Artist burnout recovery

Just wanted to share with you, a month or so ago I was pretty down and felt burnt out, I became ill and was forced to take nearly a week off, just lying on the sofa and trying to recover, it was so frustrating to me but I obviously needed it, then after many days just reading, taking the dogs to the beach etc, I sat at my easel and tried to draw, nothing came, I did something else, the next day I tried again and did a little background and felt it was rubbish. 

No matter how many times I tried I just couldn't get into the zone, I was doodling like a 3 year old. Instead of getting sad I concentrated on doing Kelly Rae Roberts Flying lessons, learning from Leonie Dawson academy, browsing pinterest and making plans in my bujo.

 Then a couple of days ago I woke up with an idea and tonight I finished Autumn girl, I am so happy I feel like this is the best art I have done so far. Sometimes we just have to listen to our bodies and come back even stronger 

Rest when we need to and take time to just be, how many times do you watch a film and be on your phone or knit at the same time?
 

We need to get back to living in the moment and totally being absorbed in one thing at a time.

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

 

Positivity butterflies and angel art

Finished 2 commissions this week for a lovely customer I have enjoyed these so much,

 I was even staying up till 2.30am some nights sticking sequins on, its addictive!! 

These are my favourite art works so far - amazing!! 

Thank you for the opportunity and wonderful brief xx

Thank you so much for helping me do what I love, so grateful.

Love Dotty xx

Art and affirmations

Sharing some art with you today because I love drawing! since my post last week I have really taken it on board that I need to chill out, lately I feel overwhelmed and pretty emotional, not sure if it because of some weird planetary shift, the supermoon tonight or that I am just over tired and worn out, I do know if I wasn't in tune to myself and this was years ago I would be at the doctors for depression tablets by now!

This is an affirmations canvas I did for our bedroom, its huge and hangs at the end of my bed, I know them off by heart now and every morning when I wake, I thank the universe for granted me another day and affirm it will be a wonderful day, I then recite these affirmations, I believe they are very powerful. I learnt about affirmations from Marc Allen and Louise Hay, I really recommend you read some of their books or listen to their meditations on Youtube.

What are affirmations?

 Affirmations, really, are simple. They are you being in conscious control of your thoughts. They are short, powerful statements. When you say them or think them or even hear them, they become the thoughts that create your reality. Affirmations, then, are your conscious thoughts.

Research has shown that we have between 45,000 and 51,000 thoughts a day. That’s about 150 to 300 thoughts a minute. Research has also shown that for most people 80% of those thoughts are negative.
Now, we have been taught to think that most of these 51,000 thoughts are “sub-conscious” thoughts meaning that they are below our conscious awareness level. Affirmations actually make your sub-conscious thoughts conscious. Affirmations make you consciously aware of your thoughts. When you start making conscious positive thoughts, you actually become more aware of the negative thoughts that are always threatening to take over.
It’s an interesting phenomenon, really. It actually proves true what your mother always warned: be careful of what you think because what you think is what you get. She was basically telling you that you create what you think about.
When you’re not aware of your thoughts, they tend to be negative. And not being aware of your thoughts tends to cause a nasty spiral downward. Remember that 80% figure of negative thoughts? It gets worse. Whatever you are thinking about, 90% gets carried over to the next day’s 51,000 thoughts. So, if you’re thinking negative thoughts, you will cause yourself to think more negative thoughts. This is not going to get you out of your rut.
Affirmations can change all of that! Affirmations make you conscious of your thoughts. To affirm means to say something positively. It means to declare firmly and assert something to be true. Affirmations are statements where you assert that what you want to be true is true. (http://www.bouldercoachingacademy.com/affirmations/what-is-an-affirmation-they-will-change-your-life-forever/)

I finished this canvas today that I started over a year ago, this has many layers and started off life as a Marilyn Monroe painting, after I 'rainbowed' it and daubed the excess off the head shape remained, I am happy with it now.

I'm really enjoying taking time out to do things I love, I think its really important to fill up your own cup and remember that you are worthy and important <3 p="">

Love Dotty xx

 

Jan 1st

My first blog post of 2012, can you believe it's a new year already, I'm so excited about all of the exciting things that are going to happen this year, I feel it inside it's going to be a good one. My newest makes ( made yesterday ) are these 2 canvases, the one with the red hair is called "Bella, the butterfly princess", the one with the blond hair is called "Pippa the natural beauty". Both are on box canvas, mixed media with glitter and faux gem embellishments. £26.00 each including postage to U.K., I really enjoyed drawing and creating these, I can't wait to make some more, hope you all have a wonderful new years day x