Creativity Challenge - Week 19

my lotus flower from the retreat

Blog 19

It is time for my new blog. I had a very busy week, but still was able to carve out many moments of creativity.

It all started with my “Painting with a Palette Knife” workshop on Friday. The two participants had a great time and were quite successful in using the knife to create texture.

all three images are unfinished, mine is the one on the left

In the evening, I went to the Ottawa Little Theatre, where I saw “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily”. As most of the times I am at the theatre, I enjoy sketching while watching the performance. Since I started sketching at the theatre, it helps me to remember the plays we have seen. It is almost like creating cue cards.

On Saturday, I went to a fabulous Mayan Bola Workshop at Hikano Yoga Studio in Cumberland. Not only did I learn a lot about angels, but we also made our own spiritual necklace with a pendant that produces a soft calming sound to remind us of our angels.

The “Yoga & Art Retreat” that Jackie Leduc and I hosted at Hikano Yoga Studio was a big success. After Jackie created a calming mood during a morning of yoga and meditation, the participants went for a short walk, enjoyed Jackie’s delicious and healthy lunch, and were very excited to create their lotus painting. The lotus is a flower full of symbolism; it is associated with eternity, purity and peace, self-awareness, love and compassion, the overcoming of suffering and spiritual development. It also symbolizes beauty, fertility, prosperity, and eternity, and it is perfect subject for a spring retreat when nature awakens in an explosive way that surprises me every year. After a long-lasting dormancy suddenly everything is full of colour: a painter’s dream. I hope I will have time to paint outside soon.

At the beginning of the week, I created the three drawings for my three “Cartooning and Comics” classes. While Tomato Head from the video came Fortnite was fun, and Darth Vader interesting to draw, I had a hard time with Wither from Minecraft. I was dreading the drawing as I do not like the square shapes and difficult perspective of the character. This was definitely out of my comfort zone. Needless to say that I had a lot of trouble with the drawing. It is so much easier to draw something that you enjoy, but on the other hand it was a good challenge.

For a nice relaxing finish, I will spend some time working on my temperature shawl. I had put it aside for the last couple of weeks, and I am excited to see how nature’s design will look.

If you are still looking for a Mother’s Day gift, some of my still life paintings that are on sale until Sunday are also some nice flower paintings that will provide joy for a long time.

I wish all of you who have two- or four-legged kids a Happy Mother’s Day! If the weather is nice, head out and enjoy nature. If you live in the Ottawa area, the Tulip Festival that starts today will surely thrill you and might inspire you to create art or update a flower bed in your garden.