Shall I shant I....?

I'm back! After feeling awful for a month I am now starting to feel more like myself. Tonsillitis, a cold and a cough that still wont go away has just made me feel absolutely awful. It will be good to be able to talk to someone without breaking out in a coughing fit or knowing that laughing at anything will just darn near kill me, but I can't complain really.

Aside from being ill, I have made some time to be creative and have hand made some Christmas and Birthday cards for friends, and I am also in the process of creating party invites with a Charlie and Lola theme for a 5 year old pyjama party! That will be a hard one but I am up for the challenge.

I am considering entering the Creative Every Day Challenge 2011, but I am not sure. I joined the Flickr 365 photo project and did really well until I became ill.....and the last thing on my mind as I stared down a toilet bowl was taking pictures....so after 10.5 months I have failed that challenge! (harsh words there!) Some people need a challenge to force them into making stuff, and I understand that. But what I found when I did the 365 photo project was that I started to lose the enjoyment of taking a picture and ended up using my iPhone more and more and captured what I could. And I don't want that to happen to my art. But I feel torn, as I do like to stretch myself! Decisions, decisions.

It's nice to be back and I hope you are all having a good week!

Helen

ps....the Robin at Kew picture was taken by my wonderful Jim on his first photography outing in a long while....all work and no play wasn't healthy for him, and as the robin looked well fed and happy, I just wanted to share him!

Painting challenge

There seems to be a theme of late for people posting a picture a day on a blog or website, whether it’s a photograph or a painting. At the moment I am a member of a group in Flickr where I post a photograph a day. I am almost 7 months in and it really has been quite a challenge. Some days I find it easy as a subject will just leap out at me or other times it’s late in the day and I haven’t taken a shot! However, it’s good fun and it is really improving my photography skills, even if lately my camera has been my iPhone.

As my creative focus leans towards art I would love to be able to create a painting a day, like these brilliant artists:

Marianne Bland
Karen Werner
Lisa Daria

However, I think that it may be too much of a challenge to take on, especially as I am already taking a photograph a day. So I have decided that I will do a painting a week for the next 4 weeks, starting from now (set’s stopwatch!!!)

So watch this space.......

A Busy Bee....

As seems to be the common theme these days, it’s been a while since my last post.

I am amazed at how quickly time passes.....it’s quite scary really. One minute it’s Monday morning with a whole week ahead, and then all of a sudden it’s Friday and we are looking forward to the weekend.

I’ve had a busy few weeks which included a holiday and now it seems to be back to reality, catching up on work, seeing friends and just life in general.

However, I have found time to check out some blogs and one of which has really caught my eye. The blog is by an artist called Carol Marine who produces a painting-a-day and has been doing so since October 2006! How about that for dedication and consistency. They are small oil paintings and I have to say that I love them. They have a freshness to them and a spontaneity, which I find appealing, and are of everyday subjects, or places she has visited and each day are put up for sale on ebay with a minimum price of $100.

Here's one of her recent paintings which I love....

http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/

Creating a painting every day must be a real challenge – heaven knows I find it challenging taking a photograph every day. I assume that Carol is an artist and therefore painting is her day job, but what about the days when you are not feeling inspired. When you just want to read or catch up on some sleep, or are busy with the family etc etc. To make the time to paint every day requires a dedication which I can only admire and greatly respect.

I imagine Carol has learned alot in the time she decided to produce a painting every day and I hope she continues this project for as long as she can as not only her paintings, but her dedication is pure inspiration.