Category Archives: adventure

Practice, practice, practice…

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Me at sea

Me at sea

This time last week, I was on a yacht sailing around the Ionian Islands in Greece. As you can see from the photo above, I was relaxed and at ease… and I don’t always look that calm or feel this way! With the help of my Mum, my brother and my ex-husband, I was able to take a week away from home during school term time, knowing my boys were in safe hands.

My week away felt like at least two and I learned more about sailing in just seven days than I have in the past three years. Many of the things I was previously clueless or hesitant about started to seem natural and my confidence sky-rocketed. It was only last week, getting the sails up every day, asking the stupid questions I had been too embarrassed to ask in front of others and repeating actions regularly, under the supervision of my partner (an experienced sailor), that I really made massive progress with my learning. The power of practice!

And so, with a desire to improve my sailing and spend time on my art, I partnered sailing with drawing and painting. During the morning periods, when the sea was calm as a millpond and we spent time motoring before hoisting the sails, I drew the islands ahead of us or picked up my watercolours and painted.

Sketching the islands

Sketching the islands

Island sketch

Island sketch

Day after day, I observed the folds of the mountains; the light and the shadows; the trees and the plantlife. When I wasn’t painting on paper, I was painting in my head or recording the details on camera as future reference material or inspiration.

Islands from the sea

Islands from the sea

The “painting in my head” bit might sounds a little strange, but spending time looking and really seeing the way the colour and light changes, thinking about how I would get that down on paper, really noticing those details, was enormously useful. As the boat was always moving, so was my view of each island… the angles and the light ever changing. Whilst this could have been frustrating, I found it beneficial as it stretched me to work quickly.

Painting the islands

Painting the islands

As we were keen to hoist the sails at every opportunity, I found myself putting down the shapes of the islands, the state of the sea and any notable landmarks much faster than I would normally. Then, in the evenings, when we were safely moored up, I would return to my paintings and fill in the details slowly. It was getting dark shortly after 7pm, so the long evenings of Summer light that we had enjoyed a month earlier were gone and I had time to paint before dinner and often stole a few moments for creativity between waking and breakfast.

The morning light was stunning… something I did not even attempt to capture on paper, but having taken photos to remember the incredible fiery sunrise over Vathi, this is something I may well return to and try painting one day. It was interesting how, having time to observe and engage with everything free from the usual distractions, I was able to observe and implement my learning, both in sailing and painting.

Sunrise over Vathi

Sunrise over Vathi

We ate breakfast on board most days, dropping anchor in a different bay early each afternoon for a picnic lunch made on board. Port Leone, on one of our last days, was my favourite picnic spot.

Port Leone

Port Leone

We all start off as beginners and when you immerse yourself in repeated action, the learning curve is steep and the rewards are enormous. Had you suggested to me five years ago, that I would spend a child-free week on a yacht sailing and painting, I would have thought you were joking! Four years ago, sailing wasn’t even on my radar and three years ago, I took the first tentative steps to see if I would like sailing and spent my first night on a boat. It took some persuasion on the part of my partner to get me to even try sailing in the first place. I was scared and, if I am honest, I was not even keen at that point… curious, maybe, but had I not had that friendly hand on my back, encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone, I would not be sharing these photos with you today.

Through sailing, I discovered a love of the sea from an angle that was completely new to me and which provided me with the sense of space and expansion I had long been craving.

Say YES!

Try everything.
Don’t rule anything out… it’s never too late to learn a new skill and sometimes the thing you think will appeal to you least is the thing you need the most.

When you find that thing you love to do, practice, practice, practice.

I am not afraid to say that my art is far from perfect, but it was dropping the desire for perfection in my art that was the biggest source of creative freedom, EVER! With this freedom, the perfectionist demons that sometimes stopped me from starting in the first place were forever laid to rest and I now allow myself to make mistakes, learn from them by reflecting on how I would do things differently next time, and correcting them. Same goes for sailing and anything new.

