Painting, painting and more painting!

Hello lovely friends, my blogging seems to have become a little haphazard of late as most of my creative time is being taken up with painting even more journal pages for the Sketchbook Project. I am still dreadfully behind but carrying on regardless :) 

Here are some of my latest creations, I hope you enjoy them...

(The inspiration for this came from a fab postcard sent to me 

by the lovely Lis of Dandelion Seeds and Dreams)

Long time no post!

I shake my head in shame that it is nearing the end of November and I haven't written a single blog post. Somehow the days have zoomed by, peppered with many events out of my own control, which have had to be dealt with and digested, leaving my energy and creativity levels sadly depleted. 

However, today I am determined to reconnect with that inner creative goddess, and I shall let my brushes and paints be my warrior shield. It is time to return to my Sketchbook Project art journal and paint those blues away. When I committed myself to this project I do believe I was a little naive of the amount of time and patience I would have to give myself and I certainly didn’t predict the learning curve that would ensue through the whole painting process. I am still learning to enjoy being messy, to go with the flow of the paint and to celebrate the mistakes. But on the very bright side I am seeing my own style, my own painting voice, gradually emerging and I like it :) Here are a few of my pages so far...

Samhain blessings

Wishing you all a magical Samhain.

Soft animals

Wishcasting Wednesday:
What does the soft animal of your body wish for?

“Sometimes we really do need to protect our tender desires. It can be tough out there and they may not be ready to brave the cold. But sometimes we can turn the light of that desire down so much that we forget it’s there. This is a tragedy. We lose our loves. We lose ourselves. We get lost and forget who we are. And the world loses our unique compilations of loves: the gorgeousness of country music, wisteria and sushi; the delight of minimalism, Doc Marten’s and Shakespeare. Our wildly unique loves are where our authenticity lives.”

-Jamie Ridler. The Vulnerability of Desire.

The vibrant mixure of the above compilation spoke to my heart, in fact it bought tears to me eyes. I am going through such a phase of transition, rediscovering my older passions, discovering a multitude of new ones,  and realising that I am allowed to love what is close to my heart and that indeed it doesn’t at all matter to me what people think of me anymore. I used to be so frightened of people’s negative comments, their opinions I valued much higher than my own. I lived to please others, to fit in, to feel ‘normal’. What normal was, I haven’t a clue, but it was soul destroying not to feel part of that popular crowd, forever feeling I had to change or work harder to resemble the popular people in my little corner of the world. This theme tune followed me through childhood, adolescence and deeply into adulthood. The thing is that now the rebel in me is beginning to find her voice, finding her feet. She is allowing herself to love the juxtaposition of Doc Martens and Shakespeare. So here I am...

I am hands covered in paint and an organisation addict.

I follow cosy murder mysteries and  drink in the Bronte sisters avidly.

I support myself in cosy walking attire and love  rich, magical, tie died purpleness.

I am a Leo in the limelight and crave solitude.

I lose myself in soft Celtic melodies and dance to the energy of rock.

I am a thirsty learner and deeply need stillness.

I am pretty flowered shoes and furry slippers.

I am me. 

This is who I wish to be.

The title of this wishcasting question is taken of the Mary Oliver poem Wild Geese. 

“You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” 

The soft animal of my body is now off to the blessed sanctuary of a bookshop, tingling senses whispering that Oliver is a kindred spirit.

Wishcasting Wednesday: What do you wish to fly free from?

Wishcasting Wednesday:

 What do you wish to fly free from?

Sometimes I really would like to be that ostrich in the sand, just for a little while, to have the time to rest, the time to digest, the time to hibernate and feel cocooned. At the moment my main wish therefore, is to fly away from that constant ticking of the clock, from the hands of time. These last few weeks have been frantic in terms of attempting to fit in everything I am supposed to do, want to do, dream of doing. It has been said many a time but I feel like there are not enough hours of the day. I would like to free myself from the busyness of my life currently, as I am not able to live mindfully when I am multitasking, juggling so many balls that I don’t even know what colour they are anymore. I wish to simplify my life down to its essence,  in order to find some much needed clarity and to enjoy the present instead of rushing like the  White Rabbit in Wonderland.

