Tag: inspiration

Art Journaling Australia

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting, Stories From Life

Recently, a great friend and business owner I know (who is an Artist, Art Teacher and Art Therapist), Sharon Veness, set up a Facebook group called ‘Art Journaling Australia.’

I’ve been doing sketches for a few years now and have read about Art Journaling before, however I’ve not really had a consistent practice for it. This past week, I’ve joined Sharon’s new Facebook group and am enjoying the process.

Some of my Art Journaling will never see the light of day as it is quite personal however, some is less personal and I have been happy to share it in the group.

Here a couple of examples:

Arterial lifelines hold our lives together. They are our Lifeblood, connecting the various parts of our lives, bleeding into each other… Watercolour was a great way to communicate this, I felt.

I’m really enjoying this process. It’s another way for me to communicate/express how I feel about things in my life and as I view the world on a daily basis.

If you are interested in checking out the Facebook link, here it is:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/635381875168842

Happy Art Journaling! 🙂

Written by David Johnson

17 June 2023

Urban Sketching Inspiration

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books

Earlier in the year I turned 60 and received two copies of the ‘Atomic Habits’ book. This past week I finally decided which book I was going to replace one copy with.

I have been doing research on and off for a fair while reviewing books on the subject of Urban Sketching and finally decided to purchase the book below, ‘Urban Sketching: the complete guide to techniques’ by Thomas Thorspecken.

The book only arrived yesterday morning and I have already been inspired by it to start sketching people. I haven’t really done a lot in terms of sketching people, and always seemed to ‘shy away’ from doing it as I had this belief that it was either too hard, or some had some other limiting belief around it.

Apart from that, I have only had a chance to have a quick flip through (as it has been quite a busy Long Weekend). Looking forward to sitting down with a cuppa tonight to explore the book more.

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

12 June 2023

Life Adventures!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Life’s Stairway

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Cloudy Skies

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Haiku Poetry

Missing Pages

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Forging A New Path

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Berkeleouw’s Book Barn Treasure

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books

As part of celebrating the anniversary of the very first time we went out to dinner (19 November 1994), we always pay a visit for a couple of hours to Berkeleouw’s Book Barn at Berrima.

Susan and I are bookworms and there is nothing better for bookworms than visiting a bookshop. Although the Book Barn has some new books, it predominantly has used books, which is part of what keeps us coming back.

This visit saw me purchase the following books:

I always seem to come away with at least one Poetry book, and in the last few years the Poetry books have outnumbered the Art-related books, but not this year.

The two Chinese Art-related books jumped out at me as next weekend, I am attending a workshop that is being run by Jo Wong Artist, who is also the new President of the Macarthur Art Group that will be joining shortly.

‘Poetry Now’ is actually a book of Poems where the authors were born within the first 30-40 years of the 20th Century and /Great Artists Explained’ was simply too good a book to leave on the shelf!

I look forward in the coming weeks to grab a cuppa and sit down and investigate all these books more.

Written by David Johnson

27 November 2022

Urban Sketchers Sydney – October Meet

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Last Saturday, I went on my second Meet of the Urban Sketchers Sydney group. This time, the Meet was held in the grounds between the Sydney Town Hall and St Andrews Cathedral.

The main object of the day was to attempt a sketch of a moving subject, the newly built ‘Sydney Light Rail’, a red and deep grey, modern-style tram.

There were 40 or so Urban Sketchers in attendance and most started with the Light Rail as the subject. Quite a few of us went in the other direction and chose stationary subjects i.e. buildings or parts of buildings. I chose the side entrance/steps to the Sydney Town Hall.

Sydney Town Hall

To be honest, I found this subject challenging enough and when it started to rain a little it was even more challenging. After I finished this sketch, I did wander over to the Light Rail and started to sketch it. It was kind of weird how the subject kept disappearing… I didn’t get to finish the sketch at the time but it certainly was an interesting challenge and experience.

We then had the ‘Throw Down’ and once again it was marvellous to see all the different interpretations and styles of those present.

Throw Down

I am so glad that I came across this group on Facebook. Urban Sketchers Sydney is full of friendly and inspirational people and I am looking forward to attending my third Meet in November. I wonder where it will be? 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/groups/usksyd/about/

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

3 October 2022

Flow Of Life

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry