Life Book 2014 [Final Flip Through]

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Just a final look-see at last years Life Book lessons, before I start sharing this years classes with you....

It's amazing to look over your year of classes and and see the progression of your art work!

(oh and I must apologise for the darkness, I filmed it on the one cloudy and overcast morning in December!!)

Or you can see it on you tube here

I hope you enjoy it!!

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☆ Alis volat suo [GREATEST HITS]

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I hope you are enjoying my Greatest Hits series! This is because I am taking January off + I am currently reading a book, sleeping on the couch, swimming at the pool, or painting in the studio....

These are the posts that have inspired, helped, motivated + encouraged my readers. How do I know this?

Because you told me. In emails, comments or links.


Enjoy....

☆ ☆ ☆

from january 2012

Alis volat suo
Mixed media on canvas
©2012 Kirstin McCulloch

So this January has me creating a lot of art with wings.

I am slightly obsessed.

I think it is because I like the idea of flying free from all the crap that happened last year.

And, I was also flitting through the pintrest boards and found a tattoo with the words "she flies with her own wings" written in latin -

Alis volat suo.

[the latin according to google translate.]

So simple.

So true.

So what I aspire to do.

Fly with my own wings - a more whimsical way of saying she walks to the beat of her own drum.

I think its time. Time to shake off other peoples wings, and don my own. And perhaps time to get my first bit of body ink!

Anyway, I just love this painting. She immediately went up on my wall (she's approx an A2 size - not sure what that is in cms or inches), but she just totally resonates with me.

So I would love to know if you have been inspired by a tattoo, or art work to change, or act? I would love to know.

P.S she is still on my wall, still resonating and reminding me to set free and fly!

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☆ Top 10 ways to Beat the Creativity Blues: part two [GREATEST HITS]

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I hope you are enjoying my Greatest Hits series! This is because I am taking January off + I am currently reading a book, sleeping on the couch, swimming at the pool, or painting in the studio....

These are the posts that have inspired, helped, motivated + encouraged my readers. How do I know this?

Because you told me. In emails, comments or links.

Enjoy....

☆ ☆ ☆

MY TOP 10 WAYS TO BEAT THE CREATIVITY BLUES 

{part two} {part one here}

6. ALTERING ART...

Once I had a few photos of my family lying around, that I wasn't going to use in frames, the quality wasn't great, or they had printed wonky.

So I glued a few in my sketchbook + found a permanent marker + my extremely cheap metallic gel pens + started to doodle over the photos.

I ended up with some very cool ideas to then translate onto paper. (Bonus - It was super fun + my kids love looking at them!)

7. WEEKLY CHALLENGE SITES...

There are heaps of these around. These are websites which provide you a weekly prompt - usually just a word + it is up to you to create something based on around that word.

My favourite sites are Illustration Friday + Inspiration Avenue - but feel free to share you favuorites in the comments section for others to visit.

I often use these prompts, when I am struggling for ideas. 

You can share your work with others on the sites, but quite often I don't, I just spend a quick ten minutes sketching a picture.

8. ART COURSES...

Again there are so many courses out there, and if you a regular reader of 'Listening to the Squeak', you will know that I have done the LifeBook courses for the last two years.

I love these courses, the many different techniques + different styles of the artists teaching is so inspiring, but the best part of this is following a lesson plan, which if you are in mood you can just follow as is, or taylor to your imagination.

This makes art courses perfect for keeping creative with out having to think of inspiration.

The cost can be prohibitive, but you can find free art courses online - Tam Laporte's Art, Heart + Healing was one that I did early on + was fantastic. 

9. MAGAZINES + CATALOGUES...

You can usually find magazines everywhere, at your mums, your nans, the doctors surgery... 

And every week, we receive half a dozen junk mail catalogues, so if I am running on empty, I will find a picture of a dress I like, a cute wall decal, a tea set - something + I use it as a basis of my sketch.

The sketch on the left was a pose + hair style I liked + on the right, I liked the neck on a dress I found.

It doesn't need to be an elaborate sketch if you don't have time, just enough to give you an idea when you flick through your sketches later.

10. PINTEREST [OR MY FAVOURITE TIME SUCK]...

I hesitated about suggesting this one, the site itself has caused some controversy, but I love using pinterest to spark my creativity.  

I have several boards like a wings + things board or poses board, that I go to for inspiration on days when I am stuck.

But you have to be careful not to spend time mindlessly surfing or you can end up spending hours on there. (time suck!!)

*****

So I hope this has given you some ideas on breaking through those creative dry spells that seem to happen to us all. 

What are your favourite inspiration busters? I would love it if you shared yours with us below.

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