The last three days I have been forced to slow down, to come to a stop even, due to an inflammation of my lower back muscles and the experience has been most eye opening. I have not been able to rush, there hasn't been a point to constantly looking at the time to see if I might catch up with myself. In fact, I’ve taken the time to listen carefully to all those stories I tell myself along the lines of ‘I must do this, I must do that’. I cannot believe how often I tell myself what I should be doing even in the space of just one hour! So, I have stopped and rested my back and  the cats have loved me for it, for they truly appreciate their humans escaping from the demands of time; what wise souls they are. I’ve not even put on my wrist watch, settling to the patterns my body telling me what it needs to heal. I’ve actually managed to  sleep a little, which has made me realise how sleep deprived I am, because I spend so much time cramming in even more jobs, more ideas, more worries. It is amazing what your body wants to tell if only you give it the time to listen.

Now, I realise that the quiet period of the last few days cannot be forever, as my back slowly returns to normal( fingers crossed), but I still wish to retain that slower pace, that ability to do one thing at a time and to listen to myself when everything is too much for me. I know this will need a lot of perseverance and many small steps in the right direction.  Maybe I will start by not putting my watch on for the rest of the week...

Wishcasting Wednesday: Where do you wish to grow your confidence?

Wishcasting Wednesday: Where do you wish to grow your confidence? 

“Do the thing that scares you the most. 

By doing it, you’ll give birth to your life’s promise 

and unearth your buried dreams.”

- Kelly Rae Roberts. Taking Flight.

Confidence is something that I am greatly lacking at the moment, so a dash of it in any aspect of my life would be very much appreciated dear universe! I am feeling very much like the Cowardly Lion at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz, who feels he cannot live up to his expectations of being the  king of the beasts. He worries and worries and worries some more, he lets the fear take over. For me confidence is very much linked to courage so I wish for myself to have a little courage, a little faith in myself.

I wish to grow in confidence in my creative abilities. I accept that I am on an amazing learning journey and that it will take time to find my voice. However I wish to mindfully celebrate my daily creations, instead of always wanting perfection, of always wanting to move on.

In connection with this I wish to have the courage to stop comparing myself to others, to have the strength to cherish the awe inspiring friends and mentors I am fortunate enough to have, instead of telling myself those negative stories of how I will never be as amazing as they are. If only I could see the magic in myself as easily as I see it in others!

Lastly I wish to grow in confidence in my quest to dream big. I chose DREAM BIG as my theme for this year; it has woven in and out of each season, sometimes passionately strong, sometimes whispering when I succumb to every day life, with its promise of safety and control. My greatest challenge so far this year is starting on Monday, when the Alchemy writing course begins. Writing is my my biggest dream of all, the one I also have the least confidence in. I wish to let my words sparkle, to love the words that are part of being me...

A late Wishcasting Wednesday: What do you wish to step into?

I wish to tread bravely along stepping stones,

Out of the storm clouds into the rainbow.

This week has been a challenge (understatement!). My local government has decided to implement significant wage cuts for teaching assistants, leaving us with feelings of deep insecurity, overwhelming worries about our futures and also resentment in our hearts at this clear display of undervaluing the education and care we provide for children. As a result of this, the need I have  to follow my dreams of a creative business is burning more fiercely than ever before. For some time I have toyed with the idea of producing greetings cards from the photographs I so passionately take and maybe eventually from the artwork I create, therefore now could be the moment to dream big and step into the bigger picture, reaching for those possibilites...

Tortoise days

The last few days have been a learning curve for me and I have very much felt like the tortoise in Aesop’s Hare and the Tortoise fable. It is in my nature to race ahead, to try and juggle as many things as possible, to not really enjoy the now for thinking of what I need/should/could be doing in the future, and to do all this perfectly. However, my intuition has been greatly at work this week; I’ve come across tortoise/turtles in the most unlikely of places, be it in the form of toys, art pieces, blogs or poetry, that gorgeous creature has definitely been trying to tell me something. Usually I would carry on racing regardless but just this once I actually listened for a moment. This listening, being mindfully present in my world, manifested itself in many ways:

Art journaling. As I have voiced before, painting scares me; I don’t feel I have control of it, I don’t feel that I am any good at it, my paintings never quite turn out the way I wish them to. This happened on Friday with my latest page, I came quite close to throwing my whole journal away in temper as the painting was going completely in the shape of the pear and I couldn’t deal with the mess I was creating ( physically and creatively). But then that little tortoise voice inside whispered, for I always imagine tortoises to have quiet, calm voices, that I was only human, that actually it is a brilliant thing to have the time to learn a new skill, that my journal is a learning journey of discovery for me, that what I classify as imperfect can sometimes produce the most lovely surprises. As I brushed layer upon layer of paint to create something resembling what I was feeling, I realised that this patience, this slow but deliberate way of learning and making, is indeed magical. Whilst the finished product is not the most amazing piece I have ever created, I managed to finish it and let it tell its own story. I was the tortoise, treading carefully with determination and staying power.

