Liberate Your Art 2014

This will be my third round of Kat Sloma's wonderful 'Liberate your art postcard swap", and as always it has been great fun.

First off I made the same mistake as last year, I sent off 6 different postcards fairly early on and now have absolutely no idea which ones they were!

I have now seen one of them on the Facebook page and the recipient of another emailed me so these are two of the six I sent!

and these are the beautiful works of art I received.

The first card I received was this serene Buddha was from Twistylane Texas

Next up was this gorgeous mixed media card from Tina who included this hand written quote on the back of the card. You can find her on flickr

“Every horizon, upon being reached reveals another beckoning in the distance. Always I am on the threshold.”

— Eugene Smith

This seems really pertinent today as on our walk across the downs yesterday we experienced just this sensation!

Love this self-portrait from Lynne who you can find on flickr

Postcard number four is this glorious abstract from Carlyn Clark it has the following handwritten quote on the back which I just love

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on”

— Albert Einstein

Number five is of beautiful sea birds from Annie Kelleher of Crimson Cove Photography with this quote on the back

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source you will truly have defeated age”

— Sophia Loren

Last to arrive was Kat's card which was as always just beautiful

Here you have them on my white board all together

and with a bit of context!

Huge thanks to Kat for organising this swap again - do go visit some of the other participants in the swap via this link

Postcards from Berlin 5 - A Wild Goose chase

After our visit to the East Side Gallery and our lunch in the sunshine, we headed off on foot to find Tacheles. Described in our guide book (the Rough Guide to Berlin) thus, ' a taste of Berlin artists' squatter culture is offered in the multi story counter-cultural workshop' the whole thing looked fascinating .

First stop was Hackeschen Hofe 'a series of elegant early twentieth century courtyards with stylish cafes and boutiques' (Rough Guide)

There are some fun shops including one specialising in Ampelmann ( the little chap from the East German crossing signs) nostalgia.I loved the pink saddle protectors on these bikes!

Next stop was a small art gallery where we had a look round and stopped for a coffee - there was an interesting line in taxidermy in the coffee shop

We continued up the street thinking that according to the map we should be able to spot our destination by now, but all we could see was a rather desolate abandoned building which was showing every indication that it was about to be pulled down. It couldn't be? could it? it was!

The now-abandoned and somewhat forlorn Tacheles building stared out at us and we stared back. After the first initial disappointment we spotted some items of interest

A sculpture here

some graffiti there - and finally the proof positive that we were in the right place although sadly we had missed the party! in all it was a bit of a wild goose chase

Postcards from Berlin 4 - On the East Side

On the second day of our visit the weather was as good, possibly even better than, the day before. Perfect for visiting the East Side Gallery.

The gallery is a 1.3 Km stretch of the Berlin Wall covered with political and satirical murals first painted in 1989 just after the wall fell. Time and weather took its toll so that the original artists were invited back to repaint their work for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall in 2009.

Despite notices asking them not to, individuals have added their own graffiti to the murals which unfortunately is mostly of the 'I woz 'ere' or 'Jonny loves Jane' variety, that doesn't add anything to the original works. I have not included the works where, as in this one, I felt the graffiti really detracted from them.

I thought long hard about how best to share the feel of the art on the wall with you and came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to create a vimeo video. Watch it full screen - it really makes a difference to the experience!

East Side Gallery from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Texture Time

Extreme weather seems to be the norm almost all over the world this year. Here in the South of England our problem is constant rain and gales, causing flooding both on the coast and inland. Many people have been flooded out for weeks, and major rail and road networks have been disrupted. I am lucky in that I have not been seriously affected by the flooding, but I am oh so sick of the constant wind and rain.

One of the effects of the weather is that it has been very difficult to get out and take photographs, so I have fallen back to playing with the ones I've already got, in photoshop.

With the help of some textures from 2-lil-Owls this box of flowers was transferred into this

And by adding textures and a filter the national gallery takes on a painterly look

Which do you like best? before or after?

Because of the weather I've spent more time painting and less time taking photos, but I am really enjoying taking photos of my art work and digitally enhancing them by adding texture, effects, or combining them with other pictures.

