We are into Week 2 of Term 2 and it has been a whirlwind of hugely busy and challenging with the same view ahead for the foreseeable future. Looked after myself by having Friday night away with a fabulous girlfriend which included a walk on the beach and visit to an inspiring quilt show.
I'm a beach babe - my body has a physical joy and stress release response as soon I can see the waves and my feet hit the sand. And though we are well into Autumn we had great weather and I had to remove my jacket soon after this photo as the walk progressed ♥
Saturday afternoon we went to the Kapiti Coast Quilters' show
The show was made even more fun by sharing the experience with my Aunties and lovely mum. I took a few photos of quilts that inspired me so sharing them here, along with the tags giving credit to the makers. Please click on any photo to see it larger.
I was especially taken with this one (got my viewer's choice vote) so took another detail photo
This quilt below is not in a colour palette I would choose, but what a great idea for featuring gorgeous fabric
And this last one....again, not my colours, but what an interesting design
There were lovely shops as well - while I am quite restrained about purchasing fabric until I have an actual project in mind (read - has a very large stash of fabric I could never use in my lifetime!!) I have no such qualms about delightful stencils, and 1/2 price was all the encouragement required to bring these lovelies home
Great timing to be inspired by the quilts - I'm in the midst of making a quilt for a friend's baby (quilt panel purchased by her)
I'll share more when it's done....Also I am teaching neo-natal quilts to a class at school again as part of our Electives program starting this Friday.These were the finished quilts last year and I'm teaching a larger group this time.
But wait, there's more! Our local club has its annual Tote & Gloat this coming Saturday, so I'll be sharing more quilt inspirations next week. Check out what inspired me last year HERE.
Please click on the label below for other Quilt inspiration posts.
In Feb-March I taught 5 x 2-hour evening classes to introduce some local women to art journaling.
The class was so successful (examples of their art above) that I was asked to continue with a monthly 2-hour class where we concentrate on one technique and have a short demo and then time to play. Our first one was 1st May on Gelli plate printing.
The above photo was my demonstration table....And below is what the class produced. Some had never tried these techniques before. It was a fun night and they were all pleased with their experiments.
Since there is a lot of free instruction available on the internet, I thought I would share some resources that might help you have a play day at home
Marieke Blokland has a free guide with basic instructions to get you started HERE.
Gelli Arts (original makers of the reusable gelli plate) have a whole YouTube channel of Free techniques HERE
plus their blog HERE
which features many great artists (tabs along the top of their blog). My favourite is Birgit Koopsen
She also has her own YouTube channel which includes this cool tutorial where she shows how to use tags that she has used to demo techniques to create a small book.
This youtube video by Marsha Valk shows a heap of techniques in your journal in 5 1/2 minutes ♥
Grab some friends and do some experimenting - it's much more fun to laugh about the things that don't turn out quite as planned and there's lots more learning that happens with a friend or in a group. Click on the labels at the bottom of this post to find more posts where I've used a Gelli plate ♥
The photo above is of the art I completed last month (top right is a pompom monster for craft club). April included 2 weeks of school holidays which means I didn't have to go into work but I did have quite the list of things to do - some work related, some housework related, some creativity related.
In April I found myself grappling with overwhelm, despite school holidays, or perhaps because of them! I am not very good about keeping limits on my to do lists and I tend to dwell on what I am not getting done. Keeping up blog posts like this helps to remind me that I continue to art regularly. I dearly wish that I had more completed art to share, but I must remember that I also prepared for my Gelli printing class (sharing that on the blog tomorrow)
and began a quilt (to be shared when complete)
I also cleaned my oven, tidied my studio
swapped over my closet to winter clothes, continued to write in my Inner Work journal almost every day and took photos of my #arteveryday practice when I arted.
With the chillier weather starting and being dark by 6pm, I have been been staying inside more at night instead of arting out in my studio. I need to make more of an effort to take my art inside in May. This is what I read and watched, and listened to the new P!nk album ♥
I especially loved reading "The Weight of Ink" and "After Life" was funny, sad and thought-provoking. A great watch.