Screw up. Make mistakes, be grateful and learn from them. Look at the mistake and don’t feel you need to rub it out, but embrace it and make it into something better. I apply this learning in my Art Club and the children now know to celebrate these “Happy Accidents”. 

Back home this week, I have returned to a couple of my postcard paintings. With photos as reference and the stability of a table that’s not rocking and swaying, reworking my little paintings has been a wonderful way of returning to the joys of last week.

Sailing to Fiskardo

Sailing to Fiskardo

Leaving Pólis

Leaving Pólis

I hope I have inspired you to try something new or pick up something you love to do, but have not tried in a while. Go on… go practice!

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Playing games with nature

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Conker naughts and crosses

Nature’s game of noughts and crosses

I sent out a little survey recently asking people who had taken my 21 Days of Creative Freedom course what else they would like me to share. One thing that came up and which is very close to my heart was a request for creative activities to do with children.

It can be hard, I know (as a Mum of two boys who love their gadgets), to get some children engaged in creative activities. Others will happily draw for hours, but I find that my boys really come alive and express their gorgeous, creative selves out of doors, surrounded by nature. It is where they feel freest and happiest. Me too!

The natural world provides so many things that we take for granted or appreciate for their beauty alone, but a walk in the park or along the beach offers a whole wealth of creative opportunities.

On holiday this Summer, small boy and I were sitting in full blazing sun on a pebbly beach. The big boys had ventured off exploring caves and after some time swimming and splashing about in the water, small boy and I were feeling the need for some shade. The only shady spot in view was an old bench under a tree. How would I keep him occupied there, I wondered. So, from the beach, I gathered four sticks and some stones: five shiny smooth and five rough and bumpy. On a beach towel on the bench beneath the tree, I lay the sticks across each other to make a grid and asked small boy to choose which pile of stones he wanted.

Our next half hour was spent playing noughts and crosses over and over again. I was smooth stones, he was bumpy. When the big boys arrived, we jumped into the tender with them and took the pieces of our improvised game back to the yacht where we continued playing.

Seeing the fallen conkers these past few weeks I have, on several occasions, set up an impromptu game in the park, using conkers instead of noughts and crosses, one player putting the conkers white side up, the other white side down (as above). Simple fun. Isn’t that so often the best?
They say the best things in life are free.
Conkers have been substitute balls, allowing us a spur of the moment game of piggy in the middle which raises much laughter due to the trickiness of catching a small flying conker. They have been used for throwing competitions, as have big sticks (big boy loves athletics, so this really make him grin). Small boy has sent conkers racing down slides as his friends scramble to catch them. Endless amusement.
What other games have you played with conkers and sticks? I am sure there are many other options.

Being out and about, living in the moment and aware of my surroundings leads me to point out the simple things to my children. They, in return, show me nature’s magic through their eyes. We like to notice how nature makes its own art. At the beach, it was snail trails through rock pools; on the street, slug or snail trails caught our eyes and looked like nature’s works of abstract art decorating the pavement.

Nature's abstract art

Nature’s abstract art

I have written here on several occasions of the images I have made out of doors from sticks and stones in the woods and what the water has washed up on the beach, so I won’t repeat myself, but if you’re stuck for something to do this weekend, my advice would be this…
Go out… explore.
Lead the way sometimes and let your children lead you.
Point out the details you notice and encourage them to show you the simple everyday magic that they see the world.
Draw with sticks in the mud and come home messy.
I will never forget a little girl in my art club telling me, “my mum doesn’t mind if I get dirty as she knows it means I’ve been having fun”!
Life isn’t supposed to be neat and tidy all the time… especially creativity.

Do share what you get up to this weekend in the comments below… I would love to hear about your creative adventures in nature.

Inspiration exists

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trio“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
Pablo Picasso

Tomorrow is the back to school; the return to routine, and I have to say, I am quite looking forward to it. I find freedom in constraint.

