Approx. 26cm x 19cm.
Black technical drawing pens, Inktense pencils with water wash, metallic gold watercolour paint and gold Uniball pen.
This has kept me busy the last four days while I’ve been off work with tonsillitis.
Lots of gold on this one, not that the scan shows it up well, but it works out nicely, I think, if a tad fussy and ornately.
Approx. 15cm in diameter. Rotring Rapidograph pens, Zig Art and Graphic pens with water wash, white Sakura Gelly Roll pen and Gold Uniball gel pen on cold pressed watercolour paper.
Tea is always good! I always enjoy my first mug of the day, slowly coming around from a night’s sleep, and nothing beats that freshly brewed mug of tea when you get in from a day’s work. That big, relaxing, comforting sigh that accompanies the first sip is a wonderful thing, a switch from stressful times to more relaxed times. We often miss the little wonderful things in life that bring us moments of pleasure throughout the day, instead we focus on the big, important things, good or bad. We feel that we should only tell others of the big things going on, things that sound important, things that sound hugely interesting. We believe that much of our day to day lives are unimportant or uninteresting to others.
However, perhaps it is time we all reflected on those moments of peace, of pleasure, of love, of joy, of friendship, of satisfaction, of success, of good news from others or of ourselves, no matter how small or how big, that pepper our day and shared them with others and with an air of gratitude. By doing this, maybe we will realise, that no matter how tough life can get, there are still sparkles in the seemingly all pervading darkness that are there to brighten the dark, to help us through the tougher times, and help others to make their way through them too by reminding them to look for their own sparkles.
Perhaps by looking for a few sparkles of goodness, we then start to see more and more and more, and perhaps the darkness we tend to wallow in, believing life has to be a struggle, life has to be difficult, life has to be filled with sadness and troubles and woes, isn’t all that dark after all. Instead there is a balance between the sparkles and the dark that we can find by not ignoring the darkness, but by shifting our attention to looking for the sparkles and the bright moments in a healthy, balanced manner.
Perhaps it is by finding the balance, or by discovering the the density of the bright sparkles is a little greater than the darkness of the tough times, that we discover that we are truly wealthy; things, possessions, quick-fix addictive behaviours may give a quick burst of brightness that hides the gloom for a while, but the true wealth lies in things that money can’t buy. The smile and laugh and chatter shared with another human being that we barely notice because we are thinking of what needs to be done and how we are going to do it, the glorious beauty of a glowing sunset that we miss because we are rushing from one thing to the next, the kindnesses received and given and barely noticed because we take it for granted, the compliments and praise given by a friend or co-worker or acquaintance that we usually brush away…
The list is endless, isn’t it?
So, what do you have to be grateful for in your life? Don’t just look for the big things, the obvious things, look for the little things, the little sparkles that are easy to overlook that happen continually throughout each waking moment of every day.
I was a happy bunny on arriving home after a long day at work, including a meeting at the end of the teaching day.
I found two of my hypnotherapy books had arrived, and also my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012! My chosen theme is ‘Prehistoric’ (no surprises there, eh?).
I have one piece of art to finish off, and then I will make a start on this project … it should be fun!
I spent the first half of the half-term week getting over ‘flu. It took until Wednesday for me to feel even slightly alive, and until Thursday for me to feel like myself.
Wednesday saw my car pass it’s MOT with ‘flying colours’ – not a single advisory note, and just one bit of work that needed to be done before the MOT. My bill was a massive £65 – which is a bit sarcastic as that’s the lowest bill I’ve had for a car that I own for a long time. The Smart Car drained my resources frequently, but this battered, M-reg red Corsa is proving to be the most reliable and cheapest car to run (taking into account petrol, insurance, tax and servicing/repairs! So a happy bunny, and even more so because the new mechanic is an absolute gem – thanks to my little sister Sara for recommending him.
Thursday was a weird day as I had to be interviewed as part of an inquiry into problems with a committee I’m a member of. I’m not involved with the problems per se, but I am one of the witnesses to what occurred; not that I remember much as it was many months ago now. So, we wait to see what happens as a result of the inquiry.
