A brief encounter....

I had the most wonderful and uplifting experience last night on the train which I must share with you....but let me go back a bit first.

Over the past couple of weeks I have found the lack of time spent painting frustrating. It’s down to me to change that and I am working on doing just so. I now have my travel sketch set with me at work and I am looking at ways to paint more in the evenings.

So last night I travelled a fair few miles and at a bit of a cost to attend my weekly art group. The money and time was well spent as I lost myself for a couple of hours doing something I truly love.

I had to get a train home and with all the connections it meant an hour and a half journey....rather more than the 5 mins I have had previously. But I wanted to go there last night.

So I settled down in my seat on the train, took out my copy of The Leisure Painter magazine and started to read. There was a baby crying in the carriage....well, it was more like a wail, and it was pretty continuous. I looked at the gentleman sitting in front of me and we both smiled at each other and commented on how hard it must be for the baby and the parents. And then he pointed to my art magazine and asked if I painted. I replied yes, and then what happened next was just wonderful. We sat there and chatted about art and his work and art and my work and more art until I had to get off at Clapham Junction. So we thanked each other for a wonderful conversation, bid farewell and each other a safe journey home.

Our whole conversation was so uplifting for me, and I hope to the gentleman too. I commute daily on trains and am all too aware that people just don’t talk to each other, so not only was it refreshing to chat to a kind chap, but also to have such an interesting conversation.

It also couldn’t have come at a better time for me after the way I have been feeling over the last couple of weeks. It uplifted me and made me feel encouraged and excited at what I do.

He said to me ‘Painting is good for the soul, you know’ to which I agreed.....but so are kind gentleman who engage in delightful conversation.

So thank you Kind Gentleman for uplifting my precious soul and I hope our paths cross again....

NB: I’ve just noticed that on my previous post about how to engage with more artists I mentioned talking about my art, but not to random strangers on the train....well how weird is that!!

Get Connected

I find sometimes the world of art a lonely one. I run and belong to an art group and I really enjoy being with people who are creative, just like me. But in between those weekly meet ups painting can be quite lonely.

I don’t mind painting on my own, in fact I love it and with the music on I can lose myself for hours. I’m talking about connecting with other artists. Is it hard to network with other artists? Or is it just me?

Maybe it’s my confidence as a painter that I struggle with, wondering if I am good enough to be considered an artist worthy of knowing. Maybe I need to be more ‘out there’ when it comes to meeting other artists.

So I had a good old think about what steps I could take to improve my artist’s network. And I don’t mean by having a hundred contacts who I never talk to, but ones who are interested in meeting up to exchange ideas, build up friendships and a long term relationships. So here’s my conclusions:

1. Believe in myself
2. Visit local exhibitions and meet artists
3. Use social networking sites
4. Talk about my art – not to random strangers on the train, but to other artists...this goes back to point one, believe in myself
5. Attend some art workshops

They are only simple suggestions and I am interested in hearing any you may have, but the more I do it, the more I will get from it. But before I can start talking about my paintings, I need to do some, and following on from my previous post I have struggled lately to find the time.

So it’s time for some good music, a large canvas and plenty of paint.

Procrastination.....

I am an artist. I am. But at the moment I am an artist who doesn’t paint. Hmnnn.....

I have inspiration, I have ideas, I have tools but I don’t have the time. Or at least I am not finding the time which is incredibly frustrating and leaves me with art paper untouched, paints in their tubes and ideas left to my sketchbook or my head.

I run an art group each week and therefore have some painting time but other than that life seems to be getting in the way.

How do other people hold down a full time job, commute over 10 hours per week, have family time and still manage to paint? Where do they find the time or the energy.

I am an artist.....right?

How lovely...

It's hot.....

The flowers are out...

The birds are singing.....

People are going crazy in the heat

Courtyards are perfect for summer lunches...

And the creativity is in abundance. Long may the sun shine :o)

Midsummer Madness....

This weekend I attended the Midsummer Art Fair at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington.

It was a really excellent fair and there were 78 stalls with art work ranging from paintings, photography, sculpture and jewellery. I was very impressed with the foot flow too and even on a sunny Sunday afternoon people were out in their droves. I can't comment on the success of the fair from the artists point of view, but suffice to say I saw many a red sticker on paintings.

It was somewhat challenging taking a 3 year old to this fair and it did make it difficult to look at every single stall - even if Jim and I did think she may not be too bored - but we still came away from the fair full of inspiration and a handful of business cards.

Here are some of the ones we liked:

Nozomi Inoue
Jim Munnion
Clinton De Menezes
Jan Levy
Ondre Nowakowski

The next art fair they are holding will be on 16th and 17th October and this time, we hope to find a babysitter!

Have a great and art filled week!

Helen

Trying something new...

In my attempt to become more organised – and every now and then I have a real purge at this – I have started to use Google Reader.

It all stemmed from changing my personal email address to a Google one and then looking at all the things I can also do from my Google account.

To be honest at first I was quite sceptical, mainly down to the fact that I had never really understood RSS feeds (or just didn’t want to) and I quite liked having my ‘favourites’ tab on my internet browser where I could check out my favourite websites and blogs when I wanted.

However, the more blogs I found and liked and the more websites that interested me meant that my favourite list was getting longer and longer. And then there was the whole issue that these would remain on the one computer....which was quite restricting as I would have to try and remember them which is not ideal if like me, you have a bad memory .

So there I was looking at what Google Reader does and to sum it up, it allows you to subscribe to all your favourite blogs and websites, and provides you with a notification whenever new posts or content is uploaded. Perfect!

This means I can browse when I want, see what has been added, keep up to date with my favourite blogs all at my own pace.

And talking of favourite blogs, here are some of them:

The Dainty Squid

Ramblings of the Bearded One

Michael Gage: Work in Progress

moments of perfect clarity

Art of Wyanne

Carol Marine's Painting a Day

I can assure you Google haven't paid me to say this, although if those at Google are reading this, please feel free to donate to me.....I just really wanted to let you know that this is quite a good little gadget. My only concern is that just as I am getting used to this, a new, whizzy-wow tool will come out..........!!!!

Have a good week!

Helen

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.