It's not too late

 

Once upon a time, there was a creative soul who sat day after day, night after night pouring her soul forth into her art and writing. She believed in the power of creativity and took trips with her Muse into the deepest secrets of her imagination. It was such a wonderful place that she wanted to share it with others, so she began to write the words that would map out a journey into the creative soul via the right side of the brain - where the magic happens. Today the first of her students are rising to flex their creative muscles, load up their joy in experimentation and most certainly leave behind any self-doubt

What to expect

This course is not an instructional 'copy what I do' course. I won't show you how to paint or write like me. What I will do is guide you through a series of exercises and teach you techniques to find your own creativity. I want to you to be surprised by what you find.

I'm giving all my students top marks from the start - because they all deserve it. They are here to open up their hearts to possibility. We will banish the 'can't do that demons' to the abyss where they belong. We will draw, paint, write, photograph - whatever our creative Muse wants to do; but at the same time if you just want to paint or write, then that's fine.

We are looking a different ways to find inspiration, to see what's before you and to express yourself.

It's not always going to be easy. At times students may find all they have created is a mess, but that's where the learning really starts - where's the fun in getting it right first time? We will also be working through these exercises collectively and sharing (if we wish) through our group. We will support each other on this creative journey as we find our own Muse and develops different styles. We will start to realise that the mess was just the starting point!

This course is for anybody that wants to try something new and challenging, who dares to be different and who wants creativity bursting into bloom from every pore! 

The guarantee

Why not try it and see if you like it. I will offer full refund to anyone who doesn't believe it is helping them dig deep into their creativity by the end of week 4 - can't say fairer than that!

More information available on this page - including the all important sign me up button. What's stopping you?

Take the leap with me (don't worry, I'm holding your hand very tightly and will be with you all the way!).

And it turned out to be...

Drum roll... the mystery ingredients were actually fairly tame for me.

I pre-heated my oven to 200 degress centrigrade, then greased and lined a 12" cake tin. These had nothing to do with the mess I was about to make, but I'm on a diet and acting out making cake helps with the craving.

Next I spread some lovely and thick PVA glue over my page, trying to completely cover the large Question Mark sitting in the middle (that looks like gauze, but isn't). I sprinkled over a light mixture of salt and sugar. This makes interesting dents in the glue and looks like the surface of the moon.

This seemed a little mundane. It needed a certain something... I hit upon it at last. Bicarbonate of soda - it reacts with vinegar, I wonder what happens when it comes into contact with PVA? The answer was not much, so I sprayed a touch of water on which made a bit of fizz.

Once the whole concoction was nice and dry - having spent a cosy evening in the airing cupboard - I drizzled over a heady mix of alcohol inks which slipped over the glue and sank into the sandy texture. Lovely!

Can you imagine a whole painting completed in this method! My mouth is watering at just the thought. I see am abstract bunch of tropical flowers dripping with hummingbirds.

Well onto yesterday's competition. Nobody guessed quite exactly right (frankly, I'm not surprised!). So I went for 'nearest the bull'. Congratulations Giggles - you win a place on my course which starts on Monday! I'll be in touch by email.

What on earth is this?

It's not often I go a week without blogging and I am sorely missing the opportunity to scribble and share. However, with just a few days to go until my eCourse starts and plenty of other work and commitments then something had to give.

I've come up with some great posts while in the car, but the witty gems just didn't want to come back to me once I was in front of a keyboard. I've also been hitting the gym!

One of my 'other commitments' has been the Messy Book Group where we continue to experiment and push the boundaries of what the uninitiated might call chaos, but we call art. This week has seen car tyres painted brightly and then driven over the book, a snake persuaded to make mud paintings and some mysteries involving unknown substances.

I'm in the unknown substance camp. What on earth do think I used to make these interesting textures and patterns?

Anyone that guesses correctly goes in the draw to win a free place on my creativity course which starts on Monday. There are five 'components' to guess! I'll pick tomorrow morning (UK time 9am-ish... it's Saturday.... I might sleep late...).

If you don't win, fear not. For just £42 (that's around US$67), you could join us on an 8 week playful journey to the island of Inspiration, on the trail of Technique with the excitement of Experimentation! We will be making art, writing magical prose and generally having a picnic of a time.

(Forgive the shameless plug... I'm just excited to be doing this at last and am a gregarious soul, so would love lots more people to join those already signed up!).

Hmm.... What can they be?

Sharing for Paint Party Friday.

PS - Just realised I published this in the wrong blog - meant to put it in my usual one... Oh well... never mind!

Sample lesson content

Shoes by Irregular Choice

If you're wondering what the content of my eCourse might be like, then wonder no more. Here's some content from a typical week where we'll be exploring how to try on inspiration until we find the size that fits.... You might also like to look at my previous post, another example of the type of content I'll cover where I'll introduce you to the work of other artists and demonstrate how you can take their techniques and make them your own.

We'll share our work and inspire each other into new directions too. I want to gently push you into expanding your creativity and teach you how to find little tendrils of inspiration that pull you into their story and beg you to tell it...

Stories from Shoes

What do you see when you look at these shoes? Now don't go moaning that you're a bloke and what do you care about shoes, or that you wouldn't be seen dead in anything so outlandish. Keep looking, then listen to the voice in your head. What does it see? What does it hear?

I have conjured up fairy tale castles filled with adventure. Dainty ladies wearing their hair too high for battling dragons bent on destruction.... Is that a ring tied into the bow? So, that's where she hid it!

I see turquoise oceans; I feel aching feet that aren't used to heels; I smell the Chinese sweat shop where each tiny flower is hand sewn for a pittance as Wai wonders how she will hide her bulging belly from her employer. I hear music that makes my toes tap and, looking down, notice the beer splashes on my pretty ribbons and wonder if they'll wash...

