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

 

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.

Naked Wild and Free

 We have a new wonderful venture I would like to share with you, Naked Wild and Free! this is our new site, Google+, Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram. If you would like to follow in our new journey that would be amazing, we have so much to share with you and the world, I realised sewing and fairs are not enough for me, I feel after this year I will finish doing the fairs altogether, I want to concentrate on what we believe is our future and our passion and you could even say a life's calling. So here is a little bit about what we are doing and why xx

 We are dairy and gluten free, the grown ups don't eat meat or fish, the middle teen eats fish but not meat and the youngest eats organic meat and fish but not many veggies!, we have no chemicals, additives, preservatives in our food, body products or home. My oldest son now lives in a Buddhist centre and I have no say over anything he eats but guide him as best as I can to make good choices for his body and the environment.
So flip back about 5 years and my eldest son James was diagnosed with some kind of autism - they thought it was aspergers, ADD and dyspraxia. The doctor was rather vague about this diagnosis and to be honest not very helpful but she was quick to prescribe a ‘cure’ in the shape of Ritalin. I had already read about the effects of Ritalin and other medicines given to children with ADD and ADHD, I knew the outcome wasn’t good all types of side effects including death!

I didn’t want my child on this horrible mind numbing medication but also didn’t want to live with someone who flipped out, had major anger issues, was violent and had no sense of danger. So I did the only thing I could and researched other options, I was surprised how much there was out there to harm our minds and bodies, many of which are in our foods and all have been passed by the food agencies and government as perfectly fine to consume.


I was shocked, outraged and felt overwhelmed by it all. I spent hours, days and weeks on the Internet, reading books and researching all the different chemicals, additives, preservatives, E numbers, MSG, dairy, gluten, colours, flavourings, fillers, caffeine and much more.


I quickly realised it was not just my sons diet that had to change but the whole families diets and lifestyle. Thinking back to the start I know how hard it can be and how overwhelming it can feel, so I want to make the pure living journey more bearable for you. That's why we came up with Naked Wild and Free. Our passion to share the knowledge about living without toxic chemicals and being the best person you can be for your health, future and happiness is overwhelming and we want as many people as possible to know you don't have to live with disease, you don't have to be on loads of prescription drugs, you are allowed to be healthy and happy.


I'm in the middle of writing and Ebook about it and hope to have it finished and sent off into the world very soon - watch this space!! but for now if you can pop over to our new blog I will love you forever, we have only just gone live so its in it's infancy so bare with us whilst we fill it up.


Have a wonderful week xx

sometimes its slow on here....

thats because I am always posting photos on Tumblr you can find my feed here
http://dottydelightful.tumblr.com/

I love the simplicity of it, its ease of use and how my Instagram/Tumblr/Facebook/Flickr are all linked together on my iPhone, technology is so amazing!

I am running a self employment support group tonight at our shop in Blackpool and have been researching social networking and media, I didnt realise that there are over 197 different social networking outlets/websites! How crazy is that, I can barely keep up with 5 haha!

Procrastination, Facebook and Instagram

Hey fellow crafters, artists, musicians in fact anyone creative, what do you do to work best and get things done?, I really struggle with this, I have a million ideas and each day want to complete...something but bedtime comes round again and guess what...nothing is finished. Not sure if this is to do with having a family and children as 'normal' life gets in the way of spending hours on a project or do single, childless people feel this way too?
Do you think its because we are bombarded by so much to fill our minds and time?
I know I have a serious facebook addiction, I use the excuse its for work, well it is a lot but I bet if I worked out how many hours I clock up on Facebook doing nothing really except reading about life instead of living it, it would be a lot of hours.
I do love it, its informative, I have met some wonderful people on it, my fairs wouldn't do so well without social media but its a time waster.

I have just read this article in the telegraph about how workers waste an hour a day on facebook.  According to them:

 Top twenty personal things Brits do during work hours
1. Online banking
2. Check the weather forecast
3. Check/reply to personal emails
4. Read news sites
5. Research holidays and search for best deals
6. Pay bills
7. Browse clothes online
8. Browse social network sites
9. Call friends/relatives
10. Online clothes shopping
11. Book a holiday online
12. Update social network sites
13. Arrange nights out with friends
14. Book dentists/Drs appointments
15. Look for discount codes
16. Look at photos
17. Call companies and organisations for personal reasons
18. Read sports updates
19. Shop or sell on eBay
20. Compare insurance prices

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10194322/Workers-waste-an-hour-a-day-on-Facebook-shopping-and-browsing-holidays-study-finds.html

This is office workers they have targeted, I wonder how many hours self employed people waste?

Instagram, have you got the app yet? I love it, I encourage people to get it, its a photo sharing site that's global, you can follow others on it and they can follow you, you can also search #hashtags for interesting things, I love it because when you share a photo it gives you the option of sharing to twitter, facebook, tumblr, flickr and email contacts all at the push of a button, this saves time and its great to update lots of your sites at once. I think Instagram is not too much of a time waster as there is only limited photos to look at unless you follow hundreds of people of course, but I pick and choose who I want to follow carefully, the only thing I hate about it is now the spammers have gone on it and they try and get you to get extra followers and likes, but you can ignore them.

So how much time do you waste?, what tips have you got to stay on track?

feeling like your 12

I had a thought today, it wasn't a pleasant one, I came across another person online whilst on facebook (I'm rather obsessed by it) who I found incredibly rude. Now I don't know this person, shes a friend of one of my friends, I saw her comment on a post so replied with the advice that she should look into soya and hormone problems as she has lots of it, wasn't trying to be funny I genuinely wanted to help, unleash the fury, it was quite unreal, I realised I should maybe keep my opinions to myself, but I don't know about you but I presumed because she is friends with my friend she would be similar to us, would be easy going and nice.

Its made me look at this, just because you have a good friendship doesn't mean you will be friends with their friends does it, do you think we have different friends for our different parts of our personalities? do you think we have various friends to do different things with, to fulfill gaps in our lives.

It made me feel a little sick to be honest, a bit shaken, maybe my bubble of loveliness at home and the people I choose to surround myself with protect me from the outside world to some degree, I think that's why I love the homeschool route too, I know my boys don't have to deal with the bullies, mean folks, some may say its not good to shelter them in this way and they have to learn to deal with such people, but think about it for a minute, why do they?.

Can we not be happy and loved, can we not surround ourselves by good, loving relationships? Of course we can, its all about choice.

I guess that's the down side about social media, you cant really choose who and what your exposed to unless you only have about 5 friends on your page. Which is ok to do if you don't use it for networking.

I organise fairs and need to be able to share events with as many people as possible that's why I have so many 'friends' on fb, that's why I come across idiots who could ruin my day if I let them but I wont, I take a few minutes to look at why I'm feeling the way I do and move on.

can you spot the 5 yr old me?