☆ Creating Intuitively - part Deux [Friday Art]

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Week 22, May 2014

Last week I shared with you the painting that I was trying to paint intuitively, but that I ended up putting away for a while, because my inner bitch was surfacing,  and the paint was turning a muddy shade of brown.

I started again, on the face, whitening it up more, but I was feeling totally uninspired + put it away again!

So this is where I ended up with. The next day, I went back to my painting, and started painting her face. I kept the streaks + I realised that there was a cute little love heart earring type image, so I kept it too.

Using the muddy mess + a sharpie, I added to floral type element in the right hand corner.

I think this is finished now. I thought about adding a word, or phrase, but to be honest nothing did, or has sprung to mind.

I think I will leave it for now...

So when you intuitively paint, what is it in you that makes you say, 'I am done!'? I would love to hear what your thoughts are.

By the way - did you know I am having a HUGE give away? Open until June 4th, pop over here to enter. (Did I mention huge? A gift voucher, new postcards + gift tags are up for grabs!)

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☆ Limited Colour Painting [Life Book 2014]

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Week 18 - Limited Pallet Portrait with Tam Laporte

This week was a bonus lesson, and after watching a fabulous interview with the talented Carla Sonheim, Tam challenged us to create our own limited pallet portrait.

You can see Tams video here on her you tube video (if it doesn't work below)

I loved the challenge of using a few colours, I also loved the really free flowing feel of painting this, I only used a few guidelines for my sketch, everything else was just where the paint took me!

And I really love how this turned out.

There is something liberating about using only a few colours, it is definitely a great challenge.

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☆ Painting with my Intuition [Friday Art]

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Week 21, May 2014

So this week, I decided to do an exercise in listening to my intuition, an experiment that wasn't a 100% successful, but one that I enjoyed all the same.

Using the base that I made last week, from my cool papers to use in your art work, from around the home, (you can see what I used here) I put some paint down over the top.

I really like this stage, I love the vibrant colours + lines in this picture. 

 A few spray inks, dribbled all over, a few more splashes of art.

Toning it down again, picking out a few patterns.

I've added a face, and not sure what is happening in the right hand corner... except that if I kept going, it would be mud.

So this is where I have left it for now, I didn't want to keep adding more paint. I didn't want to end up with a muddy mess.

And the reason that I said that it was less than successful, was because, at the beginning, I had totally tuned off both my inner bitch + my thought process. But by the end of the session, I was becoming critical + thinking ahead.

I felt I could do with some distance, so I have put it away for the weekend!

Do you intuitively paint? How do you turn off your inner bitch or your thought process while painting intuitively?

By the way - did you know I am having a HUGE give away? Open until June 4th, pop over here to enter. (Did I mention huge? A gift voucher, new postcards + gift tags are up for grabs!)

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☆ Wanna win a $30 GIFT VOUCHER to the LilliBean Designs Store?

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Over the last few years, I held a monthly give away on Listening to the Squeak. This year I decided to reward my newsletter subscribers, so every month, a subscriber of the LilliBean Love Letters, wins a painting, post cards, jewellery or gift cards.

But I always said I would have a few give aways on here this year too + this is the second one for 2014.

The other week, I was thinking about the purpose of 'Listening to the Squeak'? Why do I show up every week here? What can I offer to you that will help you out?

And while I  have started by sharing my 'Listening to your Squeak' e-course which started in April, I feel like I could do more...

I want to make Listening to the Squeak,  a supportive, caring and accessible space. And to do that I need your help.

And I want also to thank you all for your help, love + support over the last four years.

So I have created a questionnaire of only ten questions (it will take 5 minutes tops!) which will help me make Listening to your Squeak + LilliBean Designs a place which be a supportive, caring + accessible space for you + me.

And as a HUGE thank you for your help, I have three AWESOME thank you gifts for three lucky entrants.

THANK YOU gift number one: A $30 gift certificate for everything in the LilliBean Designs Store. Paintings, gift tags, jewellery, cards. EVERYTHING. Go nuts!

THANK YOU gift number two: A set of 10 Postcards, from the new range - not even in store yet. It includes paintings  early this year, as well as some of the favourites from  last year. (value $20)

THANK YOU gift number three: A set of 10 gift tags - again from the new range not in store yet! (value $10.50)

So to enter click here + answer the very short questionnaire. (A very long time ago, I used to work in market research, so believe me when I say, it is extremely short!)

