CREATIVITY + INNOVATION Page 36 of 38

Squam round-up

Posted on 2010-10-12 at 7:00 pm.

There was a lot of laughter on this trip. In my last post about Squam I just wanted to share some of the (many) lighter moments.

Travelling to the retreat in style…

You can imagine our faces when Leroy and his mobile home rocked up to pick Louise and me up from the bus station. Not quite the shuttle we had been expecting, but we were delighted to find it filled with tea and biscuits and friendly new faces.

Wondering how apt it was that my cabin should be down this road…

Feeling lucky to share a cosy cabin with such wonderful ladies (Nina, Sylvia, Jayne, Kirsten, Brittany + Steph who is not in the picture.)

Getting lost in the forest in the middle of a torrential downpour late at night with six girls laughing madly (our cabin was called ‘Wayonda’ for a very good reason). It looked something like this…

Admiring the work of fellow artists Andrea and Jess at the Visions of Squam exhibition at Mocha Rising in the cute nearby town of Centre Sandwich.

Thank you Squam Lake for having us, and thank you Elizabeth for bringing us together.

The importance of photography

Posted on 2010-10-08 at 11:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Photo: Koichi Fujiwara

An old friend of mine, renowned wildlife photographer Koichi Fujiwara, is busy preparing for a big exhibition of his photos which opens later this month in Japan. The images he captures are a mixture of stunning, cute, and thought-provoking but they all have one thing in common – they tell the story of the environmental crisis our world is currently facing.

In ‘The Earth is calling us – listen to Nature’s voice’, a special exhibition to coincide with the COP10 Biodiversity Conference in Nagoya, Ko shares a stark snapshot of the state of the planet. Through beautiful photos he shows how our actions are completely shaking up the world’s ecosystems, and the impact that is happening on some of our most treasured animals.

As a perpetual traveller and the only person to have photographed every species of penguin in the world, he is taking the planet’s pulse first hand. From Komodo Dragons in Indonesia and Giant Spiny Chameleons in Madagascar, to Orang-utans in Borneo and seals in Antarctica, Ko has brought back a suitcase full of visual treasures from his travels, but with a frightening message about what we might find (or not) if we travel to those same places next year, next decade, next century.

If you happen to be in Nagoya, do check it out. If not, you can always see some of Ko’s photos on his website Nature’s Planet or peruse one of the many books he has written. (The site is in Japanese but is easy to hop about and find photos.)

He got me thinking about the importance of photography not just to capture beauty, stash away memories and catalogue history as it happens, but also to influence the future. The seemingly inevitable doesn’t necessarily have to become history, if the images are powerful enough to make us change how we live in the present.

What powerful images of our time have you seen lately? Do share with a link!

Open Your Eyes – photography workshop with Susannah Conway

Posted on 2010-10-03 at 10:20 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

So to one of my three workshops at Squam – a photography class with Susannah Conway of unraveling fame.

I love the soulful polaroid shots that appear one after another on her blog, and was interested in absorbing some of the magic. After learning a few rules, and then being encouraged to go out and break them all (my favourite bit), I snapped away.

In the woods…

And by the lake…

Open Your Eyes - photography workshop with Susannah Conway deck

Have you broken any rules recently?

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More on my Squam experience here: Reflections of Squam – I dreamed a dream

Reflections on Squam: I dreamed a dream…

Posted on 2010-09-23 at 11:19 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

… of a place where I could sit on a rocking chair,

on an old wooden deck,

looking out over the stillness of a lake

… where I could think

… listen

… soak in nature

… create

… dive in*

*literally, at 5am. It was icy but I felt so ALIVE

I found that place at Squam Lake, New Hampshire, with a warm family of old and new journeymates.

Thank you friends, for opening your hearts and sharing your laughter

It was a most precious time

***

Exciting creative business news

Posted on 2010-09-03 at 12:29 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Sometimes great things seem to drop from the sky just when you need them. This is one of those times.

With huge good fortune I have been chosen as one of around 15 young female entrepreneurs to be part of a groundbreaking business mentoring programme run by a leading national glossy magazine here in the UK. This awesome opportunity partners us with some of the country’s most inspiring and successful businesswomen.

Kanya King (photo courtesy of MOBO)

I have been gifted the most amazing mentor – Kanya King, founder of the MOBO Awards, the largest urban music awards in Europe with a television audience of 250 million. Kanya is a creative entrepreneur of quite astonishing energy, talent and courage. She founded the awards 15 years ago, remortgaging her house to pay for it. Since then Kanya has won over the music industry, negotiating major TV and sponsorship deals along the way, to turn MOBO into one of the high points of the annual music calendar. Not only has it been a huge commercial success, but it has also become a shining light for social responsibility within the industry.

I am so excited that we will be working together on branding and expansion of my creative business – and there are some seriously cool things in the pipeline which I will share with you here soon. I will also use this space to share the many things I know I am going to learn from Kanya, so stay tuned, and get yourself some mentoring by proxy!

