One of my goals this year was to start doing live videos on social media. Whether that be sharing what I've been doing in my studio, answering questions or doing demonstrations etc.
Live video and vlogging invites people into your life, it's more real, more raw. I want to be engaging with my friends and supporters not always just presenting the finished, polished article. Being an artist, aesthetics are important to me, I can be a bit of a perfectionist, I have an eye for detail, editing video is an art form in itself and there is a place for that but this medium is a different type of beast. If I want to invite you into my arty world, my REAL arty world, then excellence shouldn't be the aim but practice. The only way to improve, to get more confident, more slick and natural, is to do it, and then do it again and again!

I committed to talking into my phone every day for as long as it took to feel ready to give it a go live on social media. Here is a little snippet!

I thought it might take a few months but actually within a few days I was more comfortable and decided I would coincide my 1st 'live' with the launch of my 2nd website.

“Hello is there anybody there? Is this live, is this working, can your hear me?...”
If you want a chuckle – here is a link to my first FB live video

My plan now is to start working towards doing Q & A's each month – sometimes while painting, and sporadically just show you guys what I've been working on in my studio.
I do a number of live painting events and so my next challenge is to go live, when I'm in public!
And then there's IGTV… and so on and so on!

I know when I used to watch people doing this type of thing I would feel it beyond my reach, so hopefully in sharing my little journey with you, you too will feel you can start accomplishing some of your goals a day at a time.
Otherwise I guess this will also help you to see that I'm just getting started with all this stuff, and serve as an apology and plea to bare with me as I learn!

Last weekend I led a 3 hour Colour Song abstract art workshop and I thought you'd enjoy hearing about what we got up to.

We started with a couple of warm up exercises – drawing to music and then thinking in colours. I was thrilled that everyone threw themselves straight into the activities, daring to try something different, trusting me to focus on the process over results.

I then set about taking the group through the techniques I used to create this painting called 'Piece of Peace', step by step, layer upon layer upon layer.

Everyone went home with their own beautiful handcrafted painting!

I've learnt to be adventurous with colour and style, just to 'go for it'.
My favourite part was learning the various stages, each one revealed an additional 'layer' to the work.
I've learnt to experiment and have fun with different ideas, I loved all of it!