Entries close Wednesday June 4th + the THANK YOU gifts will be drawn randomly at 8pm Australian EST.

Thank you for your help + good luck!

EDIT: The give away has closed + the winners announced. HOWEVER, the questionnaire is still open + if you have two minutes to spare to help out, it would be hugely appreciated! K xx

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☆ Gratitude in the Now [Life Book 2014]

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Week 17 - Gratitude and Living in the Now with Tascha Parkinson

This week was a quick exercise by Tascha Parkinson, remembering the things that we are grateful for.

And I have to say, that this was one of the funnest lessons so far, I loved painting my gratitude girl, playing with twinkling H20's again. 

And bonus, I was able to remind myself of all the reasons why I am incredibly grateful for my family + friends + our life at this point in time.

Such a cool reminder to be grateful + to always remember to have gratitude for my life.

What do you have to be grateful for? 

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☆ 9 Mixed Media Papers Found in Most Homes [Art at Home]

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So continuing in the theme that art shouldn't cost a fortune, I thought I would share with you some of the papers that are fairly common around most homes + that I use in my mixed media art.

1. Yellow Pages/ White Pages/ Telephone books

Since we never use these any more, I use these in my art. The yellow pages + white pages make  awesome back grounds. And because ours are quite large, you can use one sheet to cover the pages in my journal

2.  Store Wrapping

There are so many cute gift bags out there. I hang on to all of these for future art work.

3. Product Packaging (This cool one is from Nescafe)

Along with store wrapping even every day items that you have to buy have cool wrapping or tags! This one was from the Nescafe coffee I buy to feed my coffee addiction.

4. Dictionary Pages

A part of me is horrified that I am ripping up my primary school dictionary, but if I want to add special meaning to a page dictionaries are perfect. I just ripped out this page randomly, but there was a word on their which I think I will use in my journal page

5. Corrugated Cardboard

This is in every package that comes into our home, and gives an awesome texture to your pages. I used it in my previous post to make marks on the page, but you can also use it for texture.

The texture on the back of the napkin should add some dimension to the page.

6. Last years planner

This is such a cool thing to use, dates, times + your daily to do list. I love using this. I love that there is our daily lives in my art.

7. Gift Wrap

I am one of those people, who when given a gift, I judge the wrapping paper you use... 

I am not judging you by the quality of your wrap, I am judging the wrap for how I will use it in future art works. 

And I don't tear into the wrap. Ever.

8. Piano Music

Now this may not be laying around your house, or if it is, you may not want to rip it up for art work, but instead of heading to the craft shop to find your music sheets, head to the charity store, you can pick up all kinds of music sheets there + I don't feel guilty for using them. And bonus they are usually super cheap.

9. Napkins

I think I may be a candidate for a hoarders TV special, the way that I hang onto everything, but every time I go to my nan's for morning tea, I put an extra in my bag for later. She always has the nice napkins too, not the cheap white ones that I buy! 

  

My completed page, ready for some fabulous journalling. 

So what is your favourite around the home art supply? What do you hang on to that you can use in projects later?

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☆ Living in the moment [LIFE BOOK]

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Week 16 - In the Moment with Traci Bautista

Sometimes it is great to have a lesson that reminds you to live in the moment.

I have this habit of living in the next moment. I think it's because I have been trained from a very early age to be organised.

I was so DISorganised as a child, that I would leave huge assignments (that should have taken weeks to do), until the night before, when all the shops were shut, I would turn up to class with the wrong books, I often left lunch at home, I would forget important details + events.

So to help combat my very disorganised, laissez faire way, my mum bought me a diary + began the process of organising my self.

And I appreciate it so much. I would never be able to do everything I do each week, if I didn't have these skills.

I would most probably be still dreaming of the life I am now living.

But the downside to this organisation skill set, is that when painting, I am so focused on the end result, I often forget to play + be in the moment.

So having Traci Bautista, take us through some different techniques of playing in our journal, was fun + freeing...

I just made some marks on my page with items I had lying around the studio (similar to this post here but with lighter colours) + I love the result.

By the way Traci also has an amazing tutorial on her website on how to make your own stencils + stamps with a hot glue gun.