Our Summer has been an amazingly varied one. I started by gaining my Competent Crew certificate on the solent, then heading off to sail the Ionian Sea with my love and the boys. The stunning views of distant islands from the yacht would have been the perfect exercise in limited colour palette (but those images will have to wait for another post as the photos are still stuck on the phone). But I made very little art this holiday. Knowing that quiet time alone would be in short supply, I chose not to frustrate myself with the intention to create at home, though on picnics in places where I knew the boys could run free, I took pastels and paper just in case and was rewarded on a couple of occasions. Enough solo space, bum on rug as kids ran and played, allowed me to do a few drawings. A last minute trip to Cornwall for a couple of days meant an unexpected visit to Tate St. Ives and to the even more delightful Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. The five hour journey there and back would have been worth if for that place alone. Meantime, the ideas were brewing.

This weekend, kids with Dad, I allowed myself to get going. On Friday night, I covered the table with newspaper, donned my dirty jeans and painting shirt and the canvas and acrylics came out. Having had countless ideas and images in my head over the six weeks of school holidays, I didn’t think I would find it difficult to make something I was happy with. How wrong I was. Before long, the frustration was mounting. I painted; painted over; tried something new; gave up. Paint was not working. In giving up on my painting, I did not give up on art, but rummaged through my art drawer for some charcoal. I found my big A2 drawing pad and started, this time with nothing in mind than to draw whatever flowed. The three charcoal drawings above were what came in the space of an hour or so. The outside light was on for some reason, so glimpsing the leaves lit through the window must have inspired me (but it was not until the following day that I realised the works must also have been influenced by my visit, earlier in the week to The Inner Self: Drawings from the Subconscious and represented, in some way, the unspoken words that had been forming in my head recently). I spent a little while in the garden too… shadows fell on the paper as I rested it on the ground and the inspiration grew stronger. I could have worked all night. Strangely (and unlike me when in flow) I chose not to. Instead, I chose bed and rose ready to begin again in the morning, working in pastels this time. I did one piece I was happy with then rested and turned to writing.

All Summer long I had intended to go visit the Matisse Cut Outs exhibition at Tate Modern, but for some reason (or many) had not managed it. Due to the popularity of the show, the Tate stayed open all night Saturday and into Sunday, so this morning, I caught the early train to London Bridge. My mission was to top up the inspiration tanks at the show. I had playbook and pens at the ready and was not disappointed. The elegant simplicity of the works astounded me. One of the pieces that moved me most was Oceania, The Sky as, with my fondness for brown packaging paper, I was able to envisage ways of creating a piece directly inspired, but quite different. Each room gave me new ideas for projects.

Next, I followed Ben Wilson’s chewing gum trail across the Millennium Bridge and chose to walk all the way to my next destination on the North (instead of my usual fave) South Bank. Again, inspiration was leaping out at me everywhere. I took photos, made notes and absorbed everything. Nothing like a stroll in the city to get the creative juices flowing. Time sat alone in busy places with notebook and pen allows me to consolidate things and if accompanied by good food in an atmospheric café all the better. I got lucky, filling several pages over porridge and chai at Dishoom. Once again, inspiration found me working.

The trick now is to turn that inspiration into something more concrete and this is often the point at which I resist. Fear kicks in and I kid myself that inspiration itself is enough. It is not. That is why I halted this blog post right there at the last full stop to go make something. You can see the result (white paper on brown manilla envelope with room for address on the left hand side) at the bottom of this post.
Today’s outing was a deliberate inspiration-seeking adventure. I went armed with supplies to work on my art and my ideas. The run-up to the day was filled with art-making and not, as I have explained, of the straight forward kind. I could have given up when the painting was not flowing, but chose to push through in a different medium. Inspiration found me working and it will find you too, if you work at it.matisseIf you need a little kick-start on your own inspiration-seeking adventure, why not join me…? The first of my Inspiration Days are coming soon.
Book now to be ahead of the game!
I challenge you to come out and play… experience the city through the eyes of an artist…
I guarantee inspiration will find you.

