Blooming Inspiration

The flowery muse is still in residence :-)

And my lovely Instagram friend, Sandy Morcom, asked me if I would share my inspiration for this series of flower paintings. I was going to reply on IG but realised that it wasn't a one sentence answer so here we go...

I love flowers and plants. I have plants all over my house and always like to have some fresh flowers.

I've painted and drawn plants and flowers before but maybe you haven't seen them. Some of these paintings are over in the gallery, some are in sketchbooks, there's a whole series of 'flower fairies' and my goddess paintings (also in the gallery) and journal pages nearly all include some organic shapes or plant forms.

When I was creating my goddess pages for 21 Secrets I started to think that it would be fun to make some paintings just about flowers rather than goddess and flowers. Not that long after, the flowers burst open onto my canvas when I had been having an extremely challenging day with video technology. Having cried with frustration I came into the studio and started to re-do a goddess painting that I had got stuck with.

I turned the canvas upside down, looked into the colours and energy of the painting and saw flowers rather than goddesses. Two hours later and MY energy had transformed PLUS the goddess in the painting was singing to me again.

You see, I'm starting to think that although I love to paint the goddess, she doesn't have to be IN the canvas every time for me to honour her and talk to her.

Since then, I don't seem to have stopped; the paint has flowed, the flowers have bloomed onto my canvases, Ostara is looking over my shoulder and I have her approval.

PLUS these paintings are helping me get through a testing period of health problems - but that may be a post for another day.

If you want to see more flower paintings, just flip back through the last few blog posts or you can visit/follow my Instagram or Flickr feed to see my photos everyday (I'm over at IG and Flickr as Rachellen333).

Phew! That was quite a long answer to your question Sandy, I'm glad I didn't try to reply on IG! It's been useful for me too to examine the why, so thank you :-)

What's blossoming for you dear heart, what motifs are blooming on your canvas and inspiring you right now?  Please share - I always like to hear from you.

From my blossoming heart to yours

Rachel xox

ps don't forget to sign up here to stay in the loop about my upcoming ecourse - painting or journaling??? what do you think? You know what to do...

Some Spring paintings and a sneak peek into my Glorious Goddess workshop

It feels like Spring here - the grape hyacinths are blue and the primroses are yellow - we have crocus and daffodils.  In fact, the sun is shining and all this makes me feel so good...

The Spring weather and the little bursts of colour in the garden have inspired me to make some new paintings.  

These flower paintings have really helped to bring in some fresh new colours and direction.  I think I need a bit of a re-boot and shift of energy after so much time spent on ,my 21 Secrets workshop.  

There's still time to sign up - it launches on 1st April - and I've created a little video to give you a sneak peek into my Glorious Goddess workshop.

And you still have a few hours left to enter my giveaway for a free spot in 21 Secrets Spring 2014.  Entry closes at midnight GMT Friday 14th.  Go to last Friday's blog to enter.

I hope to see you there.  If not, perhaps you would like to join me in my first ecourse, starting in April?? This is still in the planning stages - sign up here to be kept in the loop...

That's it for today!  Lots of love to you and have a great weekend

From my heart to yours

Rachel xox

the warmth of winter

I've been winding down to the Solstice, how about you?

I wasn't winding down, I was winding myself up; at the end of last week I was feeling frazzled and stressed, plus my diary for this week was pretty full. How did that happen? But as I put out to the Universe that this run up to Christmas was all getting a bit too much, quite a few things got cancelled or re-arranged. Perhaps everyone else was feeling the same and the Universe stepped in to slow us all down (whether we were aware of it or not).

To help myself slow down, I returned to the studio for some painting time.

I've spent the last 6-9 months painting mostly in turqoise and green, so where did these reds and oranges appear from?

As we got nearer to the Solstice, I realised these fiery colours are for Vesta, goddess of hearth and home. This is what I needed, to draw close to home, light the candles and snuggle up cosy. This season is about the Home, being close to dear ones, and, at the time of the longest night, welcoming the return of the Light.

The painting process has helped me to relax and be in the moment rather than thinking all the time about what I 'have to' achieve. The colours are warming and cosy, grounding and uplifting simultaneously. The works are still in progress but I'm enjoying them immensely.

So my Solstice celebration will mostly be in my studio, with the paints and the canvases and Vesta and her fire. Because that's another thing about the Solstice, which celebrates the victory of the light over the dark - it symbolises bringing Light to our own potential - lighting our own fire... Come on baby...

How are you celebrating this Festival of Light? You're welcome here - I've got mulled wine and mince pies and Jim Morrison's on the iPod.

I wish you a cosy one...

From my heart to yours

Rachel xox

ps don't forget, my Goddess Inspirations Yearbook is on sale and the first month is free :-)

INSPIRED BY THE GODDESS (and my beloved sister)

My Goddess Inspirations Yearbook is back for 2014!

If you follow my blog or my work on Instagram and Facebook, then you will, of course, know that I am inspired by the goddess. With the release of my 2014 Yearbook, I thought it was timely that I say a little bit more about my inspiration.

The goddess energy first inspired my life and art work in the mid 1980's. I was a few years out of university and my paintings then were large abstracts based on landscapes. It's difficult to pin down one event that changed my work and invited in the goddess but my dear sister, Jacky (12 years my senior and who sadly passed over in 2000) was a big influence on me.

Here we are circa 1982, I was 25 and Jacky 36.  We look so young!  I so wish she was here now to share these Goddess goings on.

Jacky was active in the Women's Movement in the late 70's and 80's; she ran assertiveness training workshops for women and wrote two books on this. She introduced me to femininism and women's consciousness raising. I loved her and looked up to her  because she was my big sister, but I also knew intrinsically that what she was teaching and talking about was right. Not just logically but with my heart; women needed (and still very much need) to take their rightful place in the world.

