Getting started

I have started my project and painting these which are now for sale in my Folksy shop

http://www.folksy.com/shops/Wellydoggallery

Exciting new project

I am all excited..... I had an idea!! Haha it really doesn't happen that often!!!!

Any way you are all asking what this eureka moment might be! Its not going to change your life but it might actually help me get one!

I am going to start a project. In a sense I have already have. In painting my ACEOs recently I have been drawing on my local knowledge of the area and painted some local sights, like the ones you see here, there is the inland beach lighthouse at Burnham on Sea, Clifton suspension Bridge and the Somerset levels. This got me thinking that we live in a stunningly beautiful area, with such variety, sea countryside, city and villages. So I want to document this in my paintings.

Not that dramatic you say, but for me it solves a lot of my problems.

It channels my creativity in a positive and hopefully productive way.

Both me and Mr WD have been talking about how we just don't go and about enough and we both want to be more active. So we can go on little trips that don't demand going to far have nice walks and I can sketch and get ideas for paintings.

But it also get my lovely husband taking photos , this is something I have been trying to do for sometime. He loves taking photos and I think he is a good photographer ....he doesn't agree.

I want him to explore his photography far more.

He thinks he's not a creative person but I hoping he will see in the results that he is.

I have just persuaded him to put a few photos on flickr a , check out my favourite one here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59310637@N08/5426573782/

I sort of have in my head that if I manage to get some good results from my paintings I may try and organise a little local exhibition in about a years time, so its not that I am rushing myself but giving myself time to explore and see if this idea might go some where.

I am excited about the prospect and now am itching to get started. I may even start in my lunch time at work tomorrow to get some city skyline sketches done........

Falling into the same old trap...

Do you find you always keep making the same mistakes over and over again? Well perhaps its just me!!!

I am enjoying painting again, I don't mean a little bit I mean REALLY enjoying it, I started with the ACEOs and I did really well. I wasn't interested in selling I just loved doing them. Then I painted bigger and wow, I can't get enough of splashing the paint around and experimenting, not always successful, but then thats the point isn't it! Isn't it????

They started to sell and very well too and here I am so desperate to get out of my dead end boring rut of a job, I started to think this was it, I could push and realise my life long ambition and work for myself. So the last few weeks I keep churning the little ACEOs out and keep listing them, whether I am happy with them or not, craving the next sale and the next...

Then these last couple of days it hit me, this is not what I want, where's the joy of that! If I carried on promoting and selling and just making them to make money that then just makes another boring dead end job and a few months down the line I will be looking for something new, as always in my head the grass will be greener, elsewhere! This is always my problem, never being in the here and now, always trying to push into something that I think will be better, but it never is!

So what's the plan, well actually there isn't one. I have been an unsuccessful planner, so nows the time to change. However I do know I don't want to just churn any old rubbish out, just to make a bit of money. So from now on it wont get listed unless I think its good. I will continue experimenting and painting and try and take it where it wants to go instead of forcing it to go where I think it will make me the most profit. If it sells, brilliant, if not I will try not to care and just continue to try to stay in the here and now and love what I am doing.

Wordless Wednesday

Winner!!!

Me and Mr Wellydog just sat down and read all the entries to my giveaway, and after much deliberation we have decided the winner is

************Natalie************

from NOfkantsCurios

her answers were

1. What Disney Character are you like and why?

I would have to be WallE, the little cleaning robot, the last thing on earth, trying desperately to be cheerful, think the best and keep things tidy, and leaving a huge messy pile everywhere, but still happy and hoping for the best.

2. If you had an Alien visitor where would you take them to for a day trip?
Alien, I would take them to see my Mummy, she'd confuse the heck out of them, pour copious amounts of tea into them, feed them at every opportunity and ask them every question concievable, we'd have the answers about life, the universe and everything by the time she had finished.

3 What else could the initials ACEO stand for?
All Creation Echos Originality.

I love WallE and could see Natalie, clearing up everywhere, but what really swung it was both me and MrWD love the idea of her Mummy confusing any alien race that would visit us. We both think she sounds amazing!!!

Congratulations Natalie and I will contact you soon.

Thankyou everyone that entered you were all amazing, you cheered me up and gave me a tough time in choosing an overall winner

ACEO Giveaway

I thought it was about time I did a giveaway for one of my ACEO's the winner will be able to pick any one of their choice from my shop.

Check out my current ACEO's in my folksy shop buy clicking here

All you have to do is answer the following 3 questions and the one that I like the best will win. Leave you answers as comments or if you are unable to comment e-mail me at janice.ashworth@btinternet.com and I will add them in for all to see.

1. What Disney Character are you like and why?

2. If you had an Alien visitor where would you take them to for a day trip?

and finally.

3 What else could the initials ACEO stand for?

Good luck!!! Make me laugh and I will pick a winner a week today (21st Jan) at 10pm

Painting

2010 was a difficult year for me, nothing tragic or awful just difficult,

but it ended unsurprisingly with me being ill, bad cold/flu followed by labyrinthitis. I was stuck at home not allowed to drive and couldn't do

much without feeling sick and spaced out.

Anyway there I was, checking out the folksy forum, and saw a chat by

Brenda ( teabreaks) about ACEOs.and as I had nothing else to do I

decided to have a go. I have blogged about my venture into them before

so I wont repeat myself. But something strange happened.

I rediscovered painting. I know that sounds all arty farty but I really

did.

When I was young I was quite ill, I missed a lot of school and spent

a lot of time on my own. So I used to draw and paint to pass the time

and Iloved it, it was my saving grace. I wanted to go to Art school but my

mothers death, bad school grades and meeting my future

husband all led me down a different path.

I don't regret that one bit especially as in my late 30's I went to a mother

and child art class with my daughter at school.The tutor was amazing

and set me up to go to the local college and I ended up doing an Art

foundation course and then on do a fine Art degree at UWE,

which I got just as I turned 40. Not bad for a high school drop out.

It was amazing, but as with a lot of fine art classes you explore your

own experiences to produce your art.Without going into too many details,

this led to me going down a very feminist route. For any of you have

studied Feminist Art history ( not many of you no doubt) then you will

know it rejects ( or at least did ) painting. This is a lots of theory about

painting being a male dominated as in 'Old Masters' process. Just as I was finishing

my degree, I discovered a fantastic artist called Jenny Saville a feminist

artist that painted and I wanted to start exploring

the medium again, but it was to late.

( you can read my dissertation about her here )

So years of just dabbling now and again and then taking up making

tiaras and then jewellery making, I have been brought full circle and

have rediscovered my first love. What a funny

world it is!!

I wasn't going to make a News years resolution this year but I think

if I have one now it is tocontinue to paint and to embrace my love of it x