Vibes

What vibes are you sending? 

We all send out signals, whether we realise it or not. Our body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice all tell people more than just our words. Some of it we cannot control - it is subconscious - but some of it we can, such as tone of voice. 

Maybe it's worth taking a breath before speaking and being aware of how we are holding our body. Smile - it changes how you feel on the inside and that will come through to the outside. Speak softly in situations where tempers are starting to flare instead of raising your voice - 'a gentle answer turns away wrath' really can work. 

I just had to share a photo of my brayer as I found the layered up colours particularly pleasing.

Expectations

Better to lower expectations and then over-deliver than to fail to live up to them. 

In the bookshop I work in we tell people that the delivery of an order will take one to two weeks. Sometimes books arrive within a few days, and customers are delighted. But there are the odd occasions where they take the full two weeks. But if they do, the customers are still happy because it was what they expected. If someone wants something for a gift, we cannot guarantee it by a particular day because deliveries by suppliers are out of our hands. Better to be realistic than to let people down. 

The same applies with our expectations of ourselves. Maybe we need to be more realistic or more caring of ourselves. Stop trying to do too much and running ourselves ragged. Most things on your to-do list can wait a day. And if they can't, do those things first!

Boxed - or not

 

This page was getting out of hand with the colour and shape. As a last resort I drew a face on it, and then realised that I had started too large to fit the whole thing on. Hence the wording. 

None of us fit neatly into a box, really, because we are all so much more than one thing. Yes, I may fit into the box marked 'artist', but I am also a science major, for example. Really we shape our own unique box, so don't let others try to cram you into one of their own making.

New paintings in a new series

 

Here are a couple of paintings from my new 'Menopause' series. It wasn't what I planned, but it seems to be what is coming out on to the canvas :) The one above is called 'no focus' and the one below 'is it hot in here, or is it just me?' Whatever happens with this series, I'm having fun making it, and that's just fine.

Lino-cut cards

 

So I've had a little break after Easter, but that doesn't mean I wasn't arting. I've been painting a new series, and doing some Lino-cuts to put through the little press that my husband bought for me. These cards are printed in black and then hand-coloured with Arrtx acrylic markers. I'm learning quickly. These plates - and therefore the prints - aren't perfect, but I think that's part of the charm of anything that is hand-cut. 

What little side projects out of your 'usual' arting practice have you been working on lately?

New painting

I finished a new piece this week. I'm particularly pleased with it because I was inspired by a smaller piece that I did in one of my journals. Usually if I try to do a larger piece from something sketchier, I lose all the life out of it because it is no longer so spontaneous, but here I feel like I kept the energy. Maybe because I asked myself what I liked about the small piece, and put that on the canvas, rather than trying to make a direct copy. We can all learn new things, no matter our age :)

The original small piece is below, along with some close-ups. That little white patch on the right is one of my favourites. 

A giant improv sketch

Life is a giant improv sketch - you're responsible for your own lines and how you respond to others.

I read a blog post this week that talked about our lines in life. It made me think about how life is an improv sketch - none of us are given specific lines, we just wing it. Every. Single. Day. Our lines are said in response to what goes on around us. We can choose how to react, what to say, in any given situation. So let's choose our lines carefully because this is not a rehearsal. 

Ride it out

So we're having a late little heatwave here.  Things had cooled, and now it's warm again. Not much fun for a woman of a certain age, but, as with many things in life I'll just have to ride it out. 

And in other creative pursuits, I was asked to make a kangaroo cake:

Isn't it fun to work creatively in a different medium now and again?

Roots and shoots

 

Roots and shoots - both grow, but one is more obvious than the other. 

When your roots are growing, you're getting stronger, more deeply embedded, more stable. But it may not be showing on the surface. This is an inner growing, going within yourself.

When the shoots are growing, they can be seen. It's more obvious to you and to others. But without the roots, more 'upper' growth would eventually make the whole plant topple. 

Don't neglect your roots. 

Brain fog

 

It's not the first time I've blogged about brain fog, and I'm sure it won't be the last. It's just so frustrating to reach for a word and it's just not there, even though you can give a full description of what you are thinking of ('alpaca' was the last instance - I could see it, I could tell you what animals it was related to, but I couldn't think of the word itself). 

I encourage myself by looking at all the older-than-me ladies around me who are flourishing. There is hope!