A week in the life of an artist

I have been really busy launching new products this week, I am in love with how my art looks framed! I have been painting and illustrating these lovely acrylic paintings which make perfect new baby gifts.  

Each one is unique and is hand painted and illustrated by me and you can even choose your own quote and background colour.  What a difference a frame makes!

I have been having really early starts before 7am and working late into the night and Mr Delightful has been busy making me a new website ready for the launch of .......

 Delightful pamper boxes!!

 Each comes with a unique piece of my art print exclusive to the boxes, a downloadable link to my new online magazine (eventually this will be a printed magazine when funds allow), a love letter, a crystal of the month, this month its all about love so Rose quartz will be coming your way, a rose and patchuoli bath bomb, some gorgeous incense and some love tea bags for you to sit down and relax with.

They are available for pre-order on 4th November and will be shipped out on 18th November.

 Hope you have had a lovely week

 Love Dotty xx

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

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.

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Love Dotty xx

Artist studio tour 2

It's been a weird month August and I can't believe it's nearly at the end already, I have been having a hard time the past few weeks (damn that full moon) feeling totally exhausted, my immune system has taken a battering and I had mastitis and Hidradenitis suppurativa, I have been running on empty for a while but kept going to be supportive and I felt I needed to be strong for everyone else. 

I feel my hormones are all over the place and making me feel totally disconnected, snappy and tearful, I have been keeping in my emotions of feeling unlovable and slightly depressed to myself, but I shared them with Mr Delightful in a heart opening way, I allowed myself to feel vulnerable and explained everything, after his kindness and total support in finding ways to change my diet and take supplements to help me and after using some natural remedies, I could actually face up to these past few days and share with you. 

I didn't want this truth to break the 'always positive' delightful me, but I feel you deserve to know why I haven't done any art, posted on my blog or been attending anything.

I have some wonderful friends who are so caring and their messages have kept me going on the dark days, I have been reading, watching films, resting and restoring myself. 

So all I have to offer is some photos of my studio, this place brings me joy, I am so grateful for this space.

Little things here and there, that have been given or collected over time.

My easel really needs a good tidying up, it is full of unfinished projects.

Always got to be feeling the love no matter how dull things seem, if you have no one else to love, always love yourself, and I am sure there are plenty of people who love you, even if you don't think there are, I love you, each one of us is a miracle, I mean check out how amazing it is and the odds you are actually here, its something crazy like there is only 4 hours a month in which you can get pregnant, that's is if a sperm actually reaches the egg and the egg actually gets fertilised, I won't go on, this isn't a place for biology lessons, but I hope you get my point, before anything else, how amazing is it we are actually alive!

Old books, new books, god I love books, I love the smell of musty bookshops, crammed from floor to ceiling with so many possibilities and ideas in those pages.

Rose quartz for love and my studio angel

These little 50p storage pots from Ikea are great for keeping all my bits and pieces in one place. My tiaras are in there too for the days when I need an extra princess vibe.

The summer holidays are nearly over, Autumn is nearly here again, what are your plans and how have you been feeling with this crazy moon?

Love Dotty xx

A day in the life of an artist

I am so nosey and love looking at other peoples 'a day in the life' stories, so I thought I would share my own with you.

Some mornings I really make an effort and make a super good and healthy breakfast and then other days, I really want to get into my work and make jam on toast, I know I shouldn't really eat bread as it makes my tummy swell, but I love it so. This is Hovis doorstop bread, its super thick (not very healthy) and is yummy with dairy free spread and cherry jam, I drink decaf tea, mainly Clipper and have hemp milk.

Each day is super different and I don't really have a plan as such but each day I try and do some work on my business which includes learning, I flit between Leonie Dawson, Kelly Rae Roberts and Lucky bitch, today was a lucky bitch day and it was so good learning about manifesting money in 24 hours, as its a video I listened while I prepped my canvasses.

I was painting larger canvasses today, I start off with the rainbow coloured background, I love how I blend the colours so they seamlessly flow into each other, it takes a while but is worth the finished look. I use a mix of acrylics and emulsion.

Then I stopped to take notes from the video while the canvasses dried. I browsed on Pinterest for a bit, while I had coffee and a couple of bits of Green and Blacks orange chocolate, I think I'm addicted! Then the Riverford organic box delivery arrived.

