I feel quite disappointed that I did not do my original big idea – too much, too soon. It is my own fault I should’ve planned earlier and not decided only 2 weeks ago to enter. Although I am pleased that I did not give up and still entered.

Yesterday I completed a painting of a cake (wedding cake like) with the words “Life is a Celebration” but it just did not look or feel like me, was more childlike. At about 8:30 last night I painted over the whole painting, only had one canvas, and tried to come up with a new idea. After toying with the idea of painting a lady’s face blowing a kiss with big red lips I decided to paint a big red cherry on top of a cake. I just felt like painting a glossy cherry.

I don’t have much inspiration at the moment but this is the point of this site and the exhibition, to push me to start and discover my creative side again.

The curator said the composition is good and liked it, shew what a relief.

It’s called “The Cherry On Top” and the meaning is:

By doing what you love and are passionate about, you will realize the rewards are bigger and better than you could ever imagine.

I hope it is a richly blessed fantastic year, filled with lots of art, vision, hope, love, happiness and creative growth.

This year I’m toasting to focusing on my art.

A good motivation to get started is the annual members exhibition at KZNSA Art Gallery. The theme is RED and artworks need to be in by 12 and 13 January, show opens on 17 January.

I only just decided to enter this past weekend so time is not a luxury but I have some great ideas. You know when you can actually see the finished product or artwork as if it is already there? Then I know it is the right thing and I can accomplish it.

My idea is quite large in scale and comprises of a lot of wood work (a new medium for me) but I really want to do it! Hope I can get it done in time.

Happy painting, creating and arting – to doing what you are good at and love!

xx

I stumbled across Olga Degtyareva’s blog while looking for ideas or inspiration for prioritizing my work and found a whole lot more… I love Olga’s true, honest and absolutely helpful advice to being productive and accomplished. She gives examples through her own experience and explains how she came about her learning’s.

Olga Degtyareva is an award-winning research scientist and a mother of two who blogs about peaceful productivity at our workplace. Her weekly Productivity Insights ezine is published every Friday. If you are willing to start increasing productivity at your work place while feeling happier and more on purpose then join Olga’s community at http://olgadegtyareva.com.

I read her article “Turning around your limiting beliefs” and found it very inspirational for overcoming my own obstacles that hold me back from accomplishing my hearts desire, work projects or anything else I want or need to do.

Turning Around Your Limiting Beliefs – by Olga Degtyareva

One way of looking at your productivity and creativity is to find out what you need to do or get in order to achieve your goals.

There is a different approach to a productive accomplishment of your goals.  It is to look at what we need to let go of to unblock and enable the flow of our productivity and creativity in the direction of our goals. It is to look at the most limiting beliefs and mindsets that stop us propelling towards our goals.

The truth is that to be successful you need to recognise and then release your assumptions about yourself and your ability to accomplish what you want. The truth is that we create obstacles for ourselves believing the limiting thoughts we have about ourselves and our abilities.

The more you become aware of your thoughts, the more you realise how limited you are by your assumptions. The more you will be able of release them or even better turn them around into empowering statements!

Let’s look at some examples of limiting beliefs to give you an idea so that you start identifying you own.

When you think about your goal or desire, do you find yourself saying: “I won’t manageit time wise (so I won’t even bother starting)”. Or “Do you know HOW LONG it is going to take me to accomplish it? (So I won’t even try…)”

Yes you might think, there is just not enough time to achieve everything you need to achieve for your dream to become a reality. Especially when you want to achieve something that is not your main project at work. When the only way to achieve your goal is by working on it in small windows of time you get here and there, in between working on your main project.

So what happens if you belief this assumption? You don’t even start working towards your aim! And in a year’s time you find yourself in the same spot as you are now, far away from realising your goal.

The first step to overcoming this obstacle is to ask yourself: “Is it true?” (This question is the backbone of The Work of Byron Katie, check it out. I am a huge fan of her work but this is subject for another article )

Most probably your answer to this question would be No, it is not true.

Now turn around this belief into something like this: “I have all the time in the world to make my dream become a reality”. Is this true, or even truer?

With this thought you are empowered to use every small window of time for working towards your goal, and in a year’s time you’ll find yourself much closer to your dream.

Plus you’ll have all the benefits of living your passion and feeling happier and more on purpose while you are working on making your dream become reality.

This is exactly what I found when I started working on building my website and blog on Peaceful Productivity for Creative Types, using every half an hour here and there available between my research projects at Uni and spending time with my two children.

Another limiting belief you might recognise in your thought patterns is this one. “I’ll be sorry for the time and money wasted when I fail”. This was certainly the one that was stopping me from moving forward. You can turn it around into an empowering thought such as “There is no failure only feedback”. You may come up with something else.