Little British Things

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littleThink of Little British Things and fish and chips and ice cream in cones and other simple delights spring to mind. On May 13, a wonderful, adventurous friend of mine, Diane Leigh, took off on a tour of Britain, by road, boat and rail in search of these things that make Britain so… well, so British. Along the way, she heard stories and told tales and sampled local delights as part of her 80 day Little British Things tour, during which she raised funds for the RNLI.

On July 14, we met up on the beach with a mission… a little meeting that had been planned (though very loosely, as in, “we must meet on the beach and make art”) for some time.

When you think of Britain’s beaches, it is unlikely that you will think of London (unless you are a regular visitor to the South Bank at low tide)… but when the water is out, the Thames has plenty of sand and all manner of scavengers’ delights… if only you know where to go. So, at 10.30am, we met up at the Royal Festival Hall and headed for the beach at the foot of the OXO Tower. Here, without a specific design in mind, we began gathering the raw materials to make our beach art. Driftwood and stones, shells and shoe soles, old brushes, bits of clay pipe, sea glass, a little plastic fish and some objects unknown were placed in piles ready to make a start.

collection“Let’s make a map”, Diane suggested, so we started setting out the pieces in the shape of Britain. The tide soon turned inwards and as the piece began to take shape, we sorted by colour and design and a plastic watering can came to represent a tea pot and fragments of weathered glass and worn plastic were placed in groups to mark sea and countryside.

cornwallIn the space of a couple of hours, our piece was almost complete and to finish it off, Diane scored the centre of the map with a fork we had found, leaving little lines along the land she had recently travelled, the shoe soles crossing the map as she had crossed the country. A couple came over, curious to find out what we were making and seemed keen to share their experiences of their own journeys as people who like to travel so often are. Then we walked up the stairs and we watched as a little boy strolled across our map from west coast to east coast and back again and we went for a sandwich, leaving the inbound waters to wash away our temporary art.

boyInspiration is everywhere… keep your eyes open wide.
Adventures can be yours… make up your mind.
Create something form nothing… be willing to try.

Diane set a target of raising £1000 for the RNLI by the end of her current adventure. Yesterday, donations exceeded that amount. Tomorrow is the final day of her tour, so if you would like to donate to the cause, click here to make a difference.

thank youLet me know what Little British Things means to you.
Share the adventures you dream of.
What would you make if we went to the beach together?

Pushing the boat out beyond my comfort zone

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Haslar MarinaJulia onboard

 

 

 

 

 

 


One week ago today, I took a leap into the great unknown on a salty adventure that took me way outside my comfort zone.

For a few years during my childhood, Dad had a little boat which was moored on a canal close to home on which we would occasionally explore the waterways of Warwickshire. I remember vividly the time I saw my first kingfisher, but I recall little else. In recent years, many holidays have been taken in a France, so a quick hop across the channel on a big ferry has been a regular occurrence, but I had never been sailing.

The previous week, my partner, a keen sailor in his younger years, had returned from five days in the Solent gaining his Competent Crew certificate, full of enthusiasm. Each evening he would call home, detailing the day and his delight was evident; infectious even. He suggested I give sailing a try and whilst I agreed in principle, I had not an inkling that a few days later, I myself would be stepping on board a yacht for the first time and going sailing. To cut a long story short, after a small amount of resistance on my part and some persuasion on his, he signed me up to head off to the Solent for a weekend on board a boat called Intuition and 48 hours of intensive learning. “Go,” he told me “get involved and don’t be afraid to make mistakes because that’s the best way to learn.”

I had no idea who the other people on board would be, what their level of competence was or how we would get on in a confined space. To be frank, I didn’t even know if I would make it thought the first night on board without being sick… but I did. All was well and I loved it!

