Brave Intuitive Painting

I recently bought a new book called Brave Intuitive Painting by Flora Bowley and I love it. She has included some really good exercises that are going to push me far outside my comfort zone but will help me develop and grow as an Artist. The one I chose to work on first was an adaptation of 'to practice non-attachment'- something I find really hard to do. If I paint/draw something I like, I will do everything I can to work around it and save it which usually means I end up sacrificing the rest of the painting/drawing. I'm too afraid that if I cover it up, that I will never be able to replicate it but playing it safe means I will never know how much further it could have gone.

So I primed two 9" x 12" hardboards and began painting, switching between the two. First I used colours and drips. Then I move onto shapes. Then back to block colours. I just kept building up layers. I'm going to be honest with you though...it was an uncomfortable, but enjoyable exercise. The logical side of my brain kept saying 'Why are you covering that part up? It looked fine! You're going to run out of so much paint doing this.' But I fought it. Ignored it. And kept painting. 

Working on two paintings at the same time is such a great idea, not only for the obvious reason of having time for each to dry in between. But also because a lot of the time I have more than one idea and direction- which can get muddled up in a single painting. This way I can separate them out and work on two different, but related ideas at the same time. I mean, imagine these two paintings being compressed into one. I doubt it would have worked; but separated they both have their own personalities and moods.

Neither of these are finished and there are parts I like. Part I LOVE. And parts I don't like. But these two paintings serve as an on-going experiment to become a braver and stronger Artist so maybe I will never finish them. Only time will tell :)

Rhiannon xx

My Monsters

I really love how these two monsters turned out. I picked a random drawing lab assignment from the latest book I have bought: Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists by Carla Sonheim.

This book has been sitting on my 'to-buy' list for quite a while but I was so involved with paint and colours that I put off doing any kind of drawing. I wanted to create something bright and beautiful, full of texture and emotion. But just as the seasons change, so did my focus.

The recent move has forced me to go back to basics; pencil/pen & paper. No paint, no colour, no texture. Just good old fashioned drawing. So I picked this one particular drawing lab where you draw an eye. Any kind of eye; a big one, little one, eyelashes, no eyelashes, crazy eye, soft eye- anything at all. And from there you just draw. Doesn't matter whether you know what you are drawing, you just draw. I certainly didn't sit down and think 'hmmmm- lets draw a fishy/shark monster'. It's just what my brain and hand decided to do and I am seriously happy with the result.

I want to try and incorporate the bottom one into a painting or art journal page at some point. I really feel like I am bursting with ideas at the moment, I just need to finish getting the office sorted so I can begin!

What have you drawn recently and been surprised at the result?

Rhiannon xxoxx

How to be an explorer of the world - by Keri Smith

I have read review after glowing review that says nothing but amazing things about this book so I asked if my parents could buy it for me for my birthday; and they did! Today is the first day I could actually sit down and read through all of it- the reviews weren't wrong.

This book is stupendous!

Nearly every exercise is something I had never thought of doing. They involve collecting, listing, documenting, seeing, sketching, people watching, smelling, observing...

Going through the explorations in this book is a fantastic way to improve my imagination and really make me start to look at what's around me. To become more perceptive and notice the unusual and strange.



So far Keri Smith has really impressed me with how unique her books are. They are quirky and ridiculously fun to read and the pages being in mostly black and white makes it feel more like a workbook instead of a coffee table book. Maybe this was their plan- so I will be using mine like a workbook. I expect it to get dog eared, spills on it, rippled pages but this is part of the fun of being an explorer. Being able to get messy if you want.



But the best part? I feel like I've remembered how to think like a kid again. I am starting to remember how I used to look at things like picking up a twig and seeing if I could peel the bark off just because I wanted to know. And collecting nice feathers I would find in the woods just because they were pretty. It's quite a freeing feeling so I'm off to do some exploring and see what I can find.

What have you explored this week?

Rhiannon xxoxx

favourite art books

i haven't had too much to say recently so i thought i would show you a few of my most treasured art/journal books.

[1] 1,000 Artist Journal Pages - Dawn DeVries Sokol

[2] Taking Flight: Inspiration And Techniques To Give Your Creative Spirit Wings - Kelly Rae Roberts

[3] Art Journals and Creative Healing - Sharon Soneff

[4] The Art of Tim Burton [i only recenty got this book and it is soo worth the money!!]

[5] Anatomy for the Artist - Sarah Simblet

Rhiannon xxx

book review # 2 (Feb 2011)

I have already finished 2 books since my last review so i'm actually ahead of my goal (yay!)

It's a story about forensic psychologist Megan Rhys who is researching the abnormaly high suicide rate in Victorian Balsall Gate jail in Birmingham (England). While she is there, another death occurs. The police automatically assume suicide by overdose and are totally uninterested in any other explanation. But Megan has her suspicions - Carl Kelly died in agony which doesn't fit with a heroin overdose. She starts to investigate without help from the police. She begins to unearth disturbing facts that ends up linking someone who has become close to her to the death of Carl Kelly.

