Recently Discovered Art That Inspires Me

The internet is amazing for searching for new art that I love, and I have recently come across three artists that have just blown my mind. I am so inspired by these ladies to really get into 3D work. I'd love to dive right in now, but my time constraints at the moment might hold that off for a little longer. (Boo! Who cares, maybe I'll just start!?)

I can spend hours pinning art and looking at art online, so it's always surprising when I discover new art that I really love that I've never seen before. And also, with the highly saturated amount of work online, the art's really got to be good to stand out from the crowd.

Funnily enough these artists are Australian. It must be something about our unique quirkiness that has spawned these fabulous artists. You know there's a weird sense of humour that goes on here..!

I love both of these artists for their use of a wide range of materials and skills. The cramming of lots of bits and pieces into one creation to make a coherent artwork. We have so much 'stuff' & clutter in our lives today; but I feel these works are a celebration of that. I get excited by these pieces, I am awe inspired by the amount of work gone into them. I love their weirdness.

One day I hope to see some of them in real life.

The first artist is Kate Rohde. Her resin work and attention to detail is amazing.

The second are two artists working together: Pip & Pop. These pictures are from their exhibition "We Miss You Magic Land!" They make me laugh and gasp, and they seem to look like work that has come from being in a toy-shop-candy coma. I love that I can see cheap materials in there; like squishy foam and sand that kids would play with, plastic beads, and pipe cleaners. There are pipe cleaners in there aren't there!? LOVE.

And now that my inspiration bucket is full (it's overflowing), I have a kid free day and I am going to immerse myself in creativity of some sort. And totally ignore the messy house, that can always wait, right?

Much inspiration to you!

Jules.

Finding Space

Some time today was set aside for finishing my latest painting. When I started this painting I was in one of those manic states (that I happen to get into sometimes- in an arty way) where creativity was overflowing and I just had to paint. Even though I was tired and really should've gone to bed! The motion of the pastel, paint and brushes were quick and flowing. No thought was needed to begin- it just happened. Coffee fuelled hurried work! Just get that canvas covered damn it!

A few more sessions and the momentum of the actual act of painting changed. Sometimes it was slow and careful. Contemplative. Thoughtful. 

Ebb & flow.

My last session today was the most fun. I have been personally wondering many a thing about my life recently.. where I'm going with my work, what choices am I going to make for our future. Wondering about what's important and what the heck are we all doing anyway. What does it all mean!? I flipped a podcast on to my computer and something fell into place. It was "Up For a Chat" Episode 28: 'Am I Really Making a Difference?' The ladies on the podcast do a bit of soul searching and supporting of each other mentally as they ask some questions about life, talk about being human, being busy, tired, dealing with people, and trying to make sense of it all. (I am loving this podcast by the way- it feels like sitting around with like-minded friends.)

The meaning of a painting just comes out sometimes. Intentionally?

I picked up a notebook and wrote: "Finding Space..." with the intention of writing down a description of the piece I was working on. Then I felt I didn't need to write it down. There were so many directions that sentence-starter could have gone; and my pen couldn't keep up with the words as they raced along in my mind. So.. I decided it didn't matter. "Finding Space." Life.. work.. children... I think one can look at this and be aware of the contrast in their own lives and remember to seek out that space. Or just observe. The ebb & flow.

Finding Space. Acrylic & Pastel 19 1/2 x 23 1/2"

Catch Up & 2015 Manifesto

Gah! Poor old neglected blog! Oops..

Catch up:

I am currently enjoying a bit of down time during the summer school holidays. I have a few jobs nagging me to complete; but I am taking my time with them and slowing down to spend time with my children (who are currently placed in front of the tv!), to cook proper meals with love, and to float around the house dreaming of projects and slowly chipping away at old ones.

My teeth healing diet (see this post) came to a grinding halt with the acquisition of a lovely bout of pneumonia. Sarcasm implied. I am now awaiting a dentist appointment to fill my cavity the conventional way; but in the future I will continue to employ some of the protocols I learned whilst on the diet to try and prevent any future teeth issues.

I got a reminder of what the important things in life are when my precious Miss 6 acquired the pneumonia too. We managed to treat her naturally successfully and got her through the worst of it. With only a cough left, I succumbed to the doctors scary stories and begun her on antibiotics. My nerves could take it no longer! I am just thankful for all to be going well so far and am enjoying our return to health.

We have been out of action for a while!

I finally picked up the paint brushes last night for my regular Art Jam session with my friend. What a good feeling that was- even if I do feel a little out of practise!