In April, my focus for the month came from the N letter of my word Shine : Notice. I concentrated on trying to have balance, and to recognise when I needed rest and self-care. I wasn't always successful but I did increase my social events this month and re-connected with friends and wider family which was awesome ♥
I've mentioned in a couple of recent posts that I struggle with leaving Summer behind - Juliet Batten's writing HERE is a lovely reminder of the importance of the cycle of seasons and the blessings of Autumn and entering inner quiet. I think part of my struggle is that I know that I don't create as much in the cooler months - although there is always some fear around a "creative slump", in reality I need to remember that I am percolating/ absorbing/ processing and there will be a new season of creativity ahead for me ♥ Keeping this blog is invaluable for looking back and recognising these cycles and seasonal changes.
In May, my focus from my word Shine is E : EASE.
I will be sharing my creative energy with students at school for Electives (neonatal quilts again with a new group of students) and will be continuing to teach art journaling one evening a month. Preparing for those classes and getting creative energy back from the students' enthusiasm helps my motivation so I look forward to that. Part of ease is about doing things that call you and so I've been thinking about what I want to do next that excites me creatively. I am inspired by Rae Missigman's 100 Day Project - her focus is on stitched marks worked over canvas fabric 2 x 2 inch squares.
Roben-Marie Smith is doing 100 days of working small and including stitch elements too. Click on the photo or follow that link to see larger.
Last year I attempted #100daysofstitch and it did get me stitching again. I especially loved the work I did inspired by the Stitch*bookery class with Mary Ann Moss. I have been enjoying my Klimt in the garden with Rumi project because I continue to include a stitching element.
I can feel excitement as I write about these projects so need to think more about these ideas going forward. I know this month is going to be busy, but I feel happy and ready for the challenges ahead.
And finally, I had an email from someone who said they couldn't leave comments on my blog. I have changed a setting - please let me know if that makes a difference. Leave me a comment ;-)
I'm a beach babe - my body has a physical joy and stress release response as soon I can see the waves and my feet hit the sand. And though we are well into Autumn we had great weather and I had to remove my jacket soon after this photo as the walk progressed ♥
The show was made even more fun by sharing the experience with my Aunties and lovely mum. I took a few photos of quilts that inspired me so sharing them here, along with the tags giving credit to the makers. Please click on any photo to see it larger.
I was especially taken with this one (got my viewer's choice vote) so took another detail photo
This quilt below is not in a colour palette I would choose, but what a great idea for featuring gorgeous fabric 
And this last one....again, not my colours, but what an interesting design
There were lovely shops as well - while I am quite restrained about purchasing fabric until I have an actual project in mind (read - has a very large stash of fabric I could never use in my lifetime!!) I have no such qualms about delightful stencils, and 1/2 price was all the encouragement required to bring these lovelies home
Great timing to be inspired by the quilts - I'm in the midst of making a quilt for a friend's baby (quilt panel purchased by her)
I'll share more when it's done....Also I am teaching neo-natal quilts to a class at school again as part of our Electives program starting this Friday.These were the finished quilts last year and I'm teaching a larger group this time.
But wait, there's more! Our local club has its annual Tote & Gloat this coming Saturday, so I'll be sharing more quilt inspirations next week. Check out what inspired me last year HERE.
Please click on the label below for other Quilt inspiration posts.
I've mentioned in a couple of recent posts that I struggle with leaving Summer behind - Juliet Batten's writing HERE is a lovely reminder of the importance of the cycle of seasons and the blessings of Autumn and entering inner quiet. I think part of my struggle is that I know that I don't create as much in the cooler months - although there is always some fear around a "creative slump", in reality I need to remember that I am percolating/ absorbing/ processing and there will be a new season of creativity ahead for me ♥ Keeping this blog is invaluable for looking back and recognising these cycles and seasonal changes. 