It's pretty cool getting the box because you never know what is coming from week to week (unless you look on the website) and dinners are often made up on the spot because of it, I think I am swapping back to Able and Cole though as you can do your dislikes with them.
The veg and fruit is always really nice though from both types of boxes.

I did some social media updates and had a look at instagram, then started doing a couple of mixed media canvasses for a fair I was doing at the weekend.
I love doing mixed media, I love the glue on my fingers and never knowing how a piece is going to turn out.

I did something to my camera and it went all blurry so I stopped taking photos at this point, I made garlic tomatoes on ciabatta with salad for lunch, played cards with the boys for a bit, did some more online research and posting, spent a while cutting out images from magazines, I am making a collection for a rectangle canvas I am doing of Alice falling down the rabbit hole. 

I also read a bit more of Kelly Rae Roberts flying lessons, I am up to the blog part weirdly! 

I ran in and out about 5 times through the day, sorting the chickens out, they squawk really loudly when laying eggs and if seagulls fly over!

We walked the dogs for a bit, as they was getting on my nerves barking at horses going past the house and then we we came home it was teatime, I normally make tea but Mr Delightful is a great cook and often does it if I have a lot of work on, I also make the boys wash up every night alternately except Sunday night where it's our turn, they also sweep the floor and wipe down the sides, we put this in place a few years ago and it is so helpful to me. 

After tea, I checked facebook and had a chat to my friend on it for ages, I also posted some photos on instagram ( I have two accounts one for Dotty Delightful and one for our other business naked wild and free and have to keep up with them, I finished some of the paintings while half watching a film with my youngest son. 

I snuggled with the dogs and fell asleep, waking up at 3am, cold and annoyed I didn't go to bed earlier!.

The only regular things I do each day are feed animals, collect eggs, take a skullcap infusion for my nervous tension, make dinners, check facebook and instagram and drink copious amounts of tea and 1 filtered decaf coffee, say "I'm hot" and "my back hurts" a lot.

Love Dotty xx

 

I'm having an art sale!

It has been a busy week in the studio, I did a fair last weekend at Avenham Park in Preston as part of the mad hatters tea party, and then had another this weekend at St Anne's music festival so I was making loads of art. 

I loved to paint and make mixed media pieces, it stops me getting bored of doing the same things.

I love doing both but the mixed media ones develop and evolve as I go where the rainbow ones, I already know the kind of way it will turn out. I also love getting the glue and paint on my hands, it makes me connected.

As I have 3 males in the house I love making girly pieces with glitter and loads of pink, my studio is pink and girly and I love it, if I need to reset my feminine energy, I just come in here and do a big breath and feel myself relaxing and recharging. Sometimes living with all males is hardwork.

I always love to put positive words and quotes on my art, I think words are so important, that is why it's called spelling, you create spells with your words.

I am having a sale over on facebook if you want to have a look, I am also open for commissions at the moment, until I get booked up again. Hope you have an amazing week, remember the possibilities are endless.

Love Dotty xx

Scrapbooking tutorials and positvity art video

I made a video today with some of my rainbow positivity art and handmade makes on it, 

what do you think?

It's a pretty cool site called stupeflix where you can choose themes, add music (they have a library to choose from) or you can add your own, you can then add your photos, then you can publish directly to Youtube. 

Make sure you change the settings on the video to high def before watching. 

I have spent most of the day, after walking the dogs on the beach, researching about different paint techniques and found some really interesting blogs with different tutorials on them.

Birgit Kerr has some great scrapbooking techniques, I loved this one where she teaches you how to transfer print onto your canvas with mod podge. 

The daily marker has done an easy tutorial on using distressed ink too, something I want to have a go with but haven't got round to yet.

I am looking forward to making more Alice inspired canvasses, all 3 of these sold at the fair I did on Saturday.

I really enjoy getting my fingers full of glue, glitter and paint and creating something which develops and grows with each thing I add to the canvas.

I have had an idea to do a big rectangle one with her falling down the rabbit hole. I have collected some patterns and images from an old copy of Daphnes diary, have you seen it yet? its such a wonderful magazine.

Love Dotty xx

We're all mad here -all the best people are!

This is what is going on in my studio today, making Alice inspired canvases and cards ready for the stall I'm sharing with JuJu Kuchoo at Miller Park this Saturday. 