And, floating around in my mind is the promise that another year of work, general home life, and routine is about to begin. To kick start my motivation & preparation I have decided to get involved with Jess Van Den's 30 Day Question challenge to help set me on the right course for the beginning of the working year. Question #5 is What will your business and life look like this time next year? (I will catch up with the other questions during the remainder of the month.)

So, here is my little visual manifesto. 

I will be healthy! I will do yoga regularly! My aim is to keep minimising grains, sugar and alcohol, whilst still enjoying life and finding scrumptious, filling, visually pleasing recipes for food. I need to boost my immune system! I felt a bit ripped off being healthy and getting pneumonia. BUT, perhaps I would've been in hospital on intravenous antibiotics if my system had've been a bit weaker? Whatever, I know I'm on the right path for me :) And I was out of action a few times in 2014 due to back issues, but yoga helps keep me strong and is great for prevention.

Family is the most important thing! Especially my gorgeous children who are the centre of my universe. We will have smiling faces and full souls at the end of 2015! Lots of effort and concentration will be on the people I love this year. Not much else really matters.

Paint! Paint! Paint! Less jewellery and more artwork. Stretched canvasses, big pots of colourful paint pots, stained clothes and finished works. I'm excited.

Craft! Items, art and sculptures will ooze out of my brain and manifest themselves into reality! How wonderful it is to create something that never existed before.

I will have grown. In confidence (hoping to feel even more comfortable in my own skin- I'm getting there!), in maturity, personally, and creatively. Yay!

I will have made new connections online and in real life with like minded, creative souls. Back before children I had a pretty good online network of people with similar styles to my own, and with my return to the art world I'm finding some old friends and new one's returning. It's exciting. 

I'm looking forward to a great year.

Beautiful Children's Books

As an illustrator, I love children's books. Whilst browsing around some book shops looking for possible Christmas presents, I was longing to find a really special children's book. A keepsake; something to hold and treasure. There are so many beautiful books out there, and here are some of my favourite picks after my bit of real-life-shopping & online browsing.

The Usborne Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare (affiliate link) The cover on this book is clothbound, so this is definitely a book to pick up and give you that this-book-is-special feel. Loving the old- style cover design. We all have a million fairy tale stories (well, I know we do), and while they usually look magnificent in the book stores, I'm not sure we can handle another rendition of Henny Penny or The Magic Porridge Pot. Perhaps Shakespeare tales will fulfil the need for more interesting stories, but original?

Mr Dog's Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn is an independently published book that really has that special wow book factor. This can be ordered directly from their website & there is also the story behind the book's creation which gives an insight to how this book came about. I've been following the book's journey on Kickstarter & was joyful when the creators raised enough money to bring it to fruition. Now, if I were more organised I could've ordered a copy for Christmas! Maybe next year!?

How can I go past Emily Winfield Martin's Dream Animals!? (affiliate link) Whimsical, lush illustrations and a gorgeous sentiment; a unique dream animal for each individual child. The hardcover edition would be lovely to own. If you order directly from Emily's Etsy shop, you get a signed book, a print and some postcards! Special, special, special! She also has a daytime book out, but I may faint with gorgeous overload if I list that here too.

The Mermaid and the Shoe (affiliate link) Every now and then a book comes along with illustrations that make me gasp. This is that kind of book... Must. Order.

Oh.. Beautiful Oops! Celebrating the human error in all of us, and helping children (and adults) to overcome their frustrations with mistakes (I just misspelt mistakes- seriously!) comes this lovely arty book. I am always emphasising in my children the main purpose of art is enjoyment; not creating something to look a certain way, or pursuing perfection. This book helps get this message across. View it on youtube! Beautiful Oops (affiliate link) Don't be put off by the fact that in the online descriptions it says "board book". It kind of is because of the creative lift-outs and pages inside; but not in a baby-board-book kind of way. 

Fox's Garden (affiliate link)

I would also love to feast my eyes upon all of the pages of the Fox's Garden. Paper cut illustrations show intricate work, which inspires awe & makes for a special book. For now I will have to be content with viewing what I can of this book online. 

How to Find Flower Fairies (affiliate link)

And a book that we already own, which is truly special indeed, and will make any fairy loving kid swoon, is How to Find Flower Fairies. You can't go past a detailed pop-up book for that special wow factor, and this book lives up to all of those treasured book expectations.

Do you have any special treasured books? You know, the kind that are destined to be well loved; picked up again & again because there is just something really special about the book, be it the story, the illustrations, or the overall feel of the book?

