☆ Changes + Challenges [Friday Art]

Tweet

Changes + Challenges.

Change is never easy. Not for me anyway. Bean going to school is a big change. A welcome change but a huge change just the same.

And with this change comes challenges. Big challenges. Our routine, which we have had for five years + has worked for five years, is changing. And we are all challenged by this

My kids are kind of free range in the morning, they get up, they colour, play draw, they eat breakfast when they want, get dressed when their ready + we go out when it suits us (mostly!)

Now we are time sensitive, I am constantly nagging everyone to eat up, put their shoes on + clean their teeth.

I don't like nagging….

I also don't like loosing the relaxed and easy mornings where we can have french toast if we want to, where we can stay in our jimjams until late, where we can lay on the floor colouring if we want.

Changes and Challenges.

And as much as I want to rebel against these changes, I can't. We have to adjust + work through the challenges that we will face.

Are you facing challenges or changes in your life? Art journalling (like above) is now on of the main ways I deal. How do you cope with change + work through your challenges.

 [LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

Tweet

☆ New Challenge for July

Tweet

I have been feeling rutted lately.

I am stuck in a rut, and although I am creating, I haven't really stretched myself lately. I have a few projects each week/ month that I plod away at, but I haven't started anything new lately, haven't worked outside my comfort zones, I haven't taken on any projects that scare the bejesus out of me.

I opened up my moleskine yesterday and I haven't sketched in it since december last year. Thats six months of not drawing from life. Six months of ignoring that side of my creativity.

I decided it was time to mix things up a bit.

So for July, my challenge is to sketch every day from life, to take half an hour for me and draw what I see.

That is my challenge for July - what is yours?

☆•*¨*•.¸¸

Tweet

☆ A New Year.... A Fresh Start

Tweet

I love a new year, like a clean page in a journal or like Mondays, new year, for me is a fresh start. My ritual is to sit down with a journal and a glass of wine, and really think about what it is I want out of the coming year and how I am going to achieve it. I learnt a long time ago that simply writing 'lose 10 pounds' was never going to get the job accomplished!

For me, last year was so last year, and this year is exciting, and uncomplicated and well, new - there is no history muddying the waters... Well how could there be when its only four days old!

Of course it is not as simple as that, oh that I wish it were! but sometimes, just sometimes, I manage to achieve something major on the list - like the time I finally quit smoking, or the time I actually did loose those 10 pounds, or when we left Australia to travel on our mid-life gap year (or seven years) and the time we moved back again.

This year, with pen, journal, and a large wine in hand I sat down to write my resolutions and came up with a fairly sizeable list (not unusual), but I feel in my gut that I have a core list of achievable resolutions. We'll see...

So for all those interested here are the highlights....

♥ Fit into the dress I wore to my sisters wedding for my brothers (aka loose 20 pounds)
♥ Exercise for fitness - swim, walk, yoga, dance to the bloody Wiggles if need be - just move.
♥ Make healthier meal choices, limit take away and plan weekly menus - and be creative with food (Pasta is not the only thing you can cook Kirstin!)
♥ Set myself more daily, weekly & monthly sketching/ art challenges  (any suggestions on subject matter are most welcome!)
♥ Be creative in some small way every day (either by myself or with kids)
♥ Sew some more clothes (Hem those bloody curtains!!)
♥ Seriously work towards selling my art (locally and via web)
♥ Spend quality time with my family, talk more, make time for friends
♥ Play with focus with my kids
♥ Honour Date Night - and stop being slack and coping out with a dvd
♥ Spend responsibly (no more credit - eeek!!)
♥ Book a trip back to Raasay


I feel optimistic, its a slightly challenging list but also quite exhilarating to think what if... What if I manage to resolve my resolutions?? 


Do you have resolutions? Do you keep them?  Maybe this is the year to take responsibility for our resolutions? I know that I am going to try - Because what if? What if, just maybe, you achieve something great? (And if you do please share!)

x♥x

Tweet

☆ My Personal Challenge for September

Tweet

I am not usually one for setting monthly challenges, especially ones that I have to do daily. More often than not I end up missing a day which turns into two, then a week, which turns into the rest of the month.  I do this a lot and I know this is something I need to address...someday!

Anyway I decided at the start of September that I would attempt a daily challenge, a simple one, one that only requires five minutes a day at a minimum, and one that uses the materials I already have. So digging out the moleskine journal I bought after reading Danny Gregory's 'Creative Licence' I have started sketching a little each day.

I am only 6 days into my challenge, but so far so good. Here are a few so far taken with my iphone..

The only rule I have is that the sketches are to be done in ink - so no erasing mistakes! It makes for some interesting sketching, probably more honest sketching, and slightly frustrating at times - especially when Bean wants to help Mama draw. ('Bless her!' she says with a grimace) 

So we will see what the month brings - I am determined to continue for the month, but life quiet often has other plans!

What creative challenges have you set for yourself this year?

xx

Tweet