It is part of The mad hatters herbal tea party -

"Be ready for a day of love, fun, tea and music. This 1 day festival is gearing up to be a action packed and glorious day. From Theatre, Music, Circus and Fitness, a whole range of fantastic events will be bringing in the sunshine and all the party atmosphere!

We have Live Music, Circus, Stalls and more!

Thing's to do, watch & hear!

Cirque Du Alice, the Contemporary Magical Urban Circus.
Catch our breath taking circus performances throughout the day, every hour. Bringing in the arts of Aerial, Acrobatics, Acro-Balancing and Fire! These shows will leave you breathless!"

 If you want to come tickets are available on the gate (donation), bring a blanket and a picnic.

It's boiling today, the sun is coming through the big window so going to have a lunch break and eat some coconut ice, then I'm going to make skirts and dresses this afternoon for the fair.

 It was 32 degrees here yesterday, really unusual for Blackpool. I don't cope well in the heat and just want to be fanned!

Hope you are having a wonderful day

Love Dotty xx

Studio tour - dreams do come true

I am so happy that I actually cried today, I was overcome with gratitude because one of the dreams I have had for years came true, you know we moved to a new home in January and I was blessed with a room to be my studio, well Mr Delightful has been sharing the space as he is self employed too, until his office was redecorated, rewired etc, the past week he has worked hard getting it all ready and yesterday he moved out of my space into his own. He helped me moving furniture, building an ikea unit my friend donated, hanging rails etc and then today I got to do my favourite bit, sorting everything out and making it look pretty.

Welcome to my delightful studio:
click the photos to make them bigger.

I have always wanted a craft room for years, read all about it, and knew I wanted it in different zones because as well as being an artist I love to sew, make clothes and all sorts of handmade things from fabric and wool.

I have 3 'zones', an art area as you walk in the room, this has a big architect easel I have had for years, I actually found it in the back garden of an upstairs flat I lived in about 16 years ago. I watched for a week to see if anyone claimed it, but no one came so I dragged it up a flight of stairs in 2 pieces, it is really heavy and I don't know how I did it, sheer determination I guess!

I have all my art, scrapbooking, drawing, stamping stuff in this area.

I have a sewing 'zone', this part I am most happy and grateful for, because I don't have to put anything away now tbefore I use the table, I actually have a cutting table, and anyone who sews knows this is like pure gold.

The little white tubs on the wall are from Ikea, only 50p each too so really affordable and very handy.

I have 2 tables in an L shape for sewing on, a fantastic huge window which the sun shines through on a bright day, but it's been pouring down here all day. I am going to whizz up some curtains tomorrow with this gorgeous Rosali fabric and give the windows a good clean (if it's sunny)

I also have a computer 'zone', this is a brilliant piece of furniture because when you are not using it, it folds up so your computer is out of the way and your computer chair tidies away underneath. 

I want to give that lampshade a makeover soon too, I like the shape, but the fabric is a bit daggy.

I adore the wallpaper, and know I am boring you with it before, but it's so cheery and always makes me smile, the blue tits remind me of my mums garden.

Honestly, I don't know how to convey to you just how happy and grateful I am, I feel like it's almost a dream. For so long I used the dining table to work at, in a cramped and damp living/dining/storage room, I dreamed of one day being like the women on pinterest or on other blogs who I thought were so lucky to have such lovely places, I kept putting it out there to the universe, what I really desired and needed to get me to the next level in life.

I have done many things over the years, had shops, ran events, had wild ideas ( I still have them daily) but nothing has fitted just right, this though, this is the place at the moment I feel right in, this is where I feel I can let my creativity soar, and for that I feel like all my christmases, all the jewels in the world have come all at once.

Keep dreaming, keep believing, know in your heart that dreams do come true, I didn't know how I would end up with this beautiful studio, there have been weeks where I didn't eat so I could feed my boys (pre Mr Delightful), times where I burnt furniture on the coal fire because I couldn't afford fuel and I didn't want the boys to be cold, desperate times, times of despair, times where running away became an option, but I clung onto the hope that one day life would be how I dreamed, life would be so wonderful. That day is today. 