I'd love to hear your picks.

Jules :)

*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. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.

Recent Paintings and My Latest Health Experiment

You can find these mini canvases in the shop. I had a lot of fun painting these ones. The top one is called "I am nature" and the bottom one is titled "The narwhal, the unicorn and the magical journey". 

At the moment I am busy working on some orders for necklaces and stamp sets, but I'm hoping to get back into painting again soon! I always work in rotation; once I get back into painting I churn a few more out again and then move onto the next pressing project.

In other news I have embarked upon a health experiment. I have recently been to my worst place in all the world- the dentist. And, gasp! I have a cavity, and some other suspicious areas in my mouth. (Thanks to some receding gums because I brush with gusto. Get the job done, man. This is boring already!!) Now, me being me, I had to research this and stumbled upon information of people out there that have actually healed their cavities. Through diet. From the inside, remineralising the body. What the!? I know, right!? 

So off I started on my strange experiment of a nutrient dense diet including lots of bone broth, fermented cod liver oil, and totally grain and sugar free. In a nutshell. It's been 11 days so far, and although this diet is not my ideal way to eat, I'm interested to know if it will work. It's kind of similar to paleo. 

Here's a couple of photos showing some of the things I am ingesting of late (I have since ditched the kombucha as although it's filled with beneficial probiotics it's also very sweet):

Mmmm, lots of bone broth soups..

Organic eggs and butter for their higher nutrient content.. and veggies. Lots o' veggies.

I will post my result! So weird. But then, that's what I do. Sometimes I wish for an easier life where I didn't have to question  everything. But it's part of my personality and something I am working on trying to accept! 

Thanks for reading :)

New Print- Fox Treasure

New print in the shop tonight. "Fox treasure". I imagine this fox tiptoeing his way through a sparkly forest. Collecting treasures; making memories of the beauty. Do you feel a kinship towards him like I do? :)

Painting Freely Without Fear & Exploring My Style

I recently got my hands on a copy of Brave Intuitive Painting by Flora Bowley.

This book is the perfect antidote for blank-canvas-paralysis! For painters and artists, or anyone that wants to paint or create for that matter, wanting to free themselves up, and let go of fear. Ever watched the pure enjoyment of a child painting? Tap back into that feeling...

I have to thank Flora Bowley for writing this book. From the bottom of my heart. The copy I have here is from the library, but it is at the very top of my wish list. (A close contender with Doctor Yourself, but that is a different subject entirely!) 

I have been flicking through this book for the last month or so. It's on my reading side table. I am a messy person; there are many books and magazines there, but this one keeps gravitating to the top of the pile. I tend not to read non-fiction books from start to finish, and this book was no exception. You can open it up and read from anywhere in the book and it makes sense. So many great tips in there for finding your own way as an artist & painter.

I have been illustrating, painting and creating (in the past under the name Julie Knoblock) professionally now for over ten years. And there is always room to grow. To learn new things. To challenge yourself. Even though I feel comfortable with where I am now as an artist I felt this book really advanced me along in my process of learning new things about my chosen craft.

Flora really has a unique way of looking at the world and she certainly knows that art is not separate from living. Hence she has activities to try in the book that are seemingly disconnected from painting, but a closer look at these prompts reveals they can help to promote artistic growth and enhance the creative journey. There's suggestions to meditate, do yoga, and to dance, for example.

The painting challenges is what I picked out to have a bit of fun with. There are challenges such as work on multiple pieces at once, turning your work around at set intervals, and covering up a lot of your previous layers. I found a new way of applying myself to my paintings which in turn made my works have a different visual outcome. I have taken some of these lessons I have learnt and find I am still applying them to subsequent works. One thing that I will continue to employ is to use many layers, which builds up awesome texture and an 'aged' look in my paintings.

I feel like this is a book that will keep giving. No matter where you are in your painting journey you could pick it up and gain something from it. I think that you could read something at one point in time and skim over it, but at a different stage it may pop out and resonate with you.  It has helped resolve a bit of that fear I have as an artist. That pressure I put upon myself complete something that looks good, which is a little scary and can leave me feeling cautious about applying paint to a surface.  And procrastinate! This book helps to negate this fear. There's a big emphasis on play in this book which I really opened up to. 

I'll leave you with a visual display of the works I have completed since applying some of the methods in this book. If you are an artist and have read the book, I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences with it. I hope these photos show how much fun I had! Thanks again Flora...