Moonlite English Cottage

This version of the cottage painting is the one I originally set out to do a few days ago that accidentally became colorful instead of moonlite. 

I am rereading The Confident Creative by Cat Bennett. This book has a lot of ideas about how to merge drawing, painting and creativity, plus remove your roadblocks to making art. On page 56 under the heading of Experiment she writes about some ideas that may apply to you and me. Basically, she suggests we need to explore and experiment and not do things only one way. She says there’s always discomfort when we do the unfamiliar, but do your artwork anyway. She even suggests that if you think of new ways to be more creative and try them, that it will change everything......

Maybe, this is what got me over my hump of trying to paint the creativity cottage in the moonlight. Any thoughts from you? Do you think I should cheerlead for you to try new ways of painting and drawing? 

I once tried out for cheerleader in junior high school but didn’t get the job because I was always out of step or in the library when I should have been at practice. 

Colorful Creativity Cottage

Today the sun shone on the creativity cottage and somehow I painted it again with a carousel of colors. I really started out the painting this morning with the intent of painting the cottage in dark moonlight. I think I have heard of this color intent changing phenomena before, it’s called the Color Intent Changing Sydrome. Has this sydrome ever struck you?

Do More Artwork Stratagies

I've been thinking of more strategies for you to try out and see if they help you do more painting and drawing. I need you to read them over and tell me what you think. 

1.  Would a list of weekly painting topics help you? Maybe one topic per week for 4 or 6 weeks? You can use it as a guide if you can't think of what to paint.

2. What if I developed a strict teacher attitude that would motivate you to rush to do your artwork because you don't want me to give you a bad grade or call your mother, spouse, significant other or get called into the principal's office?

3. What if you could get rewarded with candy, a gold star or? If you finished a painting assignment? 

4. What if I wrote notes for you to excuse you from some activity so you could not attend and use that time to paint instead? 

I am still thinking up more motivational ideas for you, what do you think so far? 

I tried to paint the creative cottage in the moonlight, inspired by tonight’s full moon. 

Do You Think We Want to Make Any New Year's Resolutions to Help Us With Our Painting?

As I type this post my hand is jiggling a bit because I am on the treadmill.  I might be trying to get a jumpstart on losing the 20 lbs I might be making a new year's resolution to lose.

Do new year's resolutions work for you?  I never follow through on my resolutions.  I prefer problem solving thinking stratagies to help me accomplish my goals. Once I understand what I think is in the way of me working toward my desire, I try to work or chip away at my roadblock(s).

To recap some of the approaches I've talked about to get more artwork done this year:

1. Finding a spot and a desk to leave set up with your art supplies so you can begin painting whenever you have a spare moment

2. Downsizing your art supplies so you can keep them in a small pouch and grab them when you want to paint somewhere besides your house. 

3. Changing your thinking about your making art from something you do as an after thought to something its necessary and legitimate  to sit down and do often.

4. Getting yourself to understand that drawing and watercolor painting are skills you need to practice to improve and that being a good painter is NOT only for "talented" artists. 

5. Join a group or sign up for a class you can attend often can motivate you to paint more often because you have like minded people to show your work to. 

Have you discovered anything this year that helped you make more artwork? Please share it with me and my blog readers. 

Here is an English thatched cottage for you to print out and customize with your choice of paints and color.  

I wish you a very happy, healthy, colorful 2018 with lots of painting time for you!

Last Minute Gift Customized Cow Painting

Did you forget to pick up something for Uncle Fred? Aunt Frieda or Cousin It?  Never fear, you won't be embarrassed, I have a gift you make in less time then it takes you to run to the mall or the market.

Just print out the cow drawing below on watercolor paper in your home printer. You probably can use cardstock if thats all you have around the house to print on.  Paint, color or crayon the cow in Uncle Fred's, Aunt Frieda's or Cousin It's favorite colors.  If you don't know their favorite colors, use yours or mine (see my watercolor painted cow below.).  Then on the blank paper the cow is stenciling on, write a personalized message.

Wrap it up in holiday wrapping and you are set with a personalized present.  

If Uncle Fred is flashy paint with bright colors. 