This version just has the usual Lightroom enhancements

This has had textures added and been combined with another photos

and this one has had a severe crop! which is your favourite?

This is one I finished painting today and have been playing with ever since!

The original with Lightroom adjustments

with a combination of bought and home made textures

Using different blending modes and a filter - this is my favourite, which is yours?

Finally one of the few pictures I managed to take this week!

The original and one with added texture and a Valentine's message from me to you!

A Cornish Interlude - Thoughts on the Nature of Beauty

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul”

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

This week's post is part of a brave blogging link-up that's part of Liv Lane's How To Build a Blog You Truly Love e-course. As a participant, I was challenged to step outside my comfort zone and share something with you that felt especially brave.

This is a problem for me as I have just returned from a magical weekend in Cornwall where we went for the weekend to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary with friends who were celebrating their fortieth on the same day.

Everything about the weekend was fantastic. The weather was fabulous (sitting out on the terrace in a swimsuit in Cornwall in October!), the hotel as near to perfection as I could ever have imagined and I feel full to the brim with joy and love at the wonderful weekend I experienced.

We have not stayed at many expensive hotels over our 40 years of marriage and I fully realise how lucky I am to have spent a weekend in this wonderful place of both natural and man made beauty. This has lead me to ponder on the nature of beauty itself and the different types of beauty that fill me with joy.

Natural beauty is perhaps the easiest place to start. The hotel had direct views over the beach at Mawgan Porth and the view from our bedroom was just stunning, with the light changing at different times of the day.

The net curtains in the bedroom took on the colour of the sunset and turned from a pale gold into a vivid orange

The design brief of the hotel was 'to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.' This it has surely achieved. I have not taken photos of the outside of the building as it blends in with the environment rather than standing out as an architectural statement. it is rather the interior and the outdoor landscaped areas which stun with their beauty. The fusion of the hotel with its environment is evident throughout but I loved the outdoor natural swimming pool and the path down to the beach.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the hotel was that there was not one jarring note throughout the place (even the rubbish bins were attractive) and that everything was designed to be brilliantly functional. The chairs were comfortable, the balconies slanted to catch the sun (not always easy on the north coast) the lighting design amazing - I could go on - and all of these areas looked absolutely stunning as well! I'm not sure how beautiful I think things are if they look nice but don't perform the function they were intended to effectively. Something that looks beautiful and is well designed is a joy in all ways.

Another feature of the hotel were the works of art, some of which belonged to the owners and some of which were for sale. My favourite was this angel but there were plenty to choose from.

Most spectacular was the beauty of light and space, whether looking out to nature or in to the building

There are of course other types of beauty than the visual. The beauty of celebrating our 37 year friendship with our co-travellers (we are godparents to each other's children) and of the forty years of love and companionship that we have had as a couple.

I 'm not really sure how much this qualifies as a brave post, but it is what is in my heart this week. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our celebration weekend.

““Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” ”

— Franz Kafka

From Study to Studio by way of Baltimore!

Today I am one step nearer to having a studio. We have just finished the transformation of our study by having it painted and plan to start calling it the studio from now on.

This room has always doubled as a spare bedroom as it has an ensuite shower room but I sold the big sofa bed on eBay and replaced it with a smaller transportable solution which can live upstairs and be brought down for the dozen or so nights we need it each year. Instead I have a comfy chair bought from our local independent furniture store and a wide set of drawers from Ikea which will take art paper.

Lots of stuff from Ikea in the room including the heart lights,

and these two kitchen trolleys for storing paints etc. I first saw them used for this purpose in a picture of the art studio Kelly Rae Roberts, Flora Bowley and others have opened in Portland Oregon and just thought wow! (at least I think I did, but don't seem to be able to find it now)

Of course everything in the room isn't new, the desk bookcase and the filing cabinets have been there for years although the contents of the latter have changed significantly over the last 18 months

Books are an important part of my world and these are some I have been exploring recently.

In terms of decoration I have imported objects with meaning from other parts of the house, the Buddha I bought in Cambodia, the glass heart is from St Ives Cornwall where I used to spend time every summer with my son and one of my best friends. The candle holders are from our local agricultural show, the little pot from a family holiday in Turkey and the vase was a gift when I left my first social work job in 1979 to go on to start my training. All are treasured and seeing them brings back happy memories.

