Friday 28 October 2016

360 of my art studio



 



if you ever wanted to know what my studio looks like around the whole room I did a video for you.... don't get dizzy ;)

Monday 24 October 2016

Smart strategies for artists who procrastinate

'Being who you are that's happiness' 

 I made this canvas when we moved home is appropriate for today and it's a wonderful day, got up early, did some miracle morning, meditation and personal development, taken the dogs to the park and all the leaves are glorious autumn colours, crunched through leaves, found a pine cone and discovered this gorgeous scented flower in our garden. Had coffee and a danish and now I'm going to do some creative work.



I have really been  trying to get my bum into gear and be proactive in my business which I do find difficult because I love the creating bit and still imagine successful business women in suits (can you imagine me in a suit hahaha) so it's undoing all those limiting beliefs, I posted in Leonies forum and got great support and some cracking answers. 

This is what I asked:

What do you think this is about? I am really creative and have billions of ideas, I start loads of projects but rarely finish them, I know I'm talented and have a 'gift' and if I got my ass into gear could do pretty well I think but everyday I wake up with great plans but then faff around, read a book, walk the dogs, snooze, eat food, watch a film etc anything really to avoid doing what I should be doing. The thing is we are now really struggling financially and it's either carry on with my art or get a job (which I really don't want to do) so have any of you been thorough this? Any tips to make me be proactive? 


Loads of various answers came back but the ones I found most useful were:

Read anything by Barbara Sher. (I have started looking at this author and feel she will be a good fit with my scatter brained approach, let me know if you have read any of her books)

First, don't think about how long something is going to take just tell yourself you're going to do fifteen or twenty minutes. (I like this because it doesn't seem too long if I get bored)

Sit down and write all about your fears and blocks around success. write down every "disadvantage" of being a successful artist/woman; your beliefs around financial success; everything you have heard about those topics that is negative or any comments from people throughout your life that say YOU can't become successful. Once you know that you can work on them and see how false they are. 

(I like this because I know I have some weird ideas as above the suit thing)

Make a "someday maybe" box or folder for your other ideas. (This is brilliant for me because I like making and creating so this could work really well and the symbolic gesture of shutting the lid on my ideas will help)

So with all that in mind I went onto my Pinterest vision board this morning to visualise and ended up finding this awesome site for creatives





I have been printing some great worksheets and reminders too last week, this was Sunday night organising for the week, I need to get my ass in gear and be the best I can be, I want to be financially free and travel, eat out, have holidays and move from Blackpool so I'm going to ride my wild donkey and get stuff done this week!


Love Dotty xx

Monday 17 October 2016

Scrapbooking packs, Etsy and behind the scenes art studio

This week I have been making colour co-ordinated scrapbooking packs to put on Etsy and I didn't realise how many lovely things I have in my boxes, they have inspired me to be more organised and I plan on a day of sorting soon to make it easier to find things in the studio. 



I really enjoyed looking through all my collection of things like papers, buttons, photos etc, I have been collecting for about 6 years now and hardly look through them unless I am doing a project


So this was a lovely way to discover them, I love colour co-ordinating and seeing what works together well. Imagine being an interior designer, that would be so cool, collecting samples, swatches etc and making a vision board.


I discovered things I totally forgot about like this vintage cigarette card that was sent to me in a blog swap about 6 years ago!


I finally made a bright and bold one, even though I love colour so much I tend to shy away from bright colours in mixed media, thats pretty interesting seen as though my studio is bright and bold and I adore it.


A peek behind the scenes, I don't think sometimes people realise how long it takes to do one listing, you have to source the items or make them, then you have to set up an area to do the shoot, then you have to take photos, get the lighting right etc, then upload to the computer, edit them, and then do the listing and them promote them to get them seen, don't get me wrong, I love doing it and enjoy the process but there is more to it than meets the eye ;)

Mr Delightful is working on my website to get it running better with an in built shop and my newsletter sign up on there. (Or if you can't wait you can sign up now below). So I can crack on with the next part of my artistic journey.



Love Dotty xx

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Do you know how important it is to love yourself?

Do you know how important it is to love yourself?

Not in a big ego “I’m so pretty” way, I mean truly loving yourself from inside out. Your body is amazing, think about that for a minute, think about how all the organs inside you are working in harmony, how your strong heart beats, how your lungs work so you can breathe. How each day you can walk, talk, see, hear, feel, taste and you are alive!!

Be grateful for your amazing body.

Look in the mirror, really look into your own magical eyes and see the beautiful person you are. Tell yourself out loud or in your head if you feel self conscious, 3 amazing things about you, what makes you unique?


Be grateful for your unique qualities.

Each time you see your reflection today I want you to smile at yourself, really smile and think “I’m beautiful”.
Tonight before you go to bed, look in the mirror, really look at your face and say “I love you”

It may feel strange at first, you may feel like its silly, you may not even believe the words that you are saying, that’s OK.

The universe does not know the difference between positive and negative thoughts, it just acts on what you think/say. So each day tell yourself how lovely you are, not how fat you are or that you have wrinkles because what you focus on becomes a reality. So start off by pretending when you say the words. Eventually you will believe them.

We love you!

 Love Dotty xx