If Aunt Bertha just started meditating use calming colors. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU WHO TAKE THE TIME TO READ MY BLOG, and BEST WISHES FOR A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR! 

What Do Thatched Cottages, Dark Tea, Watercolor Paint and Jane Austen Have in Common?

If you answered they are all novels, you are wrong.  If you answered they are all names of trendy cocktails, you are wrong. If you anwered that they all have to do with visiting England with me, you are correct.  

Next May 14-22 we will hop on a bus outside of the Manchester airport and drive along the coastline and arrive at the coastal village of Conwy in Wales, We will spend time exploring Conwy and its local castle  and learning about the culture of Wales (warning, this may involve visiting a pub or two and of course a local tea shop).

After many 29 or so watercolor painting workshops, we have learned not to rush from here to there. Instead we savor what we see and we relax. In the spirit of slow relaxed travel we will spend 8 days in the village of Slaugther in the heart of the Cotswolds. We will spend relaxed days in the village, walking, painting, and exploring and we will travel to neighboring villages to do more of the same. Our big excursions will be a day in Bath and a day in Oxford where local walking guides will show us around town.

If this trip sounds good to you, email me for more info or to reserve your spot. I only have 3 spots left open. 

If you want to drop a big hint to a generous loved one, to gift you this this workshop, I am happy to prepare a handlettered gift certificate for them to surprise you with on Christmas morning.

Ask Yourself More Questions to Improve Your Creative Thinking

What do you SEE in the painting below?  Blue doors, old bricks, # 1 above the door? 

Now ask yourself what you don't see in the painting? There isn't a right answer.  You could NOT SEE the old couple that might live behind these doors who shuffle to the market everyday.  Or you might NOT SEE the young man who lives alone in one of the apartments inside the building with the blue door.  He rides his bicycle to and from work but we don't see his bicycle because he parks it inside.  You don't see the Opera singer who lives with the writer behind the blue door either.  

What do you NOT HEAR in the painting? The sound the writer makes when he types away on the old typewriter he prefers to use for his first drafts instead of his computer.  The old couple could be having a discussion about the rising price of coffee but we can't hear that either. The young man who lives in apartment 5 is on the phone speaking animatedly to his mother in Chinese.  We can't hear his conversation even if we like to easedrop. 

What do you feel about the painting? Does the blue door make you feel calm and serene? Or does it remind you of an argument you once had in front of a blue door and bring back a feeling of dispair? 

What questions come to your mind when you look at the painting of the blue door? 

DIY Watercolor Sketchbook From a Vintage Book Cover

It's easy to make a book filled with watercolor or other paper of your choice. My friend, Debbie Reid taught a group of us how to bind our papers to the book spine using a phamphlet stitch. 

If you go out to purchase a hard cover book filled with Arches watercolor paper it costs quite a lot. About the price of a small yurt in La Canada. This is one of the reasons I make my own books. The other reason is I like to have several different kinds of paper in one book. Also I love having a vintage book cover on my sketchbook.

Please let me know if you'd like to make a sketchbook and I'll post directions here. 

I made this book with some friends on Saturday. I showed them how and they whipped out their own books quickly! 

I'm bringing this book with me on my May workshop trip to England to fill with watercolors of cottages, teapots and more.  I still have a few spots open if you'd like to come along to paint in North Wales, Bath, Oxford and the Cotswolds.

Learning More About Victoria, B.C.; Butchart Gardens and the history of Cement

We are definitely going to visit Butchart Gardens on our watercolor journaling workshop to Victora this coming April.  I have been doing some research on Butchart Gardens and discovered it has a history based on the insistence of a wife!  You can read the whole story here  http://www.seniorlivingmag.com/article/butchart-gardens-over-100-years-in-bloom   Or you can read my abridged version below.  

It seems cement was new on the horizon and a Scotsman living in Canada, Robert Butchart (who was one of 11 children)  got interested in the process. He had married an American adventuress, Jeanette Foster Kennedy.  She loved ballooning, flying, horseback riding and painting. In 1903, Bob Butchart heard of huge deposits of powdery white limestone, ideal for cement production, on Vancouver.   The couple moved to a 3 room cottage overlooking the the limestone quarries  and set up a cement making business..   Jeanette thought her husband was making a big mess of the view from the cottage, so she took the piles of clay and sand left over from the cement processing and moulded them into the gentle slopes that now form the Upper Garden. Then she planted some seeds........

