Showing all posts tagged art

Thank you for asking me to do another guest post, Nicki.  Since I last appeared at Curly and Candid I’ve had a light bulb moment and I’m now hoping to share it with as many people as I can. At Christmas I decided I wanted to start painting again. I say “again” I’ve never painted really, but in my previous incarnation as a Primary Teacher I used to paint interesting images on the display boards (in the days before you could blow anything you wanted up on a computer!) and obviously I painted with my classes. I was always passionate about giving children the confidence to create and the fact that anyone can paint and create. It’s about putting a little bit of yourself on paper and we all have the ability to lose ourselves in the moment and let the paintbrush do the walking! So I treated myself to a canvas and I got the kids poster paints out and I painted (I didn’t want to invest in acrylics or watercolours because I thought it was a one off thing). I painted my canvas. It was no masterpiece but I LOVED doing it. I loved the fact my brain was quiet while I was doing it. I wasn’t thinking about the shopping or work, I was just painting (I frequently decorate for the same reason, different sort of painting but it has the same effect!). My canvas was quite primitive from a painting point of view but I loved it and it meant something to me. I shared it with a few friends and was amazed to see that they really liked it too.

I mentioned to my mother in law that I had really enjoyed the painting and she was so pleased that she arrived the following week with an amazing box easel filled with acrylic paints, brushes, palette, canvases and even a bendy man! That was it, I haven’t stopped painting since! I have done around 25 paintings so far and even  painted the front of a second hand cupboard I bought to put my painting things in! I LOVE it! I am slowly finding “my style” but I have also learned that because of my healing and empathic skills I can tune into other people’s needs and paint pieces specifically for them. I’m not sure whether I tune into their energy or I am guided my spirit, I suspect it is a mixture of the two, but I have had some amazing results and people really seem to resonate with my art. I have recently opened a Zazzle shop selling t-shirts, bags, iphone cases etc with my “Heart Art” paintings printed on them and they are selling like hot cakes! I never dreamt that something that started as a whim would lead to such a rewarding branch of my company. I am by no means an artist, and I often look and wonder what on earth I have painted, but the person I have done the painting for understands exactly what it is and it has the most incredible significance for them!

I love painting with my children because there is a freedom about a child’s creativity which we as adults, with our judgemental heads on, lose and it takes a lot to get that back. I now encourage all my students to get arty, whether it is drawing, painting, modelling, whatever you enjoy, create and create freely without caring whether anyone else likes it, understands it, or thinks it has technical merit. Just relax and enjoy the process, you will be amazed what you can create!

If you would like to see more of Kate’s work there is a Heart Art Gallery on my website and you can buy my Heart Art products here.

 I have known Kate for many years and she is an amazing person. She has posted for me before, on a very different subject which can be found here. Thank you for agreeing to guest write again Kate!