This was a quick, fast paced read. I wouldn't say that it has lots of unexpected twists but i wouldn't say it was predictable either. While investigating the death, she finds herself falling for someone and struggles to justify her feelings.

I give it 3.5/5

Rhiannon xxx

book review #1 (Jan 2011)

i don't usually go for memoirs or autobiography's but this one sounded interesting; im usually a crime/thriller chaser. but when quentin tarantino was mentioned in the blurb, i figured ... this could be good. i was expecting a predictable tale of small town girl to goes from rags to riches; it wasn't.

to give you all an idea of what the book is about here is a summary:

"Bella knew there must be more to life than a series of casual jobs working for increasingly freakish bosses and drinking tea in her Glebe kitchen each night. An actor by trade, she scraped together enough money for a one-way ticket to the Big Apple, enrolling on impulse in the prestigious Strasberg Institute. What life in New York city would offer her she could never have predicted...sometimes ugly, mostly poverty-stricken but always exhilarating, Bella embraced the roller coaster ride. This is the story of how Bella took on New York - her brilliant love affair that turned sour, the friends she made, her acting and her studies and day to day life in that fabulous town. For most of us this is a dream but for Bella it's her life, and she writes about it with passion but also surprise at where she has let life take her."

once i started reading this book i was absolutely hooked. after discovering her new zealand origins, it felt like reading about someone i knew. it felt a lot more real; it wasn't some hollywood story that i had no connection to.

i found this book to be enticing, exciting and addictive. it was quite an easy read though (nothing wrong with that). there were a lot of parts that im sure many many people could relate to from depression to abusive relationships.

i found it really interesting getting an inside look to the place she studied acting, Strasberg. i had always envisioned lots of "actors" just making it up as they went along (you will have to excuse my ignorance on this). it was so captivating to read how much training is required, but more so the kinds of training they did. a lot was training your mind to be able to feel the character as you act it. for bella, this training helped her with her whole life, not just becoming a better actor.

also in the book is one of her closest friends, zoe bell, a kiwi born stunt woman who was in the quentin tarantino movie "deathproof". which by the way was an awesome movie (but i think planet terror was the better one out of the two grindhouse series)

one word to sum up this book is honest. she doesn't hold much back which made it a very intriguing read. i really enjoyed it!

i give it 4/5

Rhiannon xxx

Book 1 & 2

i made a quick trip to the local library tonight (late night) and picked a random isle to walk down and immediately found a book that looked interesting. I then turned around to leave and saw another one!

Biting the big apple - Bella Vendramini

This was a totally random pick for me. and yes, i did judge the book by its cover. don't tell me you never have. i have a huge love for traveling, all kinds of traveling. i travelled a lot when i was younger with my parents and since i have been living in NZ i have compiled a long list of places i want to go to. New York is one of them. this book is a biography about a new zealand born, australian raised actress who takes a giant leap and moves to the big apple to persue her acting dream. she even meets quentin tarantino!

Life on air: revised and updated edition - David Attenborough

I'm really looking forward to reading this autobiography "life on air". i have always had a deep love for david attenborough and the work he has done. i watch planet earth at least once a week- obsessed? maybe. it's a pretty big book too (a whopping 405 pages) so its a bit of daunting pick for the first one of the year but none the less it should be a fantastic read.

From the inside cover- "When 26, he applied for a job in the BBC- which then meant radio- and was promptly turned down. But someone saw his rejection application and asked, would he like to try television? He would, and almost sixty years later he is still at it."

Our internet has been capped so the Monday fabulous photography will be a day late.
Rhiannon xxx

Morning sketches in pen

I had a relatively unsuccessful night last night. I have a lot of course to catch up on and I think it became a bit overwhelming so didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but it's still a start. I will post pictures what I did later on today.

This morning I did a few sketches on the ferry. I am very happy with the sketch of my pen (which I was drawing with at the time). It is hard to get back into drawing after weeks without picking up a pencil. Intimidating I would say. I keep reminding myself to take baby steps. Draw something simple first; don't dive into a massive detailed drawing and expect to get it perfect.

My partner did an order of books off Amazon.com a few weeks ago and bought me a couple of books that I had added to his watch list (I don't have my own amazon account so I use his). One of the books arrived last night: 1000 Artist Journal Pages by Dawn DeVries Sokol. He still won't tell me what the others are, says that they are a surprise! :)

I spent about an hour flicking through the glossy pages. It is basically a giant book of inspiration. It has given me some new ideas to try tonight and on the weekend. I am also going to have a good look through their website 1000 Journals to get some more ideas.

Rhiannon xxx