The rest is history and the gardens are now world renown.  Best of all we will get to visit them and if we want more tea after already having tea at the Empress Hotel, we will also imbibe on some tea and sandwiches in the shop in the gardens.  

Have You Ever Heard of Emily Carr?

I had never heard about the painter, Emily Carr until Eileen came home from one of her trips to Seattle and told me a friend took her to see an exhibit of Emily Carr's paintings.

This is a painting by Emily Carr called the Gravel Pit.

So I became interested in Emily Carr.  She was an amazing woman! She was born in 1871 and she was a painter, writer and an environmentalist at a time when women were not that independent.  She loved the indigenous culture of British Colombia and struck out on her own to visit and paint the art, totems and landscapes she found in the rustic villages of the native people. You can read about her here https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/travel/vancouver-victoria-emily-carr.html  She is quite a talented artist who worked in watercolor as well as oil.  The painted a wide variety of subjects and she didn't become well know until her later years.  She ran a rooming house at one point to support herself.  Many books have been written by her and about her.  

I am really pleased that we will have an opportunity to see some of Emily Carr's artwork and visit her home on my Watercolor Travel Painting Tour to Victoria, B.C. April 3-10, 2018. If you want to know more about the trip, click this link and it will take the Canada Trip page.  http://www.barbararothanywhereart.com/canada/

Sneaky Sketching Reduces Stress

Yesterday I sketched this while waiting in line at CVS to pick up a prescription they had messed up twice. My stress level zoomed up when I saw the length of the pick up line.   

As I waited I fished out pencil and paper and sketched the wallpaper line drawings. I didn't notice the wait in line once I started drawing and my stress level dropped. I think according to Betty Edwards author of Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain, that you lose track of time when you draw.  This is because when you draw the brain uses the right side which doesn't register time. The left side of our brains is the logical time keeper.  

I had a few minutes later in the day so I recorded an idea I thought of for a purse that would fit my sketchbook and pens and pencils. I decided it would have a label like saying it would be made by Nobody. 

Sneaky Drawing or How to Sneak In Some Daily Drawing Practice

Today I invented Sneaky drawing because I am caught up in a frenzy of pre-Thanksgiving activities and don't have time for artwork.  So I was forced to think up the Sneaky drawing method, which is not difficult and anyone can learn to do it after reading the instructions in this blog post.

Instructions:

Find a pencil, any pencil, it doesn't have to be perfect or a special #, just so it has a tip that writes.

Find a piece of paper to draw on.  I used my shopping list.  Throw your paper and your pencil into your purse, briefcase or pocket if you are going out. You need to be able to grab the paper and pencil when you have 1-5 minutes free.  II was waiting in the check out line at the market, when the realization struck me that I did not need to peak at the tabloid on the rack by the cashier.  It really wasn't crucial to read about Queen Elizabeth's secrets to a happy marriage or the latest movie stars most recent divorce and trauma.  Instead, I could draw!

How to make a sneaky drawing:

Find something in your line of vision. I chose a magazine cover. I looked at the cover for 3 seconds and then moved my pencil to capture some outlines of the dog on the cover. This type of drawing is known in the drawing business as contour drawing. You  move your pencil on the paper as you move your eye over the image you are looking at. When you need to, you can look at your drawing but try to spend most of your time looking at your subject. That's it. You are fully trained. I was able to complete three short drawings until my turn came to check out. I was pleased with my results, because the drawing part of my brain felt activated for the short 5 minutes I spent drawing. I am definitely going to be doing more sneaky drawing anytime I can. What about you?

Domestic Still Life

Today in the art class I teach at Escondido Adult School, We arranged objects on our desk and painted from life. Everyone had a unique selection of objects and did excellent paintings.

Have you ever studied your home looking for random still life set ups? 

I took a few photos of colorful still lifes I found in my kitchen. I wonder if there are any still lifes around your house? Let me know if you find any and go ahead and paint one if you have time. 

