Photographs this week: ANZAC day

ANZAC Day (remembrance day)

On the 25th April we remembered all the soldiers who fought for our country in Gallipoli 100 years ago.   Our family went to the dawn parade.  I proudly wore my great grandfathers war medals  It was a beautiful and emotional day.

Taking a break from creating art: It can be so helpful

I have had such a wonderful but very busy 2 week school break with the kids.  We managed to get away for a few days to the beach (and I swam in the ocean for the first time in April!!)  I have had two children at the A&E,  we have hiked,  been to a party, done gardening and just spent time being. It has been full on but really lovely.   Needless to say my blog,  Facebook page and studio time has been rather thin on the ground.  My mothering duties have taken precedence.

3 of the children at The ANZAC day (remembrance day) dawn parade

I have had a chance to make 10 cushions (the fabric wraps are now gone!!) a canteen bandanna picnic blanket and I have started a crocheted Afghan.  It has been lovely to do these things with children helping me and while they have been snuggled up beside me reading. I love winter for those lovely snuggly moments and cosy evenings. 

Holidays are so wonderful.  I love taking a break for a wee while to recharge my batteries.  Taking a break is a great way to gain new focus on what is important and what direction your life needs to take.  I have to take a break from my art work at times too just so I can see more clearly where my work is heading and what direction to go to next.  I used to be scared of breaks that somehow I would get 'behind'  or get out of a habit.  But I have found that a break is actually can be very beneficial.  The trick is to only do it once or twice a year and to take only just the time needed and no more.  I find 3 weeks a good time.

Why take a break from doing art?

• It recharges the batteries.  More energy is gained from having a rest.
• It helps to refocus on where to go next.  Sometimes we get so focussed on here and now we loose the bigger picture. By having a change of scenery the picture can become clearer and brighter.
• It helps to clarify what is important and needed.  Stepping back can also help to see what priorities are important in your work and routines.  I have realised how much I need to draw each day and to also have time just to create and play.
• It allows other things to get done.  It is a chance to get Gardening, reading and the deep clean of the house done.  With less clutter in the brain creating is much more enjoyable and free.
• It gives a chance to rest the brain.  Being creative all the time can sometimes be quite tiring :) Creativity requires the brain to be switched on and thinking constantly.  Resting just give time for the brain to recover.
• It helps to meet needs of other people close to you.  Family and friends can sometimes feel a little excluded  if you are switched on all the time to creating.  It has been so wonderful just be be with the family and not to worry about deadlines and new ideas.

So don't feel guilty about having a rest form creating.  It can be just as good as being in the studio today.  

It's nice to be back

 Love Catherine xxxx

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Have a lovely Easter break and enjoy having time with your family.

This is what I woke up to this morning at my house.

Creativity: Dressing up as Harry Potter characters

Sometimes just being creative is dressing up and having a bit of fun

Last week I went to my nieces 12th birthday, a Harry Potter themed birthday party.  We had so much fun.  There was chocolate to get strength back after demementor attacks,  pin the scar on Harry Potter,  blowing up your aunt (blowing up a balloon with aunt written on it.  I love my little nieces original ideas) and even a moaning Myrtle on the toilet.  They had even made wonderful wands from chopsticks,  a glue gun and gold paint.

How to make a harry potter wand

We all were asked to dress up in a Harry Potter costume.  Not everyone obliged but those who did,  did a fantastic job.  Creativity was stretched trying to find costumes from what we had at home without having to spend any money or only buying from second hand shops.  

Professor Trelawny (My younger sister) 

Mad eye moody (My hubby)

The fat lady (My twin sister )

Professor lupin (My son) and Pansy parkinson (My niece)

Harry Potter (my son)

Luna Lovegood (the birthday girl)

Tonks  (my daughter)

And finally Mrs Weasley ( Yours truly) My brother kept telling me all night I looked like a curtain.

Photography this week: Insects

Insects

Art Quilt: Flower Hexaptych

Flower Hexaptych

Jesus is love

By Catherine Parkinson

90 cm x 135 cm

Each square is 45 cm x 45 cm

$2000.00

Painted whole cloth quilt. Machine quilted. Mediums used: Oils sticks, coloured pencils, textile ink, ink and thread.

Artist statement

The 6 flowers in this hexaptych grow in the region of Israel and depict the life of Christ. Each flower representing a stage in his life. Flowers have a language of their own and are a perfect representation of the cycle of human life….Planting, growth, blooming, withering and dying. Jesus was born, grew and blossomed from an infant to our Saviour. He lived, he died and though his life and resurrection we all can live forever. 

The symbolism of flowers has been used for centuries to portray an underlying hidden message to the receiver. They can remind a person of a special event or a moment. They are given to another to express love. Christ planted seeds of love where ever he went and he was a perfect example of faith, thoughtfulness and devotion to mankind. Flowers bear record that Jesus is love.  

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” - Buddha ... 

Flowers are perfect, magnificent and are an amazing miracle. As each flower produces seed and is nourished we have faith and hope that it will grow and that life and beauty will spring forth.  

“As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven.” Russell M. Nelson 

We have faith and hope in our Saviour, that his atonement will provide the way to go back to our father again and there partake of eternal life and bloom to our full potential. 

Black rose

Olive branch

Star of Bethlehem

Blue Iris

Crown Daisy

White Lily

Star of Bethlehem

White lily