Another sketchbook practice session, inspired by our hike from Porthgwara Beach to Nanjizel Beach in Cornwall. I’m experimenting with a lot of different mediums and also surfaces.

We hiked the most spectacular route today… Porthgwarra Beach to Nanjizal, and the “Song of the Sea” Cave. The colours! The textures! The smells!

A generous teacher (Sam Boughton), wonderful classmates, an inspiring landscape, and wet, moody Cornwall weathet that behaved well enough that we could still play outdoors. I loved the simplicity, power, and beyond-control-fluidity of the ink. So much fun!

This year I’ve been holding the creative tension of, on the one hand really enjoying doing a lot of experimenting and learning and trying new things, and on the other hand, longing to land on a creative approach or process or focus that feels like “home”. Like it fits the shape of my soul and I can fully rest there and go deep for a long while.

I love to work in layers, and I really enjoy the richness that evolves out of a layered process. There’s a lovely sense of a story building, and it’s always interesting to see which parts of the early story endure, and which parts fade into the background as new elements are added.

As I’ve been embracing more intuitive ways of creating that begin with no plan, I’ve been taking photos of my artworks as they develop. I’m curious to look back and see their evolution. And mine!

I’ve been wanting to get outside for some landscape drawing lately, and we’ve been receiving much encouragement to do so from the instructors in the course I’m taking with Newlyn Art School, so I packed a few art supplies, and hopped on my bike to head down to the beautiful Haarrijnseplas with my pup, Toby.

One of the areas of learning that I’ve been delving deep into this year is colour theory.

As I’ve continued all of the new non-committal exploring and learning I’ve been pursuing this year, a little collection of sketches, experiments, and art-making “scales” is growing. Most of it is “incomplete” art  that isn’t ready for sale, but what I’ve been collecting up is the stuff I’ve produced that is feeling good – like, “this has something I love and want to incorporate” or “this is the direction I want to go”. I’m keeping it out on display so I can continue to soak it up, mull on it, and let it inspire me.

I did a little bit of walking and sketching outdoors in Maxima Park with Toby last week… affectionately called “labradoodling” from now on, lol!

I love it when a few simple lines or shapes capture the essence of a subject, so I really enjoyed this exercise from my studies with Newlyn School of Art, UK.

My recent explorations of line and shape have been such interesting experiences. I’ve really enjoyed the shift in perception from observing representational subjects to exploring abstract elements like line and shape. Guided by Jane Davies’ wonderful book, Abstract Painting: The Elements of Visual Language, I’ve continued this exploration by playing with patterns and collage work.

This was another exercise just to grow my creative “muscles”… 30mins to play with the question, “How many ways can I make a circle?”

This was another exercise just to grow my creative “muscles”… 30mins to play with the question, “How many ways can I make a circle?”

Last week I started my morning in the studio with 30mins of practicing switching off my analytical mind, and working quickly and uncensored to make layers of lines using different kinds of tools, mediums, and marks.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed in my art-making is methods and materials that involve working in layers. I love art that has a rich sense of a story that has evolved, with evidence of earlier parts of the story still peeking through to be enjoyed.

I’ve been taking a class and loving the stuff we’ve covering on colour theory. Mixing colours is so meditative, and I love seeing the new colours that emerge, especially when you add white to a dark colour and the underlying colours within the dark colour are revealed.

I’ve recently completed a series of collage artworks on paper and I’ve been thinking about how I’d like to frame them.

I’ve been feeling drawn to play with an old love of mine again… magazine collage art. In the past, my magazine collage art has been representational art of landscapes, skies, and botanical subjects. This time I wanted to explore working in this medium to create completely abstract compositions.