Tomorrow is our 10th anniversary and that is another law of attraction story with an amazing 10 years behind us, that I will tell tomorrow (or maybe the day after depending on if I get chance with all the kissing going on ;) 

I am so blessed with amazing people in my life who often donate fabric, buttons, wool, furniture ect to me to help me along the way. 

I may not be rich in money (yet) but I am rich in happiness, an amazing studio and home and love.

I wish for your dreams to come true.

Love Dotty xx

15 things you didn't know about me!

Ok lovely likers, I see I have been blessed with lots of new likers lately and thought it would be nice to open up a bit and give you some insider info on me and my life ;)

Feel free to ask me anything, I love a good question.

1. I have 6 chickens and 2 rescue dogs called Stanley and Badger

2. My nickname is Runty Pipkonian plus loads of other variations by Mr Delightful.

3. My favourite food is sausage (now veggie ones), mash and gravy.

4.I love the smell of nutmeg and could easily grate a whole one onto my food but then I would probably hallucinate and slip into a coma and maybe die, so I restrain myself. I could sniff out a nutmeg at 100 paces for sure.

5. I like watching romance films and am currently obsessed by a spanish subtitled series about romance, fashion and running a high end fashion shop called Velvet. I love it because my mind is constantly thinking of a million things and because of the subtitles I have to concentrate on it and nothing else (apart from eating Green & Black's chocolate)

6. I like smelling things, I think I was a dog in a past life, I love the smell of musty books, petrol, hot tar, my belly hole even though it smells of cheese, Mr Delightfuls armpits when they are musky, new carpet, dogs paws that smell of biscuits, a spot behind Stanleys ear that smells of a teddy bear I had when I was 7, it smelled a bit musty so I put strawberry shortcake talcum powder on it, behind my mums sofa and rubbed it in, then I used to sleep with it in my bed and dribble on it, behind his ear smells just like that and transports me back in time.

7. I have to wear shoes and a bra to feel motivated enough to do housework.

8. My dad left my mum when I was 7 and I met him again when I was 16, I didn't particularly like him very much at first, he was loud and brash and always after supermarket checkout girls, but he did give me an insight into where I got my sense of humour from and open my eyes to try new things, I hadn't eaten any 'foreign' food until I met him, I tried my first tikka masala, lasagne, korma and bolognaise with him.

9. Both my parents are dead, even though I sometimes miss them, I also feel free of the guilt of not visiting them often or having to be a certain way as to not upset them, I am a grown up orphan but I feel total freedom too.

10. I have been to college to do art, fashion design, textiles, criminology, psychology and aromatherapy massage.

11. I wanted to be a clown when I was a child, then as a teen, a fashion designer, then in my 20's a forensic scientist, now I am 40 I am finally an artist (something I have wanted deep down since I was 12 and drew a pair of hands holding a bamboo bag handle).

12. I was a teenage mum, in a domestic abusive relationship for 8 years and a single mum to 3 boys aged under 5 by the time I was 23. It was hard. I didn't sleep through the night for about 12 years. Sleep deprivation sucks! I had post-natal depression too.

13.I like being in forests, by rivers, planting seeds, touching mud, feeling the light rain on my face on a hot day, singing loudly, praticing keyboard, reading books, sleeping, snow, log fires, flowers, adventures, listening to the birds, looking at people and pretending they are animals and figuring out what animal they would be.

14. I would love to work in a bookshop that sold magazines so I could read them all every month (well not all of them, things that are crappy like Heat magazine, I have no time for but ones like Flow, The Simple Things, Country Living etc)

15. I can't stand things that are spelled differently just to be cool, like for example Kris' Kuts (a hairdresser) or happinezz (even though I love this magazine the name irritates me).

I think I will write more like this on my blog, I kind of like this outpouring of me and who I am, I think sometimes when you look at someones photos and read statuses on social media you only get a small part of the picture, I know I sometimes feel, other folks are doing so much better than I am, or they have travelled more, or their lives are amazing, but in reality we all have shit to deal with, we all have weird ways and a past, honesty might shatter the illusion, but I want the illusion shattered because when you can connect through your stories and feelings, that connection with others is priceless. You don't feel like such a failure or boring or a crap mum, you feel like someone else is going through the same stuff so I am not that bad or I'm doing OK. I don't want to censor anything anymore and if I lose friends or likes along the way, that's not for me to worry about, the right people will be connected to me and I can feel free.