In this penultimate post about my recent trip to the US, I want to share some images of this captivating city. There is an incredible air of possibility about this place, and so much to feast your eyes on…
If you are a fan of NYC, what is it that draws you to it?
Living the NYC artist life on a stall with Jenny (Overallbaby), Dolores (Marikit Deisgns) and Louise (Dream, Inspire, Create) at Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn – I could get used to this!
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…
Have you broken any rules recently?
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More on my Squam experience here: Reflections of Squam – I dreamed a dream
“When we look with our eyes, from our hearts, through the lens, it’s a completely different photo and something really powerful can happen” Jen Lemen
Check out this awesome video of Jen’s story on her journey from happy snapper to $50,000 world photography prize winner…
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And if you are in the mood for wishing, please help me make a dream come true here!
I’m back from my little African adventure.
Energised.
Refreshed.
Inspired.
I went alone but travelled in good company
with people I found along the way.
I visited a prison,
played with a lion,
hung out with new friends and old.
And I soaked up the energy of the world’s football fans
dancing on African soil.
New places, new faces.
New perspectives.
New memories.
Nothing like a little travel to shake it all up.
What little adventures have you lived recently?
Imagine the scene. Ten people sketching furiously to a strict time limit of ten seconds, one life model pose after another, papers flying everywhere, tossed to the floor on each ring of the bell for a new pose, new piece of paper, new sketch. A veritable storm of drawing paper and charcoal dust…
10 second sketch (10 seconds is seriously quick! I’m not sure I even looked at the paper in that time!)
I spent most of Saturday at the Northern Film School taking a fascinating workshop on Drawing Figures for Animation. Five solid hours of live drawing, with the longest sitting at 20 minutes – exhausting but exhilarating. And seriously good practice. We did a mixture of contour drawings, gesture drawings and charicatures with charcoal, pencil and marker pens. I came away with about eighty sketches, and a whole lot more confidence in figure drawing.
30 second sketch
Sometimes it is worth putting a time limit on your work to focus your attention and really make you look. Then it’s up to you whether you stick to the rules, break the rules or abandon the rules altogether!
2-minute sketch
When was the last time you played around in your sketchbook?
Today’s Do What You Love interview isn’t really an interview. It is more of a conversation, with one of the last real professional Icon Painters in Greece. I dropped in to visit Dimitri Kolioussis in his studio on the beautiful island of Santorini when I was there on holiday recently. Dimitri learnt all the important things he knows about painting from the elders in his village.
His work is so revered that he has been commissioned to paint 14 icons for the legendary Panagia Episkopi Church on Santorini, a church which has existed on the island for over 1,000 years.
He is the first artist I have ever met who expects his work to last ‘for hundreds of years’. That in itself is a lesson to us all to have confidence in the longevity of what we produce (and use archival quality materials!)
Doing nothing does not come easily to me, but island hopping in Greece was the perfect opportunity to take a step back, get some much needed rest, soak up the sun and have no schedule for over two weeks (except ‘swim time’, ‘ice cream time’, ‘dinner time’ etc – you get the picture). It has been time for:
… ice cold watermelon
… cool swims in sparkling seas
… dancing in the sand
… long chats over dinner as the sun set
… and a time to wander and explore tradition and modernity
It has also been a time for clearing out my head, which arrived in the baking heat of Athens jumbled and full, noisy and impatient.
The gentle breeze, clear skies and luxurious sun have calmed it, and made space for new ideas, plans and adventures. I have made real progress on two exciting projects I am working on (more on this soon) – baby steps towards a big dream.
I feel healthier, energised and ready to play.
It’s funny how quite a few of us have been talking about rest recently, as Louise pointed out.
It’s half way through a big year, spring is turning into summer, and we all need to take time to replenish our energy reserves every now and then.
Are you taking care of yourself?
You guys rock!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Seriously, I cannot believe how generously you shared your advice to help me get over my first-machine-use-phobia. And I think you cured me!! I started off with baby steps as advised by the lovely Anne at Craft Gossip Sewing, and then I realised how much fun it was, and just started whizzing along!
Look what I made, thanks to you (and I surprised myself that I actually don’t care they are all wonky)…
Stitched postcards…
A four-weeks-at-a-glance wall planner with interchangeable pockets (red thread inspired by Rebecca Sower – thanks for the intro Stella)…
A journal (thanks Lorrie – remember the little heart?)…
And some other bits and pieces too. I am now officially in love with my sewing machine.
And I love all the blog and website links you shared. So inspiring and lots still to check out.
Did I say thank you SO much!
Capturing a fleeting moment in a way which one day will take you right back to that place, the smells, the sounds, the feeling. There is magic in photography. I love taking photos and I think something in me helps me take some sweet shots with the occasional flukey great one, but I don’t really know why I like the ones I like, and I know there is so much more to learn. So I have just taken a class with photographer extraordinaire Susannah Conway, learning more about composition, light, and all sorts of other things I never really think much about.
I photographed my cup of tea, and then played around with some editing tools. Which one do you like best? And which one do you like least? I’d love to know which and why.
Original photo:
I quite like the original photo, but think altered version number 12 is my favourite. I love the difference in texture either side of the diagonal line, and the pattern in the bottom right corner would make fantastic wrapping paper!
Photography actually runs through my family (right back four generations) so maybe this is just awakening something that has always been there… more on that another day.