An example that I personally found very useful was to turn around “I don’t have enough knowledge and resources to succeed” into “I find all the resources I need to succeed as I move along and I learn everyday everything I need to know”.

Start now by looking deep inside you to find those thought patterns and beliefs that stop you in your movement towards your goal. You can write down your limiting beliefs, as my coach Christine Kane made me do, for which I am so grateful to her Give each of the limiting beliefs your full attention and find a turn-around. Then post the list of your turn-arounds somewhere you can see them to empower yourself on a daily basis on your way to success.

Happy accomplishing!

Some quirky red doors…

Beautiful paintings of red doors…

Untitled by K.R. Santhana Krishnan.

I love the contrasting vivid colours. Keeps me looking at this painting.

The Red Door by artist Gail Salituri.

This painting has such a serene & welcoming look to it. The warm light enhances the welcoming feeling. I can imagine that something yummy is being baked inside this little house.

Red Door by Kathy Hebert.

It’s like a blank canvas for you, your mind & your spirit…

I love the way he creates a real city scene with his tiny people creations.

His art street installations can be found around London, Italy & in Greece.

Here are some designs I love:

This is his latest creation called, “One Day Son”, set at Southmere Lake, London.

Pretty imaginative, I love them!

Tomorrow begins the annual Art in the Park event, held at the Alexander Park in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

It will feature 55 artists from KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, the Free State, and from north of our borders.

This is our country’s largest outdoor art selling exhibition and consists of a variety of styles from: sketches, detailed paintings, abstract paintings to unique creations. You may want to add some quirky, unique and interesting art to your collection or richly decorate your home.

What a wonderful way to spend a wintery morning, or afternoon. I like the sound of crunching leaves as I walk around and being delighted by the sights & sounds. Last year they had a jazz band playing, nice, and it’s inspiring!

For all you artists out there wishing to display your work next year, the cost for this years exhibit was R1000 & 15% commission of work sold (plus other rules & regulations). If you have a big enough collection it may be worth your while, whether you sell a lot or just for exposure and fun. I need to paint a whole lot more!

Here is a glimpse at the previous exhibit:

I am not associated with the Nashua Art in the Park event. This article is my own individual opinion. Hope you enjoy!

Other info about the event:
The entrance fee is R10 and children under 12 are allowed in for free. There will be catering.

Physical Address
177 Chief Albert Luthuli Street
Pietermaritzburg
3200

The exhibition is open from 10 am to 8 pm Wednesday to Saturday, and Sunday 9am to 4pm.  Contact Pietermaritzburg Tourism on +27 (0)33 345-1348

At the beginning of this year I decided that I want to be more creative again, practice & be active about it.

In Jan I entered an art exhibition where my painting sold! Yay! It was a wonderful experience. I’ve sold work before but they were mostly commissions & they just don’t feel like they’re really you.
So having your own artwork up where everyone can see it, enjoy it, criticise it, love it & possibly buy it is an extraordinary feeling. The opening night had such a buzz and was full of artsys, artists & anyone just wanting to see something beautiful, quirky or unusual.

I tried a different painting style – Pop Art. Realistic & very detailed was my favourite style since I was little and first ever picked up a pencil. I love little birds and this was the inspiration for my painting below.

I entered a t-shirt design competition for a big client in SA, Vodacom, hosted by Springleap. The brief was:

“Connectivity is power. Imagine living a life without chatting to your mates, without SMS and email, without Facebook and Twitter, without all those things that you take for granted. By connecting you in all of these ways and more, Vodacom gives you power.

Your brief for this competition is to express this visually – encapsulate our guiding principle where ‘connectivity is power’ into a design that captures the imagination.

The idea is that it’s about you and not Vodacom, so no logos and nothing corporate. We’re giving the power to you on this one (ha) so go mad.”

I was excited to enter and after 5 sketches I had the one I wanted to enter. 

Since I had not dabbled in digital art before I learned how to vectorise my sketch, with the help of my brother. He gave me a Fireworks Trial and the basic guidelines to accomplish what I needed to do.

This is a different form of art for me and I am thoroughly enjoying it, I’m so glad I finally tried digital art. Unfortunately my design was not chosen but at least I treid & will keep trying.

I read a great quote, which I love…
“Nobody should congratulate you on your success more sincerely, generously & regularly than yourself.”

This year & onwards is all about being creative & doing what I am naturally good at. I don’t mean it in an arrogant way but let’s face the music & be who we are & be happy about it! I believe you will succeed at what you are good at, if you focus on it & practice. Take a look at Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Oprah & Tim Burton to name but a few, they started out by doing what they love & are good at and continued to grow, still.

I hope you will be inspired to be creative too.

This is so true! Sometimes as an artist I am afraid to start but I find it easier when I have a vision, then I’ll fly through it…

Yay, let’s see…

Update: My painting sold!