PLAYFULNESS + CURIOSITY Page 19 of 22

Searching for sea glass

Searching for seaglass

Have you ever gone searching for treasure on a beach?  It is so much fun to seek out sea glass, collect lovely pebbles and bring beautiful shells home as a reminder of a trip to the sea.  On the way back from Bressay to Aberdeen I spent a couple of hours poking around Lerwick, finding tiny treasures everywhere.  My heavy rucksack was literally ‘full of rocks’!

sea glass

Jeanette and Sarah with their treasures

Aberdeen

steps

Searching for sea glass ler5

Searching for sea glass ler1

Searching for sea glass ler2

island life

A perfect end to a lovely trip away.  What a discovery the Shetland islands was – I shall be back to Scotland’s bonny isles…

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More posts from this trip:

I *heart* San Francisco

San Fransisco

A couple of weeks ago I spent a fun few days in San Francisco with my good friends Louise Gale and Juliette Crane.

Louise Gale Juliette Crane

We walked for miles, enjoyed discovering hidden galleries and cafes, nosed through the windows of people’s tall pastel-coloured houses and – dare I say it – even did a bit of shopping!

flower

pastel coloured houses San Fran

Rose's cafe

house

I *heart* San Francisco paper shop

eye

We also met up with the lovely Mati Rose McDonough and Tiffany Moore for lunch, in the gorgeous Tartine bakery. ‘So fun’ (as Tiffany would say…)

meet up

lemon meringue pie

Now that’s my kind of lemon meringue pie!

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I was in the US for a painting class with the awesome Jesse Reno.  You can read about it here, and see what crazy stuff I painted. More on my USA adventures to follow soon…

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Do What You Love interview – Matt Nicholls

thebiginterview1

Today I am delighted to share an interview with my very own brother Matt! From a very young age Matt drew and made models, and I remember how he used to do the most amazing technical drawings of cars. More recently he has turned industrial welding into a fine art, creating bespoke furniture, sculptures, gates and house signs. He has also just started building bespoke treehouses – I want one! Today I talk to him about how he has combined his love of nature and passion for creating with the very practical industrial skill of welding.

Matt Nicholls interview

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Fame at last!

Do you remember I told you about the mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper?  Well the story made it onto Page 2 of the Arnold Sentinel in Nebraska, the newspaper which originally turned up on my doorstep rolled up in the toilet roll! Here is the article…   Thanks so much to Janet from the paper for sharing it with me.

From the Editor

The whole thing came about as part of the Campaign for Real Mail, which continues apace.  The tins of fish and pineapple I sent my brothers(!) arrived…

Fame at last! ipod 230

Fame at last! ipod 228

…and my little brother thoughtfully sent me this CD.  I am already plotting the next one – watch this space.

Fame at last! cd2

Fame at last! cd1

And this was a lovely surprise – TJ Goerlitz of Studio Mailbox sent this sweet little heart from Germany via ‘Luftpost’ – thank you TJ!

Fame at last! heart1

So with pan-European participation and international media exposure, the Campaign for Real Mail is almost taking over the world!

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Playing with plaster

During the retreat I attended recently in California, I popped into another studio to have a nosey at what they were doing in Stephanie Lee’s class, and see Lorrie, Lindy and Louise working away on their plaster creations.  I have always loved wax, and couldn’t resist having a go myself.

wax art

Under their guidance I made this picture – not bad for under an hour!

wax art 1

I can see why Louise has declared it was love at first sight with plaster…  I just love the way the glaze seeped into the cracked plaster, and how the wax drank in the brown paint where markings were scratched into it.

wax art 2

My man hung it on the wall yesterday, with the new drill I got him for Christmas (but am now coveting – it’s so cool!)

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Have you ever tried playing with plaster and wax? Such fun!

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Jesse Reno’s awesome ‘No Limits’ class (Part Two)

I have a confession to make. I am a bit of a non-conformist when it comes to painting. I don’t much like sketching, I don’t have the patience to plan a painting, and rendering a still life is up there with doing the housework. Which is probably why I loved Jesse Reno’s class so much. It was all about being messy, creating chaos, getting stuck in.

If you aren’t familiar with Jesse’s work, have a look at this incredible video. He paints furiously, in a carefree but strangely considered way – it looks like everything in random but there is some method in all the madness. Jesse himself is a fascinating guy, full of funny stories of his life as an artist, living it just the way he wants to. His images are ancient and very masculine, but his colours and added details hearts, flowers etc) are contemporary and feminine. It makes for a unique combination.

Here are some images from our class – you can see how Jesse built up his paintings.


