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Monday 25 July 2016

Random Quote #293

Be you writer or reader, it is very pleasant to run away in a book. 

Jean Craighead George

Sunday 24 July 2016

Motivationally Speaking

Did you see what I did there with the title... cos usually these posts are called Creatively Speaking and... yeah ok I'll get on with it.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I watch a lot of YouTube videos. More than is probably good for me... but anyway in my travels across YouTube I have come across various YouTubers/videos that are designed to motivate you.

And if you listen to them... I mean really listen to what is being said then, well in my experience they are the sort of videos that make you want to get stuff done. The sort of video that makes you feel like...

Monday 18 July 2016

Random Quote #292

The human face has limited space. If you fill it with laughter there will be no room for crying. 

Rohinton Mistry

Monday 11 July 2016

Random Quote #291

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open.

Thomas Dewar

Sunday 10 July 2016

Creatively Speaking: The Art Sherpa

I watch a lot of YouTube videos... I usually have about 50 on my to watch list at any one time (it's less at the moment as one of the YouTubers I watch regularly is currently taking a break - time to catch up!).

But as I voyage through YouTube I do come across some very creative people who inspire me with my own artwork/crafting.

One such YouTuber I have more recently discovered is Cinnamon Cooney who is known as The Art Sherpa.

With Cinnamon's channel you can paint along with her because she live streams her tutorials with help from her husband John. And she sometimes goes off on a tangent (but don't we all?). And she has recently been seemingly obsessed with Kevin the Kraken.

I have not put a example of one of her full tutorial videos here as because they are live streams they usually last about 1-2 hours depending on the complexity (the Kevin The Kraken video linked above only lasts 30 minutes but that's because he's being added to a painting that took an hour to paint).

On The Art Sherpa channel there are videos on various subjects, some are just straight forward tutorials that you can follow along. Some videos are more about going in to certain aspects of art in more detail for example gesso or grayscale or how to paint fur.

I've got several of her videos earmarked to have a crack at but I can show you one that I have tried. I had a go at this Seascape painting and this is the result...


I didn't paint this during the live stream, I did this after that had ended... which is a good thing as it took me at least an hour longer than Cinnamon to complete.

Now this was my first experience with pallet knives and although I have my horizon line visibly running through my wave and I overworked my clouds (both problems arising out of the fact I was far too frugal with my paint) I'm quite proud of it - I like my wave, I like the spray coming off the top of it.

And I learnt things from doing this, not only to be less stingy with my paint but also how to use palette knives (on account of the fact I bought palette knives without much knowledge on how to use them!).

And I had fun doing it! This one was definitely a strike against my perfectionism as I know it is far from perfect but I knew when to stop and I like the result all the same.

So if you want to learn a little something about painting, and have some fun while you are at it then go forth and visit The Art Sherpa.

Monday 4 July 2016

Random Quote #290

Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward. 

Amy Tan

Friday 1 July 2016

NaNoWriMo Countdown

Well June has been and gone and it brought only the bare minimum of sunny weather in the UK. Let's hope July tries harder. There are now only



123 Days


to go until the start of NaNoWriMo 2016!

Not only that but today is the first day of the second 2016 session of Camp NaNoWriMo (so if you can't wait until November here's your chance!