Art Every Day? (well, most days)

I feel I've done lots of creative stuff, but I don't have pictures of all of it.

 Here is some of the stuff.

Printing cards with Mary this afternoon

A fun and productive card printing session

I made this book years ago

It's a circular book

Perfect for mandalas

I pencil my designs in first

Then draw them in with a marker pen

I'm off to a yoga retreat tomorrow for 3 days

It's at a place called the 'Mandala Yoga Ashram'

I thought I'd take this little book along

…and colour in my mandalas, when I'm not doing yoga!

I had my 50th birthday last week

With wonderful chocolate cake

And a walk on the beach (I'm easily pleased)

The week before a group of us made wreaths

This is me wearing my wreath,

and then symbolically casting it into the river

That evening a friend brought us a roadkill deer.
I gutted and skinned it
It was a weird contrast!

And this week my paintings will be hanging
in the corridors of the
Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

I'll be back at the weekend, all yoga'd out.

A medley of recent things

Mums birthday

Below are some wonderful pebble mosaics I saw in a courtyard garden at Devon Open Studios in September. This is another of the many things I'd like to have a go at one day.

Pebble mosaics

 ..and seeing those made me notice these lovely cobbles outside our local church

Old cobbles

 I wonder how long these have been there?

I recently did an evening 'Printing Without a Press' workshop at the Double Elephant studios in Exeter.

Corr, I loved doing these. The bottom left image is printed on fabric. With the long evenings approaching I feel an urge to get back into fabrics again.

I've done a lot of arty stuff recently, but rather than fill this post up too much I'll do another one soon with more catch ups in it.

I've written a long rambly post about life and art, and where I may or may not be going with it. It feels too disjointed and a bit scary to share it right now. I think I'm hoping that telling you might prompt me to get on and be more open. I love posts from others that are all soul searching and honest.

Mandalas

About a month ago I was introduced to the concept of mandalas. They are really just glorified colouring-in exercises, but like many creative activities they can be wonderfully absorbing and therefore meditative. They can be done lightheartedly for pure pleasure, or can be looked at more symbolically for deeper meanings and symbolism. I like both ways.

Mandala in progress

 This is the mandala that I designed and coloured in the day I was introduced to them. This one includes symbols for change, infinity, hope and clarity of information. It was also done at a time when many people I knew were dying. We all have to go at some time, and the people close to me had had wonderful lives and slipped away quickly.

Same one with a bit more added

Another one I adapted with an autumnal feel
(sorry about the appalling quality!)

Flowers for inspiration
(image by Melinda)

Colour inspiration used in my first mandala
Image by Melinda

More mandala ideas
(I feel a new book coming on)

Re-organising my craft room

I haven't done a lot of art the last few days, but I have had a huge re-organise in the room I do my creative stuff in. I finally splashed out and bought some shelving. These are so fab I'm going to buy some more.

I completely re-arranged the room so I will have space to have workshops in here for 3 or 4 (5 at a squeeze). It has been through several stages of chaos. This little corner is fairly sorted.

 The rest of is is still a little chaotic. (and the new shelves have now moved into the corner you see below).

Chaos

It's easy to sort things like 'watercolour paints', 'decorative paper' 'plain paper', 'books for re-purposing'. Filing the 'other stuff' has not been so easy. I have 3 big boxes of 'other stuff'. I'm not going to be able to find a lot of things for a few weeks!
I'm running some afternoon crafting sessions here on Monday afternoons, this is what we'll be doing this Monday (if anyone comes)

Yo Yo flowers

I also did some doodling in my diary, but it's dreadful, so I'm not going to show you!

Sparkly stuff for Art Every Day

I'm still trying to keep up this 'art every day' challenge.

It's not easy, particularly on days when I'm out working all day then go out in the evening like I did on Monday. Here are some pages I did yesterday.  The sparkly bits are inspired by someone I know who does face painting and sparkly things. I saw some of her work last week and thought 'wow'. It's not the sort of thing I do usually, and note that I had to hide it behind a little door in my book, but I'm fairly pleased with it. I will add more colour and some writing to this page.

Journal 5th Nov

Journal 5th Nov with hidden sparkle

Sparkly Sonias amazing art

Hat finished

Vince's hat is finished just in time for winter. All hand carded and spun from local wool. Last year I only managed one hat, this year I've finished two, my output has doubled!
Here's my wonderful man, modelling his new hat.
(this is a 'can I get on and drink my coffee' expression)

Vince through the olive tree

Vince modelling finished hat

Todays journalling

Just a few pictures from today, taken with the laptop...

Buddha page with more collage and writing

A few sketches and bits and pieces.
Hot chocolate and live blues music at a local pub

Self portrait

Todays 'art' (ok, creativity would be a better word)

Here are some of the creative things I did today. Today was a day off, so don't worry, I won't be doing this amount of posting every day!

Bread dough ready to rise

Ready to knead again

Drawing our new buddha
(also our only buddha)

Buddha on the first page of my art journal.
I plan to work in this journal every day

Cat enjoying the sunshine

Vince's hat nearly finished

Conservatory plants enjoying the sunshine

Allotment pumpkins
in a lovely old bowl someone gave me recently

Bread out of the oven

Cranachan with raspberries from the allotment

Ok, so some of these are more like appreciation than actually being creative, but hey, there are no blog category police!