This little paper boat I bought at the Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore just after 9/11. I was in Baltimore to attend the First International Conference of Appreciative Inquiry and after the conference had ended I spent the last day prior to my evening flight sightseeing. I ended up at the American Visionary Art Museum which was dedicated to showing the art of people who had no formal training. Sadly it was mostly closed in preparation for a new exhibition. I got talking to the lady in the shop and conversation predictably turned to the tragedy of 9/11 as every conversation did when you met someone in those days. She told me she had received an email from a friend who lived in Cornwall which said 'now you know what it feels like' said that she had not, until that moment, considered that the IRA were terrorists; which as I had been living in London at the time of the IRA terror campaign in the seventies and actually heard the Old Bailey bomb go off, rather shocked me. However it perfectly illustrates the old adage that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'. Having chatted for sometime the shop lady decided it was terrible that I couldn't see the exhibition and got the security man to take me round which was a real delight. I bought the peace boat (made by a local elderly lady) as a reminder of my visit to the museum and my conversation.

And finally I bought some new goodies to decorate the studio including this magnetic angel and inspirational magnets from Kelly Rae Roberts

And this banner (not in place yet) also from Kelly Rae

and finally the string of leaves from my favourite shop in Winchester

I hope you have enjoyed your virtual trip round my new studio

See you soon

xxx

Blooming True and Other Stories

This post is mainly about my experience of the Bloom True on-line painting class I have been taking for the last 5 weeks led by Flora Bowley but before I start sharing my experience of the class I have a new treasure chest to share with you. I am still processing my holiday photos from the spring and this short video focuses on our visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Cambodia, Land of Temple, Road and Lake from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of my Bloom True journey just to say its been fabulous - the course has been holistic rather than only about painting and painting techniques and this has worked well, engaging your whole being, body, mind and spirit, in the process. Throughout the course I worked on two paintings and I am going to illustrate the story of one of them from start to finish. Flora's technique is based on adding many, many layers to each painting and practicing non- attachment and intuitive painting to further each canvas - much harder than it sounds!

My first painting started like this

Then progressed to this

Followed by this

Then this

and this

Still going!

nearly there now!

and finally!

I'm not of course absolutely guaranteeing that it is the final final version, so watch this space! What of the other painting I hear you ask - well having been through a tree phase its current iteration is an elephant which I am not loving, lets just say it has a way to go!

Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap

This will be the second time I have participated in Kat Sloma's swap and I would thoroughly recommend it. It's very simple; you send 5 cards to Kat who redistributes them to swappers around the world and you get five back, plus a bonus card from Kat herself. (I rather suspect that most of us include a bonus card for Kat too).

I chose to send 6 different cards and sent them off in rather a rush just before going on holiday - this means that I now don't know which ones I sent except for the two I have had news of (this is much better than last year when I didn't find out if anyone had received my cards - and it is such fun when someone posts them on the Facebook page or emails to tell you of their safe receipt!)

The first of my cards appeared on Facebook right at the beginning of the swap - I was so excited. the picture is of a window of the George Hotel Yarmouth dressed for the Queen's Jubilee last summer. The George is a wonderful old building formerly the residence of the governor of the Isle of Wight. King Charles 1 spent the night there on his way to imprisonment in Carisbrook Castle and ultimately his death at the hands of Oliver Cromwell.

This is the second card I had news of and I was moved to receive this message from Will who lives near Boston

'I received your post card yesterday...Rodin's "The Thinker" with the Einstein quote. Very nice. Doubly so since it arrived the day after the Boston Marathon bombings'

Now to the cards I received. First to arrive was a fun Yoga card from Sassy, very apt as I have just started yoga classes. it was closely followed by a fun monocrome design from p'shaw designs which had this hand written quote on the back

“Creativity is thinking new things,
Innovation is doing new things.”

— Theodore Levitt

Next up was a violin and bow on exhibition in the musical instrument museum in Arizona from Deanie Houghtaling, This card had a quote too, printed on the back this time.

