their imagination and this triggers a response in our own and forges a connection, an awakening.

Sometimes this makes me feel inadequate, a small dot in the pontilism of great art; but I try to just let it lift me on an inspiration thermal until the metaphors all become too much!

I just paused in writing this to read Kelly Rae Roberts story that she is sharing as part of the Hello Soul. Hello Business course. Reading of her realisation that Art would be her future and then seeing the fairy tale unfold just goes to prove that magic does happen to all of us if we just push ourselves out there and do a bit of personal wand-waving to make it happen.

I have known for but a short time that art resides in my soul. I often wonder how could I have left it dormant for so long? But then, maybe I just wasn't ready to embrace it. I know that it will always be a part of me and that creativity will be how I earn my living. I might not be making money as an artist but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

I have already alluded to some exciting news regarding an upcoming creative venture (you can sign up to be in on the news first at the top of my blog). Although I'm not quite ready to share all the details, I am a worker bee in the background preparing to unleash something for the creative soul in the next month or so. I am getting very excited and itching to tell you, but I want to wait until I am properly organised and decisions have been made. My branding is being created as we speak and thoughts of this project fill my every waking hour.

This week I am guest hosting on The Butterfly Effect. Weeks ago I determined on theme of Wild at Heart and I created this painting as a base from which I added more digital work. Today she feels particularly appropriate as I bare my soul to art and let the seeds in my heart take root and begin to grow.

The heart is more than life-giving pumping organ. It houses the portal to our soul from where our every emotion is wont to try and escape.

How wild is your heart?

Astrid

Astrid

Just one girl book girl to show you today. The second is still WIP which is worrying. Has the flow stopped? Is it time to move onto sketching caterpillars or cars? (By the way no idea why those two subject matter possibilities popped into my head... perhaps The Muse is trying to tell me something!).

Astrid likes playing in the snow and wearing crowns the elves make her.She is my favourite so far. I found her posing in a Gudrun Sjödén catalogue. She has actually already inspired several paintings by me - something about that head gear has always appealed. She is a Winter Princess; woodland royalty.

One of the most magical places to be is ancient British woodland. In a land that is so crammed by people and our creations, there are few spots left where the fairies can live undisturbed. I am building a board on Pinterest of likely spots where they may dwell. Sometimes there's evidence of people having been by - moss-covered ruins, coppicing and carvings in the stone, but by and large the fae keep control of these kingdoms weaving spells to keep away all but those who believe...

Sharing for Sunday Sketches and Day 6 of Art Every Day Month.

Overwhelm Awash Inarticulate Unworthy

Close your eyes and imagine soft swathes of gossamer-thin silk floating in a warm breeze and wrapping themselves around you. Your eyes can't quite focus through the rainbow of layered colour but you're aware of thousands of butterflies and sparkling birds dancing across your field of vision. The most enchanting music is playing and you're losing yourself in a haze of texture, shape and image. You smell the sweetest fruit and drink an intoxicating draught of euphoria...

This is how I feel when I look at art. Or at least this is a tiny, inarticulate description of what goes on somewhere between my heart and soul.

When I'm taken by these moods I feel a creative calling. I want to connect with my own art; to dive into the depths of inspiration and swim between, up and through layers. I am awash with emotion, craving to make, to create; but at the same time feeling so small and unworthy. I feel carried away by a cruel current as I desperately grasp at the flotsam of ideas and hope that I might atain the lofty heights of those I so admire.

It's too easy to give up. To allow that overwhelm and lack of self belief to win. Right now, I would far rather write about how I feel than try to capture it with paint. I have no idea where to start. I want to collage, stamp, embellish, paint, draw, mould, shape...

Does anyone else ever feel like this?

***

Some time and some art research later...

Ah, apparently some other artists do (particularly those named Henry)...

"Creativity takes courage"

Henri Matisse

“I find in all the artists that I admire most a disturbing element, a distortion, giving evidence of a struggle . . . . In great art, this conflict is hidden, it is unresolved. All that is bursting with energy is disturbing - not perfect."
Henry Moore

I feel a tiny bit better now. OK, Henri et Henry. I'm listening.... I'm off to face the struggle.

Image is a screen shot of my Pinterest favourite artists board - the source of all this angst!