☆ Dreaming in Colour [Friday Art]

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Week 39: September 2014

Ok. I admit it....

I am slightly obsessed with dream catchers.

hmmm.

It may be more than slightly.

This week I was blessed with a day on my own. A day where I had nothing planned, not social events, no should do's, could do's, have to's.

Although I had prep to do for the markets I am at tomorrow. (I am at the Sakura Matsuri festival at the Japanese Gardens in town.) I knew I didn't have to start it then.

And I have been thinking about another dream catcher painting. The last one I did earlier this month was such fun to paint, that I began thinking about a huge painting for above my bed.

A big painting that has a rainbow of colours, that would be bright + soft + have meaning.

I am not a huge fan of traditional canvases, and I love the way the water colour smooshes around  the page. The way you can layer colours so beautifully. The way you can never really plan what's going to happen with the painting.

So I know this painting has to be on water colour paper.

But I also want this painting big. HUGE. And I don't have paper that size here. And I couldn't duck out to the art shop (it's two hours away), so I thought I would start smallish (it's 29 x 42 cms) + see where playing would take me.

And I spent the next 8 hours painting.

It was BLISS

Pure and utter bliss.

"Dreaming in Colour"
29 x 42 cm Water colour on paper.
For Sale - $180 (unframed) + postage  SOLD
Contact me for info.

It's days like these, days where I can be totally connected to my painting + wild with my time + paints that balance me.

Days like these are rare + valuable and I treasure them.

If they were a weekly event they wouldn't be so special, but they shouldn't be so rare.

So what would you do on a day with no should do's, could do's, have to's - I would love to hear how you would spend your day.

By the way you can see this painting framed at the markets tomorrow - have a great weekend.

 [LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

Did you know that I send out a monthly love letter with studio snippets, a monthly give away of one of my paintings or products, a free calendar download + more. Click here or on the image below for more + your free downloadable gratitude angel 

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☆ Dreaming Softly [Friday Art]

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I have been slightly obsessed with dream catchers all my life.

If you have been reading here for a while, you know that I am a vivid dreamer. My dreams are often intense, bright, consuming things. I often wake up with what I call Dream Hangover.

So since I was little I have always had a dream catcher above my bed.




I couldn't say 100% that I don't have bad dreams. But I no longer have the dark, stalkerish dreams that I used to have.

My kids are vivid dreamers too. Often we'll hear them cry out, talk or even sing in their dreams. (And that last one was the funniest thing I have ever seen!!)

So I invested in dream catchers for them too.

Just in case.

So I have been thinking a lot about them lately. I have some cool tutorials pinned that I would like to do one day, and create my own personal dream catcher. And they often pop up in my paintings like here + here.

But in the meantime this one will do.

'DREAMING SOFTLY'

I love how this turned out. At one stage there was so much water on the page that the paint from the page previous seeped through. And even though I was horrified at the time, I actually love how it worked out in the end.

I wish you good dreams this weekend! 

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]


Did you know that I send out a monthly love letter with studio snippets, a monthly give away of one of my paintings or products, a free calendar download + more. Click here or on the image below for more + your free downloadable gratitude angel 

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☆ Fly Away Dreams [friday art]

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Sometimes my dreams seem to float away on the wind, seemingly graspable, only to slip away on a gust of wind.

It is hard to keep a positive frame of mind when that happens, and maybe it's why I always have plans 'A', plan 'B' + plan 'C'.

So when plan 'A' doesn't work I can move onto plan 'B'.

Does anyone else do this?

Anyway, this has obviously been on my mind a bit when I painted this painting:

'FLY AWAY DREAMS'
approx 12 x 8 in. acrylic + water colour
For Sale: $59 + postage.
email me for more information

Changing the topic - I am sure you are all aware that google reader will be closing its figurative doors come July. I am also sure that you are aware some of the options that are available to us now to read out favourite blogs. 

I use blog lovin' now to read my blogs + one of the blogs I follow is 'Sew Many Ways' + she has written this brilliant post on exporting your blogs from google reader. 

DON'T miss a thing - make sure you export your blogs.

I hope you have a fabulous dream filled weekend - I would love to know what you are dreaming about!

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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☆ Dream Caught.

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I am a vivid dreamer. 

I don't know if this is a technical term, but it is how I describe my dreams. 

They are all encompassing, they suck me in, and I am so involved in the dream that I often don't want to wake up. They are colourful + dramatic. I will wake up laughing, shouting + crying. Sometimes, I suffer from dream hang over, which for me means even though I am awake, I am groggy, foggy + I even though I am walking around organising breakfast, in my head I am still in my dream, rehashing it, reliving it. 

Although sometimes, I wish the dream hangover was less intense, I have never wished that I don't vivid dream.

And for as long as I remember, I have always had dream catchers in my bed rooms, in my teens I felt that I needed a safe guard against my dreams. I have one in my studio now, and I am not sure if they help, but since I have had one up, I have never had a nightmare. (Sad dreams + suspenseful dreams yes, but no nightmares)

So last weekend we were at the markets in the big smoke, and we had given them some money to spend. After looking at every stall, and making some tough decisions ("well you can buy this, but you can't buy that, or go on the jumpy castle") they both decided on buying dream catchers. (Which I thought was much better than the Hello Kitty bracelet which would break as soon as we got in the car!)

The very next night Bug wakes up talking about the scary bear, and how she can't go back to sleep, so we pulled out her new dream catcher, hung it up + back off to sleep she went.

It made me think, what if a little dream imp, attracted by the shiny stones + gold weave, ended up caught in the dream catcher, + this painting was born...

"Dream Caught"
11.7 x 8.3 in, acrylic + water colour paints, on quality water colour paper.
'Dream Caught' will be for sale in my etsy store at the end of the month.
(But email me now if your interested in purchasing before then) 

Do you remember your dreams? Do you suffer from dream hangover? I often wonder about the correlation between vivid dreams + creativity, so I would love to know your thoughts.

Have a fabulous weekend. Thank you everyone for your lovely comments last week, I wasn't able to get to many of the PPF entries last week because we were away, but I appreciated every comment! (and I found some jeans that sort of stay up!!)

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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