Creativity Make-Over To Begin Soon

Its official. The acceptance letters were sent out this morning to 3 qualified people who applied to participate in my increase your creative thinking skills project.  If they accept, their make over process will begin with a questionnaire to  measure their current level of creative thinking. We will use this unofficial assessment as a measurement to determine their progress. Their first question might be, "Would you like an old beagle?" No, just kidding, the questions will be quite scientifically and aesthetic determined....

Of course, I will blog about this mental creativity make-over process, but the identities of the contestants will be disguised. They will be know as Mrs. Marble, Pat and Madame X. 

You may find this in your mailbox (or email inbox) 

A peak inside the envelope

Do You Want to Improve Your Creative Thinking Skills?

Have you said to yourself many times, "I wish I could be more creative?" You might want to  be able to think up more ideas, solutions and questions. You could desire to think out of the box.  You want to develop a creative hobby. You may think that the amount of creativity cells in your body is finite and predetermined and you wrongly think you have to accept that you are not creative.  

You can learn to be more creative. Creative thinking is not a  limited resource.It is not only limited to certain individuals that have a large right side of their brain.  It is a way of thinking, and the good news is, creative thinking can be taught!

Who can teach you to think more creatively? Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Wonder Woman or the Tooth Fairy? (this previous sentence was a creative thinking teaser, its called brain storming.)  None of the above.  Just me.  I have been studying and practicing creative thinking for years. At first, my studies in creative thinking for just for myself. I became fascinated with the topic. I read everything there was at the time on the topic. Then unofficially, I started to teach a few creative thinking skills to my students. Guess what happened? They told me their thinking changed and they were thinking more creatively.  

I've decided that I want to do a creative thinking make-over on a willing volunteer.  Hopefully that volunteer will come from one of the readers of my blog.  Is there anyone out there in blog reader land that thinks they are not creative, but would be willing to try to learn and practice improving their creative thinking powers with me?  

Welcome to my creativity cottage.  Email me if you want to be considered for a creativity make over by me.  I will be waiting by my computer for your email.   anywhereart4u@gmail.com

Post France Trip Painting

Now that I have been home almost two weeks after 17 days of workshop teaching and traveling, I am in my work room messing around with paint. Notice I didn't say I 've been in my studio painting? The words "studio" and "painting" scare me, I am hiding under my drafting table. 

If I try to paint official paintings, I don't take risks, try new ideas, make messes and hopefully come up with new painting directions, techniques and increased skill. Compare me to a surfer who only surfs the little waves he knows he can surf successfully and never tries to surf any bigger waves because he might not ride them successfully. 

Get my drift? Have you ever felt like afraid to try out new painting ideas, techniques and directions? Please tell me about how you approach your paintings.  

Nadine and Georges at Relais St. Anne

Learn To Make Watercolor Sketches (Journal Style) This Sunday, Oct. 22 at Artist & Craftsman Supply in San Diego 11am-2pm

I am back from my workshop in France and preparing to teach a workshop that will give you the skills to create watercolor sketches anywhere.

I designed a new cirriculum to get people to step into sketching anywhere with more ease. The students who painted and sketched with me in France produced more drawings in their journals than ever so I can see my new method worked! 

You can attend my Sunday cass by emailing me at: anywhereart4u@gmail.com and signing up. The fee is $25 for this 3 hour class and you bring your own art supplies or purchase what you need in the shop before class. I will come 15 minutes early for anyone needing help to find supplies. 

Looking foward to seeing those of you this Sunday if you'd like to learn or improve your anywhere art making skills. 

End of Trip Issues

It is the end of our trip. We are packing up. I just dont't understand why my suitcase won't close.  It couldn't possibly be because I bought too many souvenirs and I didn't even purchase one pair of shoes. Did my suitcase shrink?

Hmmm. 3 meters of French Peovence Style fabric should not take up that much room, should it? Nor should a sweater, French pj's, a fountain pen and ten bars of chocolate, right? 

Memoire from France

Here is a postcard for you so you can remember our trip to France to paint. 

We enjoyed everything and breakfast was always special. 

French Workshop Finishes on a High Note

Some of our workshop members discovered a new hobby in France and formed a team. I hope they can find time to watercolor now that they are petanque regulars.