The very gentle movements of the boat in the water at night were barely detectable and the sounds of the marina were soothing. I shared a cabin with a fellow artist, a mother to two boys like me and there was a lot of nervous giggling that first evening. Also on board were a father and son and our instructor Dave who had worked in the Navy and on submarines. I felt comfortable and confident under his instruction. The amount of information to take in was somewhat overwhelming. Words I had never heard before were taught to us and we learned to tie figure of eights, reef knots and bowlines. I have to admit that my heart gave a flutter as we first hoisted the mainsail. It looked so tall and I was struck by the power of the wind. The weather was kind to us and all apprehension and uncertainty melted away as we got stuck in with the hands-on learning. I was in my element… out under rolling clouds, off into open waters, enjoying the breeze.

One of the benefits of being signed up to this unexpected activity so soon was that there was little time for the anxieties to build up, but I truly had not a clue what to expect as I stood waiting at Hamble station for my lift.

My childhood and teenage years were not the most adventurous. I was never encouraged or inclined to take risks and my comfort zone was a safe and familiar place that I rarely left. I was taught always to have an eye out for the dangers or risks and though I have been a little more courageous in recent years, stepping onto a boat full of strangers with not a clue what I was doing really did feel quite brave. But it taught me something… as trying anything new does… that if you stretch outside your comfort zone, you eventually get comfortable in that new place and your world expands a little. Each time you push, your world grows more.

I felt a little tearful as we headed back to Hamble Marina on Sunday afternoon… two days at sea with strangers and all of the new knowledge I had acquired felt like such a massive achievement. I was proud of myself. On Monday morning, still swaying in my chair, I downloaded my pictures. The experiences have taken a little longer to download and it has taken me several days longer than I intended to write up this post, but I got there. These things can take a while to sink in.

The sense of space out in the middle of the water was incredible; the feeling of freedom with the wind in my hair was unbeatable; the feeling of control at the helm as the boat responded to the slightest movement of the tiller was empowering and I returned home a more confident woman.

Sometimes it is vital that we feel the fear and do it anyway; we need to step outside our comfort zones in order to grow.

I have just booked my next sailing adventure… in less than three weeks, I leave Southampton for five days! Obtaining my Competent Crew certificate is my mission this time.

I would love to know your experiences of pushing outside your comfort zone. When did you feel the fear and do it anyway and what were the results for you?

boatseau yeah!

What inspired you today?

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Today, I was out and about between school runs, shooting a video in Regents Park for the 30 Day Challenge and taking in the everyday inspirations that we too often take for granted. I do love my freelance life.

On Highbury & Islington station, between underground train arriving and overground train leaving, I had just ten minutes to kill. Again, I was overwhelmed by the wealth of pattern and texture, image and inspiration and shot more than 20 usable images. The dirt splattered walls made me want to get busy with charcoal and the broken ceiling lights looked stunning through a lens. Off at my home stop again, I was taken with the simple beauty of staple-studded wooden poles and a scratched and splintered fence. I have plans for these images… you will see some here in future weeks. I hope they will encourage others to look twice.

What inspired you today?

In praise of wandering aimlessly…

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Returning from a couple of fraught hours in the city this week, I felt the urge to share a few things. Unable to type this up immediately, I scrawled notes in my playbook and took photos on my phone. I have an urgent instinct to capture magic in the moment as I see it or feel it, simple as it may be. I am not sure why.

This week, I was drawn to the image above on the tiles at Highbury & Islington station. And once this image had woken my from my trance of busyness, I spotted so many more things that inspired me… a little wooden cupboard in the tiles on the opposite platform, so simply and beautifully made and seemingly out of place. I noticed patterns and repetitions and textures that made me want to grab paper and wax crayon and take rubbings. I have a desire to hold onto the special things I experience so that I may return to the good feelings at at whim. And in writing this now, questions come up…
What was it about this image above that I found so appealing (it was unexpected)?
Do I find the magic when I am on another mission or only when I am wandering?
And answers arise too…
The magic seems to happen when I have/allow time for the magic to happen… when I afford myself the luxury of wandering aimlessly, stopping and looking and a little bit of dreaming.
Inspiration is everywhere when you are open and allow yourself to really see what is around you and in front of you.

