Illuminate...

It is Monday and feels like a good time to reflect on the last few weeks of work and general goings on...

We seemed to slip back into cooler weather here in Cornwall, with the odd day here and there of beautiful sunshine.
I spent one wonderful day last week in the garden painting with my new easel. I have been meaning to buy one for ages, and I kept thinking I wouldn't use it enough to justify the space and cost...but I found one locally for such a bargain that I thought, why not, and it's already had such great use.

Since completing the 'doodle-a-day' project in April, and re-discovering the fun of painting on canvas I have sort-of run with that and started a series, sparked off by my first initial experiment which I felt captured something which my traditional use of delicate watercolour and quotations didn't...I suppose by being more spontaneous and expressive with colour and paint I was able to suggest a feeling more open to interpretation, rather than defining it with words.

The whole idea behind these paintings is that of illumination and that spark of creativity you have at the beginning of a project, that energy that you desperately want to hold onto before it slips away :)

 
I have added the first two paintings I completed to my display at the Lane Gallery in Truro, Cornwall..hope this silly picture illustrates the general size of the work...hehe :)

As well as painting, I have spent some time out and about exploring Cornwall, including my old favourite St. Ives, and a chilly day at Lanhydrock, a beautiful stately home near Bodmin. The bluebells were out and looking lovely!...

 Alex also kindly offered to drive us to Porthleven, to see a new Gallery/giftshop just opened which have taken stock of some of my prints and cards. Porthleven is very quaint, and despite it being a cold day we had a lovely time walking around the harbour and nosing in all the galleries and gift shops...heres a peak of my work in newly opened Slipway Studio...

Finally we had a big celebration for our friends Wedding at the weekend, over at Woodland Valley Farm near Ladock. It was wonderfully sunny and such a lovely day. I got involved the day before in helping to decorate the big barn, I love helping out with Wedding preparations, its such an exciting time!!

Looks like we are in for another Bank holiday weekend here in the UK, which for us doesn't mean days off as such, but I love when people are all out and about enjoying Cornwall :)

It feels like no time ago that I was updating this blog with my progress on last years 'doodle a day' challenge, and a year later, I have just completed the same project for April.

I must admit, I found it more of a challenge this year, now that I do not have a 'day job'. Which seems odd, as in theory I should have more spare time for these doodles. Yet, the pressure I put on myself to be productive daily, means that drawing a little scribble for the sake of it actually seemed frustrating at times, because I felt it was counter-productive. It wasn't of course, and the whole process has been valuable in the opposite way to last year.

The value in creating 'for the sake of it' for me was an important reminder that not every piece has to be perfect, and that even the work I feel is weaker, is not mine to judge that way. Some of the little drawings I made that I felt disappointed in proved to get lovely reactions from other people.

A big pile of doodles!

        

Most of these were inspired by day to day events, music I was listening to, and some quite random thoughts!
I also began experimenting again, with other processes which I haven't found the excuse to do in years. I spontaneously bought a batch of canvases and had some fun afternoons playing with paint and mark making, which sparked off new ideas.

You can find all the doodles I made on my Facebook and Instagram pages (links in sidebar)
Hope everyone is having a nice start to May :) x