Friday saw a new shower fitted by a nice man from SWALEC at long last, but not without problems. The main problem was that I couldn’t remember where the water stop cock was until water had sprayed over the bathroom and dripped through the ceiling downstairs and then my memory clicked in. Everything else then went fairly smoothly. After this, I had time to have a quick clean up before heading to Cardiff for an interview to start training as a hypnotherapist with Chrysalis. That was easy, and though the nerves kicked in a little because it’s an unknown thing. The actual interview wasn’t one really, more of a ‘this is what hypnotherapy is (I already knew that, but let them tell me again), I can see you have a lot of life experience (apparently important for any therapist), and do you want to ask any questions?’ It was a pleasant 30 mins or so. I was told I could start the course the next day or wait until the next intake in the Spring.
Well, once I’ve made my mind up, I tend to do things as straight away as is possible, so I elected to start the course the very next day…
… and that’s how I spent yesterday! 10am to 5pm learning about the course, expectations, sorting out practice groups that meet outside of the monthly day courses, getting to know one another, and then actually experiencing and then practising a progressive muscle relaxation method.
The method was familiar to me as I use one very similar when I take a group of people for guided meditations on a Friday evening. I cheated and didn’t use their script, but used my own … but I know I’ll have to follow more precisely in the future. My partner was well pleased with the results, so that’s all that really, really matters.
I have a feeling I will instinctively know a lot of what is being taught, but the diploma will allow me to practice as a hypnotherapist, perhaps even start up a little business, which if it becomes successful and sustainable may allow me to change my career, even if only part-time.
I also have kind of decided that after this I’d like to do a degree in either psychology or forensic psychology and then use that to lead me to completely new pastures. I’ve often thought about becoming a counsellor, but … there’s something that tells me not yet. However, we’ll see!
I was totally drained in the evening. It was a busy day, especially with so many people (26 including me and the tutor – Sue Preston).
I do plan to spend some time today completing another abstract artwork, that’s once I’ve sorted out all the notes from yesterday’s course. I also have Pommes Dauphinoise, though my version has loads of garlic in it, parsley instead of thyme and no cheese on it. However it is cooked it is a terribly indulgent yet scrummily delicious dish. I will just have a variety of veggies with it…I think. Though Quorn Fish-less Fingers may be speaking to me to eat them!
Approx. 15cm x 15cm
Technical drawing pen, Zig Art and Graphic pens with water wash, and Liquitex Gold Acrylic paint. Oh, and a few bits of white Sakura Gelly Roll.
Just trying something different, kind of. the patterns were inspired by photographs of microscopic images of cells. The gold outer with the patterns extended to give a square around the circle seemed the right thing to do.
…mandala or just circular piece of art.
15.5cm diameter. 0.3mm technical drawing pen, Zig Art and Graphic pens with water wash, and a white Sakura Gelly-Roll pen on cold-pressed watercolour paper.
15cm x 15cm
Zig Art and Graphic pens with water wash, 0.3mm technical drawing pen, Derwent Inktense pencils with water wash, Uniball gold metallic gel pen and Cosmic Shimmer metallic gold watercolour paint on cold pressed watercolour paper.
Approx. 7″ in diameter. Zig Art and Graphic Pens with water wash and 0.1mm technical drawing pen.
Not sure that pastels are my thing…scan of mandala isn’t all that good either.
I signed up for The Sketchbook Project last week so am awaiting my sketchbook for it. I chose the ‘Prehistoric’ category – no surprises there! I’m looking forward to the challenge of filling the sketchbook by the last posting date on 31st January 2012. It seems a pretty fun and cool thing to do! More work on rock art, La Tene culture art, spirals and swirls and patterns from prehistoric pottery … and so on and so forth!
Approx 7″ in diameter. Zag Art and Graphic pens with water wash and metallic gold watercolour paint on heavy cartridge paper.
Art is the Adventure 