Picture books, paper goods & pretty things.
My sister brought this beautiful song by Alex Cornish to my attention as we drove back from Cornwall. I love the simple nostalgia of the lyric, “I was in the crowd with you.” It inspired me to paint as soon as I got home.
As life throws curve balls across my path, I find watercolour a perfect place to hideout. This piece is inspired by Laura Horn who I follow on Instagram. Her art opened my eyes to how delicate abstracts can be. How tiny details can enhance. And to how things don't have to be under our control to be beautiful.
I'm obsessed with these colours at the moment. And I'm also very much still learning about watercolour. I like how this musing feels like a map of my state of mind. I generally let the paints flow but tried to also experiment with putting water on the paper first and dotting colour here and there to see how it progressed. Very good for the soul.
This is a little corner of one of the mini abstracts in my watercolour sketchbook. I've mentioned before how therapeutic I find drawing or painting and playing with watercolours is a wonderful meditation. I am learning about how the paints behave with more or less water. And letting them seep into each other teaches me to relinquish control and to let the painting be what it wants to be.
Sometimes when you've got a long to-do list and know the day is going to be full of juggling tasks, it's nice to get a little time out before you start. So I got up a little bit early today to give myself 20 minutes to paint. I've been drawing digitally a lot lately and felt the need to see paint on a page again. I had the radio for company and a good coffee from the cafe down the road and just 20 minutes made me feel as relaxed as if it was a Sunday : )
Happy Halloween to all little pumpkins!
When I was starting on my own illustration path, Marloes De Vries was one of the first illustrators who inspired me on social media. Her style showed me a new little creative world that I didn't know existed. I knew I wanted to draw and paint but hadn't thought about how light and fun illustration could be.
Marloes journals her own life through drawings and paints with a beautiful palette. This morning she posted a sweet little video on Instagram, showing her process for painting a flourishing greenhouse. Below is my attempt at something similar.
Welcome to The Quiet Life. I wanted to create a quiet place to counterbalance the busy nature of life today. This blog will slowly fill up with little things I find that make me happy, pretty things, interviews with creatives, writing, photographs, newly discovered music, films to help you switch off and a glimpse into creative projects. I hope that you find it a calm, relaxing place to enjoy a little bit of the quiet life too.
