When Creativity Comes…
Tag: creativity
Looking Into My Soul…
My ‘Daily Art Practice’
An Artists Interpretation
Creative Noon
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of experiencing my first ‘Creative Noon’ event.
Creative Noon is a gathering of ‘creatives’ at a Cafe/Restaurant in Campbelltown, which is situated approx. 60km South West of Sydney, Australia and is approx. 10 minutes drive from where I live.
It was started by two ladies, Sandie O’Neill (Licence to Create) & Janeen Harris in conjunction with Sonya Moluang who owns and operates ‘Bar Centrale’, the cafe/restaurant.
The idea was simple. They wanted to create a non-competitive environment in which creatives of all types could gather for 2 1/2 hours on a Saturday afternoon to create, chat and enjoy a refreshment or two.
We each did a quick introduction, saying our name and what types of creativity we are involved in. There were about 10 people there this time and it seems multiple people are into multiple types of Artistic endeavours including: Photography; Writing Poetry; Oil Painting; Watercolour Painting, Sculpting; Soft Pastel, YarnBombing (never heard of that one before), Crocheting, Drawing, Sketching, Mixed Media, Stained Glass, Mosaics to name but a few.
I had a wonderful time meeting and chatting. Yesterday, I took my Watercolours and the resulting creation can be viewed at the base of this article. Other art forms represented yesterday were Soft Pastel, Drawing, YarnBombing, Crocheting.
Insights and inspiration can come from anywhere. Mixing with other creatives can open the door to other views, other opinions of your artistic creations. It can help you see things different ways and can help you grow in your artistic journey.
Am very much looking forward to the next ‘Creative Noon!’
Written by David Johnson
4 August 2019
Take Up That Sword!
Sketchbook Revival 2019
A couple of months ago, when visiting doodlewash.com (one of the blogs I follow on WordPress), I came upon an event called, “Sketchbook Revival 2019.” Sketchbook Revival (as I found out) was in its second year and was started by Karen Abend and her team.
It began in late April and the organisers invited 25 Artists to give an instruction via a 25 – 50 minute video which was recorded live then emailed (or accessed via the schedule page) to eager participants like myself.
A wide range of mediums were covered including pencil, pen, Watercolour, Acrylic, Mixed-Media, Charcoal, Digital and a host of others.
Each participant received 2 videos daily over 13 days and then we all had another 14 days to access the videos for free. Some of the topics included: “Portrait Party”, “Sidewalk Cracks”, “Whimsical Buildings”, “Sketching Like A Kid Again”, Sketching Our Intuition”, “Object Observation” and much, much more.
As the video played, you could ‘tag along’ and paint, sketch, draw etc with the Artist. It was a great chance, not only to use mediums that you are used to using but also try out some other mediums whilst being guided.
After each video we were invited to share our creations in the closed Facebook Group so that everyone could see and comment on them if they wished. The Artists gave feedback as well.
I’ve included some of my creations below.
Each Artist also gave participants a free gift to encourage them on their creative journey and there were also links to the Artists’ websites where there more free resources plus paid courses to investigate.
Overall, I found it to be a most rewarding experience. It has certainly changed the way I think about producing creative works, particularly in my sketchbook.
I am so looking forward to Sketchbook Revival 2020!
Written by David Johnson
3 June 2019
Here is the link to the Facebook Group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SketchbookRevival/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SketchbookRevival/
Pen & Wash
Intuitive watercolour
Mindful Inspirations
How To Draw A Dog
How To Start A Happy Journal
Whimsical Buildings
How To Draw A Bird
Create Daily
Drawing A Seahorse
Watercolour Sketch A Day Continues…
Back on Australia Day, 26 January 2019, I decided to do a Watercolour Sketch a Day, mainly because I was inconsistent in getting to actually paint. I wanted to learn Watercolour and would do a small one, then life would intervene and before I knew it, another couple of weeks had passed and so on…
As of today (Day 127) I have done 127 Watercolour Sketches in a row. It continues to be fun and has become a kind of therapy and it helps me escape into my own little world and away from digital technology, as digital seems to have pervaded into most areas of our lives. I find it quite meditative and am thoroughly enjoying this journey of fun and learning!
Currently, I have about 3 sketchbooks going. One is a Paper Mill A4 heavier Ivory paper (that sadly the manufacturer has advised is now unavailable), a Moleskine Watercolour A5 Journal (200gsm) and an A4 (120gsm) hardcover Journal.
With the Paper Mill Journal being unavailable, I think that I will have a go at building my own. More on that in another post.
I use Cotman Watercolour Half-Pans, Aqua Wash (mainly) and some conventional brushes and Staedtler Pigment Liners and Derwent pencils.
For now, here is a selection of my Watercolour Sketches since Day 67.
Written by David Johnson
1 June 2019
Watercolour Dreams
Walking Isn’t ‘Just Walking’…
During Summer in Sydney, Australia, it is always best to walk early. We are expecting another day of 38C/100F temperatures.
Today, I set off a bit later than usual, at 7.00am. It was 17C/63F when I commenced.
As mentioned in previous blogs, I really enjoy walking, not only from the fitness perspective, but also because I get a lot of ideas whilst walking e.g. today, in a 42 minute walk, I came up 8 ideas for articles for this blog, all jotted down via the Google Keep app. Sometimes I get business ideas, or ideas for images, poems and paintings. If they are not recorded by some means, they will be lost…
Sometimes on a walk, I will listen to the sounds of nature, other times a playlist or a podcast, depending on how I feel.
Today, I chose to listen to a podcast by Charlie O’Shields called ’Sketching Stuff.’ I have been following Charlie’s site, ‘Doodlewash’ for some time but only recently started listening to his podcast.
I would encourage you to listen to the podcast if you are in any way interested in getting into Art or indeed, have already started.
Today, I listened to episode #10 and it was informative, inspirational and entertaining. I will be listening to it again over the weekend. (See link below.)
To finish off the walk, I chose a Classical music playlist as it suited my mood.
Sometimes, I will snap some images with my iPhone on my rounds. I took some today but they will come to light in a different article as I seemed to be shooting a theme today. I also have a DSLR, however, if I took that with me, the walk would double or triple in time!
So you see, walking for me isn’t ‘just walking’… it’s also a way of feeding my creativity!
Written by David Johnson
12 January 2019
Communicating Creatively 