January almost over... and great plans ahead

How quickly does a month go. I feel that 2010 went so quickly and when I reflect back onto growth, I guess I could say that I conquered a lot of fears about my drawing ability. I got Julia Cameron's book "The Artists Way" but after reading the second chapter about Road Blocks OR People who sabbotage your creative ability, I decided that the only sabboteurs or blocks were those within my own head. So I worked pretty zealously sketching, painting and planning. I filled about 8 sketch books, and displayed many of the better works on my flickr site. One thing I realised was that whilst I am working full time, and take on the second nursing job teaching antenatal classes, I rob myself of time. Art is squeezed into a very small window of time. If it takes up that entire window, then other things have to go. One daughter described my artistic commitment as "obsessive". I guess in many ways it has been. Frantically trying to make up for lost crewative time. I know a pay cheque pays the bills, but it also robs you of time. Some days, I really have just gone to work and not really enjoyed myself there. I did a job and fitted so much into that 8 hours, or even worked overtime (never paid) to complete tasks. I felt a lot of the time that nursing in maternal and early childhood is not valued, particularly by manageent. That angers me. I guess I feel that it's such important work, and it gets taken for granted. Which then emphasises the fact that art does give pleasure. Art gets noticed. Art can win prizes. It can earn notoriety. It can place some in the history books. Art is such a personal expression that cannot be ignored. My nursing career will hardly be anymore than a means to paying the bills (although I hope in some little way that my interactions with health clients can have a degree of positive impact on their lives). I really hope that my art (though left til later in life) will have an IMPACT.
I haven't done much art since New Year as I was trying to fill those other roles in my life... mother and wife. Here's a little watercolour of my baby doll.

2011 is well underway

What a nice beginning to the new year with "time". Time off work and time for me to reflect on how I would like this year to flow. So far, in one week I have seen 3 movies and had numerous meals out. I have walked every day trying to get above the 10,000 steps and have so far succeeded.
The movies this year have been:
1/ Sarah's Key
2/ The Heart Breaker
3/ Day Break.
The meals out have been either at a restaurant or picnic style. We have discovered the backstreets of Cremorne and Neutral Bay in Sydney, and have been amazed at how many eateries this area houses. There are some creative fit-outs, some amazing fitouts, and some quieter gems. Of the latter catagory, we found a little Greek restaurant that ticked all the health boxes for us in Cremorne. In the "creative" catagory, we ate at a combined cafe/childrens wear shop in Beecroft. We had seafood at a cute Asian cafe in Neutral Bay. And numerous coffees.
It's been a great start to the new year. It's been a combination of health plus inspiration from "deep and meaningful" chats.
It's been great and a week seems a long time when spent this way.

And onto 2011...

Well, now I have spent the last year exploring sketching and photography. Some people felt that I might have been a bit obsessive with all my art (I filled many, many sketch books) but putting that aside, I had a lot of drawing time to catch up to. I don't feel I'll ever really get to where I want to be. Like many things, it will be a compromise effort. But I'll really try my utmost to reach a standard that I am content with. Since getting involved with Flickr and joining many online groups, I have been very encouraged to keep sticking at it (art and photography) and encouraged even further to move to the next level. (Woa!) So I'm trying to understand watercolour. I cannot really afford formal classes. Just an occasional class. I am learning by looking at others' work, and if I want to know more about their work - going to the source and emailing them. Thank God for the internet!
I am trying my watercolour technique with both portrait painting and also with some stylised floral arrangements. When I was in Japan in 2009, I bought a second hand book from "Bookoff" about watercolour painting of flowers. Written in Japanese! However, it is a style of art that I like, and the book has taught me a lot (without words). I was very productive yesterday and today and worked at a series of works. The rest you can see on my Flicker site - So I'll sign off now as I've got some more painting to do.