These are not shoes. These are whimsical paintings of a Princess, dance music, contemporary poetry. These are a written outpouring of shoe envy or a lament at the heel height of 2012 fashion. These are colour, shade and story.

Your challenge is to look deeper into this picture than just the footwear and let your Muse whisper their creative longings.

There's a story for everyone in this fancy pair of turquoise party slippers. Will yours be painted, written or photographed.

Close your eyes and let you imagination wander.... but if you're still looking at a blank page, then try on a few of these:

• Sketch your ideal pair of shoes - total fantasy - if you want wheels, you've got them; if they need rocket launchers or 500 buttons, then they're yours! What materials will you use? When will you wear them and with what... and who...?
• Write about your favourite pair of shoes. Do you still own them? What make them so special? Put yourself in 'their shoes'.... What stories could they tell about you? What do they think of you?
• Quickly scribble a list of words associated with footwear and then compose a poem using every single one of them.
• These shoes are very different and will most certainly make their owner stand out. Why might they want to do that? What does the rest of their outfit look like? Where are they going and why?

 Share a link to your results in the comments on this page or on my Facebook Page and let me see where you (or indeed that pair of shoes) take this prompt.

Pretty Flamingo

There's a method to the madness... I'm experimenting. This week I was inspired by the work of Lawrence Yang who I 'stumbled upon'...

His bio reads:

Lawrence Yang wrestles with informational abstractions by day and paints by night. Influenced by graffiti art and traditional Chinese painting, he employs ink, marker, and watercolor, as the permanence of this media adds a sense of immediacy to his work. Lawrence's paintings make use of color to communicate atmosphere and emotion, and they are concerned primarily with creating order out of chaos (and vice versa).

Lawrence Yang

Lawrence Yang

He's seeing dimension in drip and dribble, substance in splatter... and little birdies and teddy bears in ... well ... maybe we shouldn't go there...

I took my own interpretation of his technique and, because I was wearing my best clothes at the time and didn't want to ruin them, printed out some splatter work I had 'prepared earlier' (just like Delia Smith). It was just some pink dribbles really with a random blog of green. It immediately spoke to me. In fact, truth be told, it sang.... 'pretty flamingo'. It sang it a lot... until I got really annoyed...

Anyway, we ended up with three pretty flamingos and one green bug. I was quite pleased that Manfred Mann hadn't recorded any songs about green bugs.

If you're interested in exploring new techniques (and getting annoying songs stuck in your head), then this is just the kind of thing we'll be doing on my Inspirational eCourse (shameless plug!). It starts on May 14th.

Group Working

I was given the book we're using for the book group - Mess: A Manual of Accidents and Mistakes - last autumn. It was a prize from another course. I was so excited when it arrived, having enjoyed a whale of a time with one of Keri's other destruction projects - Wreck this Journal. Somehow though, I just couldn't get into it. I put some attempt into a few pages, but something was missing...

Clarity finally dawned - making a mess is never as much fun on your own as with a group... especially when you need some encouragement and permission to start to let go. The Messy Book Group was born!

The last few weeks my messy band have been making tentative steps towards total abandon. Many of us are taking a leap into unknown territory. We're finding a side to our creativity we never knew existed or had packed away along with childhood toys.

 Mess or the place where the Dragon shed its skin?

Already some of us have been labelled as the local eccentrics as we leap about in mud and then dance over our artwork. Family members have questioned our sanity or written letters to The Times in distress over our wanton destruction of the bound page.

Yet, in amongst the mess, we are finding tiny treasures ready to seed and bloom into something altogether special. We are opening our minds and muses to possibility. As we enjoy the very act of creation with little heed to any final outcome we are more often than not surprising ourselves along the way.

The right sides of our brains are wide awake and laughing with glee as they connect the dots, splodges and sticky patches to find new meaning. It's a crazy adventure and we're enjoying the ride!

Finding the composition after the fact!

It is never too late to join the party. We're sharing our accidents and improvisation on the **FREE** Book Group blog page and throwing ideas and caution to the wind in our Facebook Group.

If you're wondering how this fits with the eCourse or indeed, just what that's all about. Well, it will more of the same with a dose of more prescribed material. We'll be learning where to find inspiration and stretching our right brains. We'll be telling stories in words and pictures and finding new meaning in the mundane. We'll look at the work of other artists and see how they can inspire us to take our own creative path.

It all starts on Monday 14th May. The clock is ticking... Tick Tock... Sign up here.

The Guarantee

…If after the first half of the course, you don’t feel inspired to create, then I will offer your money back, no quibble.

Take the leap

Photo by The Garden Nymph

Are you feeling brave? Dare you step through this portal? What lies beyond the floral chandelier? What hides in the blue mist. Is it safe? Are there monsters or fairies? Is it perhaps a gentle Arcadia or will you set boulders rumbling?

Shall I let you into a little secret? I know what's in there... It's the gateway to your imagination. Through there lies paintings, poems and prose... The archways lead you to where your Muse lies waiting to guide you on an adventure through your creativity.

How about you share your stories and art with me in the comments here? Where would you like this particular portal to take you today?

If you enjoy adventures like this, then join me on my inspirational eCourse where we'll step into the realm of our imagination for an 8 week magical mystery tour.

A thought to leave you with...

This must be a simply enormous wardrobe!" thought Lucy, going still further in and pushing the soft folds of the coats aside to make room for her. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. "I wonder is that more moth balls?" she thought, stooping down to feel it with her hands. But instead of feeling the hard, smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. "This is very queer," she said, and went on a step or two further.

CS Lewis

Just imagine if Lucy had been too scared to take those steps... I don't think her story would be half so interesting... do you?