So why not spend this week just playing + living in the moment?

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

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☆ Invasion of the Kimmi Dolls [Friday Art]

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Week 19. 2014 

Thank you everyone who left such fabulous ideas last week, when I asked for ideas on how to display my kimmi dolls.

I am brimming with anticipation + inspiration after reading your suggestions...

Last of this batch of Kimmi Dolls.

It felt for a while, that I was being invaded by these Kimmi Dolls. And while I still have another bundle to paint, I have put them aside at the end of this week, for some other creative endeavours.

I have this incredible opportunity coming up, so I have been playing around in my journal figuring out some ideas. I hope to share the end result with you soon...

I love playing in my journal. I never worry if it's 'right' anymore, which is so freeing.

Check out this yummy texture - another 'happy accident'! I had some left over spray inks on a stencil + was using texture paste + with no effort what so ever, I have this yummy turquoise pattern in my sketch book - now to use it some how....

This is an inked in sketch for the people on the Listening to Your Squeak e-course. No, I can't possibly tell you what it's for - you'll have to wait until Monday to find out....

So this has been my week, what have you been up to? Have you set free those Humming Birds + taken a risk? Thought about your Animal Totems? I would love to hear what you did this week... Oh + if you have any more ideas regarding displaying my Kimmi Dolls - I would love to hear them!

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☆ Taking Risks + setting the Humming Birds Free [Life Lessons]

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It never fails to amaze me that at this stage of my life, the late 30's that I would still have so many life lessons to learn.

My 15 year old, know-it-all self, would have scoffed at this, because we all know at 15 you have the world totally sussed out...

So this 'Life Lesson' was featured in my LilliBean Designs: Snippets from the Studio, but I felt that it was an important lesson that I needed to be reminded of + thought I'd share it here too.

The one where I set the humming birds free...

When was the last time you took a risk? And I don't mean, jaywalking against the traffic lights, or leaving your washing out when rain threatens.

I mean when was the last time you took a risk, a risk that meant a great deal to you, a risk that put your heart on the line, that made the humming birds in your belly go crazy. That kind of risk.


Last week, I took a risk + held my second market stall. This was a big leap for me, it wasn't at my local farmers markets, where I had my first stall, (and is what I consider'safe' ), it was at a big event, where hundreds of people would be attending, the next town over.

It was an even bigger risk for me because, not only was I opening myself up to judgment + investing a lot emotionally (which is hard to do at the best of times), but I was also investing a bit financially.
I was moving into the bigger leagues.

And surprisingly, I didn't freak out too much about it, I just moved through the list of stuff I had to do. I was calm (mostly) + then, well....

So an hour before I was due to go, it all seem to go wrong. Mac had an emergency call out, Bean had a major meltdown, Beastie was sick, the site had no electricity, so I needed a solution to that + then Mac's truck had an warning light come on (and we all know nuthin' good can ever come from ignoring one of those!!)

So on the car ride over, instead of blasting my favourite tunes + singing at the top of my lungs, I gave myself a good talking to.


Something along the lines of:

"So Kirst, this isn't a big deal, ok, well it is a big freaking deal, and yes you are risking your heart, and you are putting yourself out there in a huge way, which you hate, but you are doing it, because it's the right path to take, so get out of yourself + it is going to be ok. And if not, it is only 8 hours, and Bean's labour was that long + you survived that, so this is a piece of cake, this is going to be ok"

It is going to be ok. 

It wasn't ok.

It was freaking awesome.

It was awesome meeting truly fabulous people, who enjoyed my paintings. I was awesome speaking to amazing kids about how they dream of being an artist. I was awesome speaking to others about their incredible artistic journeys. I was amazing hanging with Mac, my girls + my friends on a magical evening.

It was freaking awesome.

So the point of this is to encourage you to take a risk. Something that sends those humming birds crazy, open yourself up + put it out there. Risk.

'Cause even though it can be the scariest, craziest thing you could do - sometimes the results are freaking awesome.

How are you going to take a risk this week?

P.S. This is an article from my monthly newsletter - LilliBean's Love Letter: Snippets from my Studio.

If you enjoyed what you have read, you can click on the image below, (it takes two seconds), for more articles like this, your free downloadable art + the chance to win the subscribers only give away. Junes 'Studio Snippets' hits inboxes June 1st.

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