***
This year’s MOBO Awards will be held in the music mecca of Liverpool on October 20.

Say it with a card…

Posted on 2010-09-02 at 12:06 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Having recently been overwhelmed by kindness I have many thank yous to say right now. There are many ways to say thank you, but I like the hand made way…

Here are some of the cards I have been making in my new studio this week, using gorgeous ribbons from East of India, Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks and hand made paper from Southern India, recycled from cotton rag.

How do you like to say thank you?

***

the sea, the sea

Posted on 2010-08-30 at 1:23 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

‘The Sea’: 12″X12″ acrylic on canvas

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
by John Masefield

***

I used this poem as the inspiration for this work-in-progress for Louise’s ‘Creative Color Challenge’. Check out all the other contributions here…

***

Have you ever been on a tall ship? It is a magical experience. I once raced in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships’ Race across the Bay of Biscay, wind in my hair and dolphins at the bow. I love this poem as it captures that feeling so beautifully – the sense of freedom, and wandering wonder.

Learning to paint Jesse Reno style + 6 month blogiversary

Posted on 2010-08-24 at 7:19 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Anyone else signed up for An Artful Journey in California in February next year? For Jesse Reno’s class? It is going to be awesome, I just know it. More energising days of organised creative chaos in those beautiful mountains, in the shadow of that magical redwood forest, with old friends and new. So exciting!

The Presentation Center, home to all sorts of creative magic at An Artful Journey

I started this blog after attending An Artful Journey last year, and it was a really important moment for me. I began listening to my own creative whispers, and so many great things have happened as a result.

And this is just the beginning…

In fact, today marks six months since my first ever blog post, which talked about the importance of doing what you love. And signing up to An Artful Journey again is one of the ways I am trying to stay true to that. With Squam coming up next month it is fast become a twice-yearly creative pilgrimage to the US, but I know it is going to be important again, for different reasons, as next year is going to be HUGE (you’ll have to wait a while to hear more about that…)

For now, I just want to take a moment to thank you all for making this blogging experience so special, for leaving comments, sharing your stories, and hearing mine. To think that I knew nothing about this whole world of lovely creative souls just six months ago.

What a precious thing this is, really.

At home: Welcome to my studio!

Posted on 2010-08-23 at 9:22 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

“Pick one room and make it yours.

Go slowly through the house.

Be polite, introduce yourself,

so it can introduce itself to you.”

(borrowing the words quoted by the lovely Louise Gale as a comment in response to this blog post)

So that’s what I am going to do. Introduce myself, then introduce you, room by room, bit by bit. As we start to make friends with our new home.

Here is a peek of the first one – my studio. Won’t you come in?

At one end it has this sweet fireplace, which will be great when winter sets in. I have just put up this picture for now while I work out what to do with the space above the mantelpiece. Any ideas?

Here’s my painting/making stuff table. There is an easel in the corner but I like making a horizontal mess! The glass table is actually more practical than it looks – it provides a brilliantly smooth surface for painting and is easy to cover, but also makes the most of the space in the room when it is uncovered.

The wooden floorboards were reclaimed from an old school gymnasium. They are full of marks and stories – you can almost see generations of children jumping over benches and off climbing bars (and maybe even sneaking a first kiss behind the pommel horse).

There are three big windows like this so they let in lots of light

Handy storage for my art supplies, and just enough space to squeeze blank canvasses underneath

No such thing as too many art books…

These old picnic hampers make great storage for my sewing stuff – fabric, ribbons, thread for the things I am slowly learning to make!

And above them is the lovely painting from Judit at Pilgrim of the Moon (I talked about it in this post)

One of my inspiration boards. This one includes prints by Juliette Crane and DJ Pettitt, and my Soul Collage cards that I made in California back in February.

I think the paper obsession, stationery obsession and book obsession may be linked…

Finally I have somewhere to put all my bits and bobs – paper ribbon, buttons, lovely shiny things

My little bonsai friend (in need of a haircut)

My reading corner, and all important stereo – a girl’s gotta have tunes to paint to!

So there it is, my new studio.

Would love to have you all come over to create and make mess. What’s your creative space like? What’s on your inspiration board?

Joining in some creative summer fun!

Posted on 2010-07-21 at 8:57 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Just wanted to share a couple of cool things I am joining in with this summer, in case you fancy having a go yourself.

The lovely Louise over at Dream, Inspire, Create has launched a ‘Creative Color Challenge’. It’s a great idea, and gives you a bit of a steer for creating but also gives you a lot of freedom to play with juicy colours. I will be sharing what I make over the next month right here.

Image: from Louise Gale

And Susannah Conway has just launched the ‘August Break’, a photo blogging challenge for the summer – so I will try to share a photo (nearly) every day in August.

Joining in some creative summer fun! august+break

Image: from Susannah Conway

And I am also trying to keep up with learning some new techniques from the very talented Claudine Hellmuth. Her class ‘@ Home with Claudine Hellmuth’ is very cool. I will share some of the things I make over there in the coming weeks too.

Joining in some creative summer fun! %40home

Image: from Claudine Hellmuth

What creative challenge are you setting yourself this summer?