My career. I love my new role supporting children with English as an additional language, the new challenges have given me the change I needed to feel alive in my job again. The children are gorgeous and I feel so glad that I can use a little of my languages background to support them. But then, as quick as a flash, I become frustrated that I don’t know it all instantly, that I haven’t got a nicely clear overview of what I need to do, that I don’t know immediately where the best resources are to be found, that I don’t know all the ins and outs of language teaching already. You see, I want to leap ahead when really I am only human, I am learning. I am that tortoise on its path, knowing its goals, working hard step by step and I am reaching my destination, just not in one giant leap!

Writing. I haven’t written for quite a while now, apart from this blog, and this has really been bringing me down as I have that secret aspiration of being a writer, of being able to see myself as a writer. I want all the tools and I want them now, yet really I haven’t known where to begin - where to learn those jewels that I need to progress, where to find that structured but constructively friendly support that I know I need to be true to myself in my writing. But then, by cosmic coincidence I happened upon the Alchemy online writing course, constructed by the amazingly talented Jennifer McGuiggan , whose inspirational website The Word Cellar I have been following in awe for some time. I had a tortoise moment; I could come alive in this course and work step by step at reaching that until now elusive writing goal. I won’t be a writer instantly but  I can feel that the guidance of this course has such potential, if I just take part and follow that path.

Thus, there you have it, I think the tortoise could well be my spirit guide, and quite apt too as a certain cuddly tortoise has been my companion since birth, oh the stories she could tell...

21 Secrets

As you may well be aware by now I am very much an e course addict. Over the past year I have taken part in so many inspiring adventures due to awe inspiring teachers with mountains of knowledge, passion and compassion. I’ve also found so many friendships thanks to the wonderful circles that are magically created in their online communities. My newest intention has to be the intriguingly titled 21 Secrets by Dirty Footprints Studio creator Connie. Having only recently begun dipping into the world of art journaling I have such a thirst for new techniques and fresh inspiration and so I know I won’t be able to resist the promise of an art journal playground with 21 secrets by 21 inspiring contributors, ready to share their creativity secrets with me. 

Here are just a few of those secrets to give you a taster of just why I cannot wait to begin:

First of all my fabulous creative goddess friend Lis Hofmann (Dandelion Seeds and Dreams) is providing a session on art postcards entitled Art  Journaling’s Sassy Little Sister. I admire her artwork so greatly that I cannot wait to have some insider knowledge of the beauty she creates.

Then there is I Am Magic (Andrea Schroeder of ABC Creativity), with key words such as intuition, inner magic and experiment I am hooked.

I could describe all 21 Secrets  if only I had the time to do so, but alas I shall finish with the thought provoking Conversations with self: Letters from your inner child by Angelia Thompson of Angelia’s Art Journals. For me journaling is often a valuable (and incredibly rewarding) form of therapy. The idea of letting my inner child have a creative voice is just what I need.

If you want to find out more and join me in my addiction then either click here or the button below:

Time for a change

Lovely blogging friends, I have spent a little time today giving my blog a facelift, what do you think? I chose the name Dreamchair Adventures as I plan to create a small greeting card business in the near future and have decided on the name Dreamchair Art for this. I wrote a poem a while ago about letting my imagination soar, being carried by a magical chair, which allows me to dream big and reach for the stars. This poem has firmly planted itself in mind and grown in significance over the past months, and therefore I feel that the time is right to explore further.  I am very much trying to give the purpose of my blog more definition and so I hope that this new layout is the beginning of a much more defined blogging experience.  

Before I finish for today I really want to share my two newest art journaling pages with you. The first was inspired by the lovely Leah at Creative Every Day, where the theme for September is water. I have a bit of an addiction to lighthouses  (understatement) and a constant need to be by the sea.

My other piece is based on a word, which keeps cropping up, over and over again. I am becoming increasingly intrigued by the the whole notion of intuition, but that will another blog post in itself :)

Tuesday 31st August

The last day of August Break is upon me,

I celebrate with an abundance of ripe tomatoes at long last,

I am sure they taste the sweeter for having grown them myself.

And of course a glass of delicious red.

Cheers!

Monday 30th August

Bath.

Romans residing, keeping a watchful eye on their creation.

Healing waters, bubbling with life.

A magical well with sparkling pennies.

Signs and doorways shining with detail.

A quest to search for lions of a creative kind.

Time to rest in the warm sunshine, cream tea galore.