Jesse Reno class

Jesse Reno painting

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part Two) jr2a

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part Two) jr3

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part Two) jr4

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part Two) jr5

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part Two) jr6

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part Two) jr7

Jesse came back after class hours and stayed in the studio with us until gone midnight. It was awesome to see him paint live, and to get pushed into trying new things.

I was uncomfortable about my own paintings – they were crazy, quite dark, unfamiliar. But I was fascinated by what unfolded before me. You can see what I created over here – let me know what you think!

This is definitely my kind of painting.

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I had an awesome fortnight in the US, reconnecting with old friends at An Artful Journey, making new ones, and taking a road trip down the beautiful California coast.  Will post more about all the lovely girls at the retreat and about the rest of my US adventure soon…

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Have you signed up to the Do What You Love e-course yet? Don’t miss out on joining people from all over the world for this innovative six week adventure towards doing what you love. Register now!

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Jesse Reno’s awesome ‘No Limits’ class (Part One)

This class hit me like a bolt of lightning. It was awesome. Jesse Reno had us painting with our hands, wrecking it, painting over it again, wrecking it again, turning it around, painting it and wrecking it 3-4 more times, adding oil pastel scribbles and details, and so on. It was tough until I just gave in and changed my attitude – not being attached to what I’d created, and letting it become whatever it wanted to. And this is what emerged (images show the paintings in stages)…

The nomad

I really didn’t like this one at first, I wanted to throw it away half way through, and then I started painting hundreds of little squares on it with a rubber brush, this nomad emerged and he ended up being my favourite!

Layer 3:

Jesse Reno class

Layer 6 (I turned it 90 degrees clockwise after layer 3 – you can see by looking at the green area):

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) nomad

The space child

This one was a bit spacey, quite cute, not sure where it came from:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) spacey2

Two people

This one is quite spacey too.  Here are some of the base layer details:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) flowers2 Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) flowers12

Later layers:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) flowers3 Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) flowers detail

And the final(?) painting:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) flowers4

Silenced

This one is a bit scary. I didn’t really like the fact that something so dark looking emerged, but it was really interesting to try not to control the painting.

Layer 2:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) zip1

Layer 4:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) zip2

Layer 6 (flipped 180 degrees):

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) zip3

Final layer:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) silenced

Wierd creature!

And this one looks like a five-year old painted it!  So interesting…

Layer 2:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) hog1

Layer 3:

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) hog2

Layer 5 (flipped 180 degrees, not finished!)

Jesse Reno's awesome 'No Limits' class (Part One) hog4

So what do you think?  I’d love to know…

[Update: Part Two of this post is up now over here]

I had an awesome fortnight in the US, reconnecting with old friends at An Artful Journey, making new ones, and taking a road trip down the beautiful California coast. Will post more about Jesse Reno and his crazy style, all the lovely girls at the retreat and about the rest of my US adventure soon…

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Have you signed up to the Do What You Love e-course yet?  Don’t miss out on this innovative six week adventure towards doing what you love. Register now!

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The mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper

Do you remember I told you about the Campaign for Real Mail?

It’s where my brothers and I send each other silly things in the post, no envelopes allowed, just for fun.

Well it looks like someone else randomly decided to join in…

I received this toilet roll in the post(!)

It came from my little brother, but all he posted was this little piece of cardboard.

The mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper mail1

However when it arrived, it had a newspaper rolled up inside it.

And not just any old newspaper.

‘The Arnold Sentinel’ serving Custer County, Arnold, Nebraska, USA.

It might make sense if I lived in Nebraska… but I live in England!

We have absolutely no idea how it got inside the toilet roll.

I wonder if someone at the Post Office had a little chuckle to themselves?

I love it that someone else had some fun with this too.

The mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper paper

I got to read a lovely story about deer in a Nebraskan snowstorm, the local Arnold Public School receiving an art grant, and that the ‘Good News Club’ will resume meetings soon.

I like the sound of the ‘Good News Club’.

Might be worth a trip to Nebraska…

 

Do What You Love interview – Priscilla Jones

thebiginterview1

Priscilla Jones is an award-winning mixed media artist based in Lancaster, in the north of England who has exported her designs to Japan, the USA and across Europe, including freelance designs for greeting cards, wallpaper, fashion and interior fabrics. Priscilla’s unique art work in both 2D and 3D is known for its etherial feel and shabby chic colouring.

Priscilla is continuously exhibiting her work in exhibitions both nationally and internationally and is a freelance educator in Further/Higher Education and secondary schools. She also runs a programme of independant workshops and talks in galleries, museums and selected venues.

priscilla teapot jug

Priscilla will be teaching a delicious workshop – ‘Structure and surface: 3D sculpture with wax, wire, fabric, paper and found materials’ – at the Do What You Love retreat in May.

Today we explore her work and influences and find out more about her creative business. (All photo credits: Priscilla Jones)

priscilla teapot

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