Magic really is there all of the time, but we don’t always have the time or the open mind to meet it and greet it as it needs to be greeted and met. Take yesterday, for example… I had my weekly 3 hour commute to Chichester ahead of me and I had a choice… head down working or reading or be open to dream time. I chose the latter. I took photographs such as this one… a little reminder of what I love about the journey.
It was only in looking back at the image that I noticed the double decker buses, the limited colour palette and the repetition. I wrote a little, but mostly, I just opened up to possibility and ideas. And as so often happens when I do this, I was rewarded. This time, I was rewarded with the company of Frank, a delightful gentleman whose gorgeous 90-year old spirit and approach to life attracted me before we had even spoken. We talked of music and poetry, of horse riding and languages. We even conducted some of our conversation in French and later he quoted Dante, perfectly, with real emotion. It was one of those brief and magical encounters that life gifts you sometimes and for which you feel richer.

Everyday magic is everywhere, but we don’t always see it. So often our eyes are down, our minds elsewhere. How would it feel to spend a day just exploring, just wandering aimlessly, allowing space and time for magic and inspiration? This is my intention. In coming weeks, I will experiment and report back to you. Today, I took a ten minute detour from my usual weekly path in Hornsey and discovered a tower… and its grounds are a real haven. I will return just to sit quietly.

Who knows what is ahead, what is round the next corner or where it will lead. I am open to all of it. Will you join me in this little experiment and let me know what comes up for you next time you wander and dream?

Magic happens when you commit to the dreams you have hidden.

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Do you have a little dream inside you?
Is there something you long to do, but actually doing it makes you feel too way vulnerable?

For me, one of the many little dreams I kept hidden was very simple… to make art on a regular basis, free from fear. I did a little, now and then, here and there, but it never felt very serious; I never thought I was any good; it always felt half-hearted.

Commitment is a powerful thing.

In this book The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951, W. H. Murray writes,

‘Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now!”‘

I have found this to be so true! On May 1, 2012, I finally committed to what was important to me: my art. Since then, everything has changed. Opportunities have presented themselves; I have met some of the most amazing people who have supported, inspired and been supported and inspired by my projects and I have made countless connections with so many creative souls who I would never had encountered had I not made the commitment to my creativity.

If you are a regular visitor to this site, you will have heard me tell the story time and again, but all that you see here… all of my creative adventures, from my own art to the art clubs and workshops and courses I am now running to encourage others to follow their creative hearts… all of these things are a result of committing to my own little dream. All of the things I have learned along the way I am now sharing with others and supporting them as they follow their own creative paths. And I love it!

Now, I am proud to say that I follow my heart, create art and make money from my passions. The more ideas I play out, the more ideas flow and the more I learn. It’s an ongoing journey. That’s not to say that it’s all easy, but then I like to be challenged and so I push my own boundaries and continue the cycle of following my heart, making my art, sharing what I learn, reflecting, adapting and playing it all out again, with a twist.

On June 1, I will be part of the team supporting over 200 people who are committing to their own little dreams and playing out the ideas that have been hidden for too long. John Williams, bestselling author of Screw Work Let’s Play, and my very own mentor and business guru, Judith Morgan, will be leading the next 30 Day Challenge, sharing a wealth of knowledge gained from years of experience as entrepreneurs themselves. I mention this to you because, for me, this was the catalyst. 30DC was the point at which I truly committed to my little dream and not only re-discovered the creative freedom I felt in my teens, but also found a way to turn my passion into profit. You can do it too! Sign up for the 30DC with the link below and you too could find a way to make money doing something you love. https://fo124.infusionsoft.com/go/30DC/Julia/
Speaking from experience, I totally believe in this process.

So go on… take a look and take the leap. Then come back here and tell me all about that little dream you have kept hidden, but are ready to commit to. Come on in… find your tribe. I’ve got your back… I did it and I know you can too.

With love,
Julia x