Why I Love Taking Part in The Global Talent Search

A lot of illustrators will already know about this competition run by Lilla Rogers from Make Art That Sells. Especially ones that are active online in social media. (Is Instagram your favourite too!?)

Mini prep assignment; sampling colours from one of my own photos

It's The Global Talent Search that she runs once a year to find a new illustrator to represent through her agency Lilla Rogers Studio. That's one big prize!

This is my second year taking part. In no way do I have any delusions of grandiose, (winning the comp... but one can dream!) but the main reason I'm taking part is because I just enjoyed it so thoroughly last year.

Mini prep assignment: Lettering practise. Illustrating the letter 'S'.

Every time you get an assignment (she has devised these mini tasks that are called GTS prep assignments) you get pushed out of your comfort zone. Like challenging yourself to use new colours, or to illustrate something that you may not initially be drawn to illustrate. I always find, even if I'm not totally keen on the subject, that I always learn something. Growth happens, and I find new respect or admiration for something that didn't interest me beforehand.

That once happened when I was commissioned to do a painting and my customer requested that there be some purple in the painting. I never really used purple before, and wasn't even sure how to mix the best hues. So, I had to learn. I researched and bought some new paints. For a colour that never sparked much interest before, I found that I actually enjoyed using it, and now purples and shades of pinks frequently appear in my artwork! I would never have started doing that if I hadn't have been pushed to try something out of what I was already comfortable with.

Mini prep assignment: Filling in the blanks within a paragraph that Lilla wrote about being a dessert. Who would expect anything less of a quirky assignment from someone that represents artists!?

Another reason is creating new folio pieces, practising my craft, and just plain fun. You get to connect with other illustrators & creatives through social media all over the world and spur each other on and that's a really nice bonus. You also get feedback from others which, let's face it, if you're an illustrator you need to be making art that other people enjoy so it's good to get that positive feedback.

Mini prep assignment: Illustrating my favourite drink.

So now the mini preps are done I'm ready for the first main assignment and am waiting with bated breath. Bring it on Lilla!

Jules :)

DIY Geo Origami Mobile

Want an easy craft to do that has big impact for little effort? Go these origami geo shapes. So fun and effective.

You can even make these origami shapes and hang them randomly around your house. They are a little addictive :)

I made all these geo origami shapes then decided to hang them from fishing line onto a triangle of branches found in my backyard. The branches I cut were about 40cm (16") in length.

You'll need scrap book papers, small branches, string or twine or wool & fishing line, scissors, and a hot glue gun.

Ok, so here's what you do in picture form:

Hopefully my pictures are self explanatory. Let me know if you get confused! Once you have made one, make another the same size. For each geo shape you need two pieces that will glue together. Poke a small hole in the top of one piece and thread string/ wool/ fishing line through with a decent knot in one end to hold it up. 

The next part is a bit tricky where you place the two parts together using your hot glue gun to join. I think it's easy to go around and do one 'point' at a time, until you've glued all of the points together.

Then, go crazy! Hang them from twigs like I have done or dot them throughout your house :)

The beauty of this project is you can customise your papers to suit your own taste and style. Of course, I have used colourful decorative scrap booking papers for mine. My largest geo shape is made from two standard sized scrap book papers. The rest I cut down smaller than that. Play around with different sizes. The small ones look so cute!

Have fun :)

Weekend Retreat at Warburton

Recently I had a weekend away with a couple of long time old friends of mine. Between the three of us friends, we have acquired seven children. We managed to whittle that down to just one for this getaway! 

I won't go on much in this blog post. It was a very relaxing and rejuvenating stay. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Inspiration was all around especially in the quirky creative town of Warburton, which we stayed near. Couple that with the Australian bush, cafe visits, warm cups of tea, a fireplace, yummy food and good company and we had the recipe for a perfect getaway.

This house we discovered in the main town of Warburton was like a creation straight from the pages of a book I have by Taschen called Fantasy Worlds (Which I love.) Very intriguing. And I hear the owner & creator sometimes comes out and talks about his home. It looked like a grown up manifestation of a childhood cubby house/ fort. 

The Fantasy Worlds book is available here. (affiliate link)

Now you would think I'd be full of inspiration to create, wouldn't you? Nope! I have been creating lots of food though. (Bread, sauerkraut, homemade nutella, cashew paste, broth, soups, cakes, muesli, coconut yoghurt.. the list goes on..) My kids have been on school holidays and now that school is back, I still have one sick at home. I'm hoping to get right back into it very soon with the start of a new school term, Jess Van Den's Year To Thrive program which I will be taking part in, and the Global Talent Search, all starting very soon.

I'm looking forward to it all and hope that my little spark of creativity flourishes into a big furnace again with the help of those programs!

Here's hoping your furnace is firing too :)

Jules x

Disclaimer: Affiliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. You can be confident that I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.