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. you bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved”

— Ansel Adams

this was followed by this Colourful mixed media piece from Tina Wittmer, this time with a quote on the front

“I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies.”

— Le Corbusier

Then we get to the 5th card, the one thats really got me thinking about why we participate in the swap. Obviously I can only speak for my own motivation. I do it because it's fun, it's a way of exchanging real as opposed to virtual art across continents, and it fosters connectivity and community. Other benefits might include additional traffic to my web site but they are extras. Overall I see the swap as an exchange of gifts between artists. When I received my 5th card I was surprised to see that the artist's website and email address was printed prominently over the photograph on the front of the card, thereby diminishing my pleasure in the art. On the back of the card was a promotional statement, so I guess the artist uses these as business cards. Nothing wrong with that of course, but for me it didn't capture the spirit and generosity of the swap. Plus it really spoiled much of my enjoyment of the picture, taking away from the concept of sharing gifts. For that reason I am not posting a picture of the card on my blog.

Finally I received Kats's lovely card - thank you so much for organising the swap agin Kat, I know you have also inspired a number of smaller swaps in some of the other artistic communities I am involved with.

Seaside Art Retreat

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to Felixstowe for a seaside Art Retreat which was organised by one of the people I met at Call of the Wild Soul. Seven lovely ladies met up for a weekend of fun, art, conversation and relaxation thanks to our fabulous hostess Marie and her family.

Of course this kind of event is not without its dangers, the main one being ‘supplies envy’ when looking at the goodies everyone else had brought with them, and which, for some of us, has led to a post weekend online shopping spree!

Rather than write more about the weekend I will post the time capsule I made as part of the course I am doing with Xanthe Berkley. This is my first attempted at Videoing which I found a lot more fun than I expected to and only wish I had taken more film especially on the prom and by the pier. I shall know next time!

Hope you will find time to have a look - enjoy!

Seaside Art Retreat - Take 2 from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Wild Soul Workshop

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Call of the Wild Soul two day Workshop in London with a focus on Soul Portraits. I had a great time. First of all it was good to meet up with some of the people from the retreat in September as well as getting to know some new faces.

Erin who was leading the workshop started off by giving us a guided meditation and from there we dived soul first into our art. Amongst the selected material it was suggested we bring was a number of self-portraits. Fortunately I had some of these to hand as I am doing the Now You 52 Course which involves taking lots of selfies.

I made 3 picture of the two days. The first one comprised photographs juxtaposed on a background. I loved the idea of altering the pictures with gesso or sandpaper, both were new techniques for me.

My second picture is my favourite, I used a combination of drawing, photo and collage paper - when I look at it I feel calm and rested.

Finally my third picture had a seaside theme. I was brought up on the coast and have a great affinity with the sea, it always seems like home. The theme of this picture was the connection of the soul with the body and with the universe in a way that lights up or lives. Again I used altered photographs and if you look closely at the lighthouse you will notice that it is a row of beach huts turned on its side. I also drew the figure by only looking at the model not the paper - turned out better than I expected!

Call of the Wild Soul - Take 3

Day three of the retreat I went to Teesha Moore's workshop. Much more physically relaxing than Flora’s - you got to sit down a lot! Again there was a wonderful energy within the room. Each day of the retreat the energy has been unique and inspiring. I loved Teesha's laid back style of chatting, demonstrating and explaining, interspersed with stories of her life. She also brought lots of her wonderful journals for us to look at, and the class pack contained lots of goodies too!

I found getting started quite hard particularly when we stopped collaging and needed to doodle and add our own changes to the pictures. Despite Teesha's warning for some reason I used the watercolor crayon, perhaps because they were a tool I was familiar with, which meant I was unable to write over the surface with most pens.

Since I have returned home I have made a journal using the method shown on Teeshas website ( loads of great how to do videos here do visit) and have finished the first couple of pages. Now I am finding the collaging the most difficult part - I seem to be resisting going with the flow in favour of locating the perfect picture and generally over-thinking. That said, I am trying to take risks with my doodling and overall am quite pleased with the results.

The whole retreat was inspirational and I can’t wait to go on another one! Aside from the art-making the community created was fantastic and the bonfire on the Saturday night under the full moon and shimmering stars was very special! thank you so much to Erin, Simon, Flora, Orly, Madelyn and Teesha and of course my fellow wild souls!