Around the same time I discovered the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and also went to see Judy Chicago's 'Dinner Party' in London. O'Keeffe's beautiful paintings and Chicago's celebration of the feminine spoke to me in a way other art had not done before. My own art work started to change.  Female imagery started to come into my work. I found that I wanted to make paintings about myself as a woman. I made large paintings using myself as a life size motif.

But then another element came into my paintings. One evening, working late in the studio, I felt that another energy was guiding my hand and my paintbrush. The painting was nothing I had planned to create. It was coming onto the canvas with almost a life of its own.  The Goddess had stepped into my painting.  This was the 'Bird Goddess', the first of a series of huge paintings about the goddess which I now know were painted 'intuitively' rather than based on drawings and sketches.  

These paintings celebrated the goddess or the Divine Feminine within me. I also wanted to reach out to other women through my art and let them know that they could celebrate their own goddess within. I loved those paintings, I still love them - the ones that survive - I have two left out of six. What I didn't bargain for was the reaction I got from the then predominantly male art world. They didn't like them. I took this rejection totally to heart and started painting landscapes again. Then I stopped painting altogether. Until 18 months ago...

When I started painting again after so many years of drought, the goddess wasted no time in leaping straight back onto my canvases and journal pages. In February 2012, I took Flora Bowley's first round of her course Bloom True. Her intuitive, heart centred method gave me permission to paint again and her imagery and motifs the permission to paint the goddess again. Artemis had returned...

Last year, I was guided to write my yearbook, 'Goddess Inspirations', combining the seasonal journey through the rhythms of the year with the goddess energy, creative activity and my own artwork.

It is now available again for you to enjoy through 2014. To buy, just hop over here

If you're not sure, this year you can 'try before you buy'. Sign up for my newsletter and as a gift, you will receive a booklet for the month of January completely free with no obligation to buy the full yearbook. Try now

There is also a chance to win a copy of Goddess Inspirations 2014!!  My lovely friend Julie Gibbons is hosting a giveaway for her birthday and to celebrate her Mama. Join in the big birthday blessings giveaway over at juliegibbons.com today. A circle of creative women, including me, is offering prizes galore, one of which is a copy of Goddess Inspirations 2014. Go to http://bit.ly/birthdayblessings to join the party...

I have so much to thank Jacky for. So grateful to my big sis...for her part in putting me where I am now. Today I'm remembering her with great fondness and love.   I know she's loving these goddess gals and the joining in circles with other women.

From my goddess heart to yours

Rachel xox

writing v. painting

Writing versus painting - do you have this kind of dilemma?

For me it's no contest really - painting always wins hands down.

But I'm writing a lot at the moment - a lot.

I'm writing: 

• more regular blog posts  
• a couple of guest posts
• a course for someone else
• my own online art courses

The ideas seem to be pouring in at the moment and I have to get them down on paper as soon as I can before they disappear.

I like writing - and I love writing courses.  But it's taking up a big part of my time that I would normally use for painting.

So, which do I do - writing or painting?   I don't want to have to make a choice.

So how to fit it all in?

I'm having to be much more organised with my time than usual - and I'm really not good with this.  I'm more of a 'go with the flow and see how things pan out' sort of person.  However, I'm beginning to see that scheduling time for writing is the only way I can get it done AND fit in my painting time (not to mention my therapy business).

With great serendipity (I love the way the Universe works) the Artizen Coaching Newsletter from Jennifer Lee -writer of the 'Right Brain Business Plan' - dropped into my inbox this week with 'Writing tips to help you with your book or other creative projects'.  

Jennifer's tips are: 

• Schedule time - block out time in your diary for writing - then show up to the laptop/journal/notebook
• Say 'no' to 'yes' - have boundaries, say 'no' more often, delegate where you can
• Brain dump - get those ideas onto paper - mind map, journal, notebook, open a Word doc, email yourself
• Repurpose - istead of staring at a blank page, use existing materials to build on - ie the ideas you've 'dumped', journals, scribbles, old blog posts etc etc
• Put placeholders - if you get stuck on a section, make yourself a note about what will go in there and come back to it - this helps to keep moving forward
• Go where there's flow - kinda related to putting placeholders - write the section that's flowing just now
• Have an external deadline - there's nothing like a due date to hand in a finished product - if you're writing for yourself and you don't trust yourself to hit that deadline, get an accountability buddy and set a date
• Trust - trust that you have something to say and that someone wants to read it.  Jen says, 'In the end, it comes down to simply trusting. Trusting that I have something to say. Trusting that I can say it. Trusting that what I have to say will have a positive impact. How will you remember to trust your own voice and creative process?'

These tips aren't just about scheduling time; they're about moving your creative project forward.  It's good to know that I am already doing some of these.  I already write down my ideas as soon as I can before they get lost.  I'm quite good at setting deadlines (though not perfect). I already repurpose, use placeholders and go where there's flow.  (And I realise, I do these things in my painting process too.)

But it was also interesting to note that these 'tips' for moving a project forward highlighted my issues. The biggies for me are scheduling time, saying 'no to yes' and 'trust'.  Now I know they are issues, I can work on them in my journal (more writing!).

Writing v. painting?   It's still painting - painting wins everytime. 

Are you a painter and/or a writer?  A journaler and/or a quilter?  Which of your creative projects claim more of your time?

Do you schedule time for your creative projects?

Do you trust that your voice will be heard and your art work be seen?

Have you got some tips that I could add to this list???

I'd love to hear from you.  Please leave your comments below!!

From my heart to yours

Rachel xox

ps don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to receive my blog updates, inspiring ideas, new artwork and workshop news direct to your inbox.