Life can be stressful

I wanted to just let everybody know why I haven't been blogging lately. Sometimes life gets very stressful, and you just don't have the energy and inspiration to create. I do hope it's not a permanent situation! But I'm struggling with personal/financial problems at the moment, and the stress and worry means that when I'm not at work all I want to do is either sleep or spend time with my partner. So sorry for the silence and lack of blog posts about my art (as I haven't really been creating much), or anything else for that matter. I hope to resume blogging when I resume creating properly again. And apologies for not commenting on others' blogs either. I have tried to take a break from the internet, and while I now read your blogs again (it's a nice distraction sometimes!), I'm keeping quiet for the moment. I hope everyone understands.

One of those days

Untitled 7x5 acrylic

Yesterday was one of those days. I had some disappointing news, and felt glum, so I had hoummous for dinner, a glass of wine, and my (current) favourite cheese, Double Gloucester. And then I listened to the Cardigans and First Aid Kit on Spotify. A bit of Swedish pop should help lift my mood!

But then I did a drawing that I was very happy with, so it was a good night after all. Isn't it funny, how sometimes when you draw/paint/create without expectations, you end up being happy with the end result? But then when you sit down to *make something specific* the results are sometimes rubbish! I hope to show the drawing later in the week, but in the meantime, here is another of my small acrylic paintings from earlier in the week. Although I'm quite happy with what I'm creating at the moment, I feel that I'm not brave enough, not stretching myself enough. I'm close. So close.

Noctilucent III

Noctilucent III

This is the third painting in my watercolour series, Noctilucent. On this I also used black ink, and a white pen.

In other news: the Vicken Parsons exhibition at Alan Cristea Gallery looks good. And of course, the Kusama exhibition at the Tate Modern. I hope to visit both soon!

Paintings!

Flower market

The Blue House

These are some of the smaller (7x5) acrylic paintings on paper I've been working on lately. I'm enjoying the smaller format, and I'm planning on spending my Sunday making more!

Lately I've been feeling that I don't have much to say on this blog, so today I'm going to let my pictures do the talking.

Friday

This is a photo that I 'coloured in' using Paint tool on my computer. I was just playing around, feel like I haven't been drawing and painting much this week. I have though, as always, been mulling ideas over in my mind. I have started a new painting project, like I mentioned in my previous post, smaller acrylic paintings. I'm hoping to be able to show you at least one of the paintings this weekend.

I got an email today saying my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project had arrived safely! It's a relief to be honest, as I posted it on the very last day.I can't wait to see all the others (well, the European ones) in October! I also signed up for mine to be digitised, so will post link etc once I have all the info. Here is a link to see the sketchbook on my Flickr.

Have a lovely and creative weekend! ~ Sara

Update

Things I have been doing in the last week:

• trying to get better from my cold by spending a lot of time snuggling under our living room duvet on the sofa (it hasn't worked perfectly, I still have a cold)
• watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (has anyone seen this?)
• trying to finish Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin for my book group meeting tomorrow (loving it!)
• started a new exciting painting project over the weekend, it's too early to post about it yet, but I will in due course (I can tell you that it involves smaller pieces and acrylic paint)

So I have no pictures of my paintings to show you, so instead here is another spread from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook:

I used this sketch to make a drawing as a present for my partner's mum's birthday a few weeks back. The house was painted yellow! did I take a photo of that drawing...? Need to check!

Sketchbook Project 2012 - finished!

I managed to finish the sketchbook project 2012 sketchbook right on time, and post it yesterday. Fingers crossed it gets to Brooklyn OK! I can't wait for the tour, and see all the other sketchbooks. 

Two pictures from my sketchbook. More on my Flickr

I have a nasty cold this week, so my creativity is low, and I won't be participating in the IF challenge this week. I have however finished another Noctilucent painting, which I will show in the next couple of days. 

Current favourites: Paul Simon: Homeward Bound, Bob's Burgers, and bourbon biscuits dunked in tea!