Call of the Wild Soul - Take 1

I'm just back from the fabulous Call of the Wild Soul art retreat at Croydon Hall on Exmoor. The retreat is the inspiration of Erin Faith Allen and was just amazing. My only regret is that it was only possible to take classes from 3 of the 4 wonderful teachers there. I have decided to write a separate post for each class starting with day one when I took Madelyn Mulvaney's Persisting Soul class, which was based on photography rather than painting. It was a relaxed and gentle day with words of wisdom interspersed with exercises in pairs and a post lunch photo walk.

During the first exercise we were looking and embracing and releasing and went out into the slightly damp and misty garden to take photos.

I also used the opportunity to take some of the wonderful moss covered tree trunks in the garden.

Back in the classroom we looked at examples of manifestos and began to brainstorm some ideas for our own - here is mine which I finished on my return home.

After a delicious lunch (would certainly recommend the food at Croydon Hall) we went on a photo walk. There was so much to capture even though we went a relatively short way. This is just a small sample of the photos I took

The second theme of the day was journeys and destinations and my workshop partner and I took various photos around the house and garden.

In between all the other activities we also played around with vintage Polaroid film which produced pictures with a soft light and interesting striped effects. I can remember these from my parents Polaroid owning days when striped photos were not seen as an interesting, artistic or desirable outcome, rather the reverse! Still finding it hard to get my head around this!

Finally we did the self portrait section of the class. Each choosing how we would like the other to photograph us and then choosing a feature of the other to shoot. my partner chose to have a photo just of her foot with adorning anklet and I chose to take a photo of her amazing eyes.

Finally I chose to have a head and shoulders portrait wearing one of my favourite pink scarfs from Marrakech( have photoshopped the results a bit!) whereas my partner chose to take a picture of my hair.

.

It really was a fabulous day - big thanks to Maddy and all the other wild souls!

A Little Painting ...............

Back home for a couple of days between French holiday and the Somerset art retreat and have realized that what with all the pack and unpacking, son packing for university and general stuff do do after a holiday I am not going to get a blog post written about France anytime soon. So instead, and with the upcoming art retreat in mind, I thought I’d share with you some of the painting I have been doing over the last few weeks.

The inspiration is Mati Rose McDonough’s book Daring Adventures in Paint. Mati takes you through a series of lessons and techniques, each building on the last, until in the final lesson you can use all the techniques in the book. I think it works very well as a guide and like most good things you can take from it what you need, adapting the techniques to your preferences and tastes.

So far I have done three pictures all of which are new departures for me, building on the techniques in the book. I would welcome your comments.

Back after the art retreat so excited about it!

Liberate your Art Postcard Swap

I got really excited by the postcard swap as soon as I read about it on Kat’s blog. The timing was perfect I was planning to have some postcards printed anyway as a way of showcasing some of my photos. An offer I couldn't refuse from MOO dropped into my inbox - I was away! Post cards arrived I choose a variety and posted them of to Kat in plenty of time - mistake - I didn’t make note of the cards I choose so I have no idea which of my pictures are out there!

They could include this picture

Or this one

Or any of these

I didn’t realise this would be a problem until cards started arriving and some people put the ones they had sent on the FB page as well. Good idea! I thought, especially as no one seems to have received any of my cards. Rather a problem for me in practice thought.

Getting other artists cards through the post was just great. First to arrive was this beautiful portrait from Dana in Michigan,

soon to be followed by this slightly surreal wooly mammoth from Katrin in Germany.

Next came this beautiful flower from Stephanie

and this textured flower from Phoenix and finally ( apart from Kat’s lovely card) this building in San Juan in Puerto Rico from Cheryl - memories of Westside Story abound. (sorry these 2 are on the same photo I am having some technical problems!)

In all a beautiful and varied selection of art to pin on my notice board in my study / studio

I hope to be able to visit and leave comments on others blogs during the blog hop, but am off to France on Friday and will have limited internet access - please forgove me if I don't get to you.

Finally please, please, please if you did get one of my cards - get in touch I would love to hear from you