Laura Hollick class 2010

Dear Everyone:

I enrolled at and listened
to a teleclass this evening
by soul artist Laura Hollick
of Soul Art studio
(http://www.soulartstudio.com/).
Laura is a guide and teacher of
creativity and spirituality,
working and living in Hamilton, Ontario.


In this teleclass she asked us
to identify or recognize our deepest
wants and desires, our dreams.
Then she directed us to identify
our obstacles and source of resistance.

Next she asked us to identify
the metaphor capturing the
role of spirit in our dreams.
Mine was self-expression and fear.

Last she directed us to bridge
between our wants - an expression
of spirit and the real outside world
she labelled earth expresion.
How to make our ideas become
physical reality.

As an immediate assignment she wanted us
to take one step of expressing
our spirit on earth and moving
towards actualizing our wants
and desires.

My dreams were exhibit my art,
develop a web-site, and have an
art gallery in a storefront in
a downtown area.

My fears and obstacles
were how to develop my skills,
lacking a large audience,
lack of money to launch
my dreams, health issues,
and wondering how to
develop ability at sales.

Bridging between the dreams
and real world included doing
larger pieces of art in a studio
space and learning to do
more abstract pieces with layers
of paint.

Laura labelled the teleclass
"shifting your shit'. It
was a bit of a preview of a 2 day workshop
she is holding Jan 30th -31st
at her Soul Art studio titled
"Launch". How to transform
yourself and start self-actualizing.

She appears to know what
she is doing!

For my immediate
homework I started playing
with layering paint and applying
paint more heavily to introduce
texture. See image below.

assign012010

I guess I am going to try

to re-arrange my home studio

to be able to work on larger pieces.

I highly reccommend Laura.

She seems knowledgeable and competent.

Have a self-actualizing-

kind of day today.

Helen.

Folk Art revisited 2009

Mystery2009

I returned to folk art today.

I really enjoyed the creative process

of making this painting. I always love

sketching and then colour selection

for the piece.

I enjoy drawing faces although it might

not be my strongest talent.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a find-the-joy in your life

kind of day.

Helen.

Laura Hollick-Soul artist

I was researching an art gallery in Ontario and

came across the work of artist Laura Hollick.

Based in Hamilton, Ontario she has a studio

dedicated to her work of teaching creativity

and spirituality. She is referred to as a soul artist.

She does art installations often using herself

in costume as a model. She draws and paints.

She teachs classes on creativity and how to access

your soul. She has a radio show covering

artists. She exhibits her art.

One of her quotes that struck me

is as follows:

"your life is your soul's art,

create your masterpiece-create

yourself"

Here is some of her work:

Sketch for 'hook your dreams':

"If you want to hook your dreams

you need some really good bait.

The best bait for your dreams is

your full flowering attention"

Sketch for let 'yourself be lifted':

"Let yourself be lifted and stretch

into your potential"

Concept sketch for Winter Tree:

Then an art installation

named 'Winter Tree"

"If you trace our roots

the very essence, you find

we are all connected. On

a deep level I am a tree and

birds perch on my arms.

In the land of the

imaginative heart, I am

connected with spirit and earth."

Laura strikes me as a tremendous talent.

To find out about her and see more of

her work see her web-site

at www.soulartstudio.com.

Helen.

Creative Superstars

Well. More tips on creative folks.

I came across a team of top American photographers
named Marcus Klinko and Indrani this week.
The pair shot Naomi Campbell for the cover of
the November-December 2009 issue of
American Photo. There is a story on them inside
the magazine. They shoot fashion and celebrity
subjects. Top accounts they have landed include
Beyonce, Iman, David Bowie and L'Oreal.
See their web-site at www.markusklinko-indrani.com.
Their styling is spectacular.

Another find is floral and event designer Preston Bailey.
He is featured discussing his route to success
on the blog of interior designer Vicente Wolf.
See vicentewolfblog.com. The date of the blog
featuring him is October 29th, 2009.
Also visit his web-site
at www.prestonbailey.com to see his work.
His designs are so creative is would be fun to
hear the process he goes through for each job.
His clients include Joan Rivers and Ivanka Trump.

Enjoy looking at the work of these
creative dynamos.

Helen.

September Muse 2009

Septmuse2009



I am mulling over the process of creativity.





Betsy Dillard Stroud, in her book "The Artist's
Muse:Unlock the Door to your Creativity"
writes:



"Let me assure you. Being creative is a
natural gift accessible to all.
To be creative, you simply open a door,
the door of the sub-conscious mind, and
allow thoughts and images to emerge unedited."



The key is how to open that door.

Her book attenpts to assist.



My experience has been that I
have a muse that sends me images.


I see pictures in my mind that
just emerge with no conscious thought.





My image yesterday was the decor of a room
with pink strie walls and 4 modern armchairs
upholstered in a white fabric with red coral branches.



My favourite image to emerge as I was falling
asleep is of a bear. I painted this bear last year
or the year before.



So try to be receptive to your muse.



Above is a folk art drawing of a muse
and if you believe in muses you know
that they are celestial beings.



Have a open-the-door-to-your
-creativity kind of day.

Helen.

Since I've been focussing on folk art and photography I

sometimes find that images come to me as I fall asleep.

My favourite image that arrived this way is of a

folk art bear.

Betsy Dillard Stroud writes in her kit

on creativity "The Artist's Muse"

the following-

"To those removed from the artistic life,

the word creative might imply a world far, far

away-a distant plane inhabited by only the most

gifted artists. Enigmatic, unreachable and unreachable.

Elitist.

Let me assure you. Being creative is a natural gift

accessible to all. To be creative you simply open

a door, the door of the subconscious mind, and

allow thoughts and images to emerge unedited

Then of course you must challenge yourself

by taking action."

This quote resonated with me.

I hope that you enjoy the painting

of my folk art bear.

Have a swamped-with-creativity day today.

Helen.