Showing posts with label CreativeLife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CreativeLife. Show all posts

Saturday 16 March 2024

Theme reveal: My A-to-Z blog challenge 2024

 

It's been a while since I have taken part in the blog challenge. The problem is always coming up with new ideas so it isn't boring to me. This year I decided to change things up a bit, and it has the added benefit of blogging about something I will be doing this year: taking part in another art competition.

I took part in the AGAC (ARTi  Contemporary Art Gallery & Interiors) in 2023, and decided to take part again this year. Given the style and theme requirements of the competition, there is some significant planning involved in creating the artwork, at least for me. So why not use the blog challenge to share my process and some of the behind-the-scenes work involved in creating art for a competition.

This is going to be a lot of fun, I promise.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I won't be using the letters of the alphabet as a key, it will simply be a list of 26 items. Apologies if that is not according to the rules of the blog challenge, but hey, this my blog and I can do what I want, right? 😂

Until April!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé


Sunday 7 January 2024

What happened to my ideas in 2023 - part 3

 A few thoughts on future ideas (Part 3 of 3)

In my last two posts I mentioned how I get (most) my ideas and how I dealt with them in 2023. This post will deal with how I deal with the 'future todo' ideas, and my thoughts for capturing the new ideas that will sprout in 2024.

I have reverted to using a Bullet Journal again, my way. No colourful drawings or fancy layouts, just the basic structure to get the myriad of things done. And the 'future todo' ideas were the perfect items to add to the Future Log. so that I don't forget about them, but more importantly find the right time to implement them.

My Future Log for 2024 is not a long list, but with more ideas popping up, the list will invariably grow as the year progresses.

So how to capture my new ideas in 2024?

About two years ago I made a lapbook with two folders inside. But I have not used the lapbook for anything, so I dug it out and removed one of the folder things; it has two pockets inside and which gave me the idea.

My 2024 handmade journal (left), with the folder and booklet (right)

The folder will be my bookmark, and I can fit a repurposed booklet I kept from an old Daphne's Diary into one of the pockets. I made my journal for this year but forgot to add a bookmark ribbon, so the folder is useful for that too. 

I have not used the booklet yet, mostly because my thoughts have been occupied with organising my studio and home office, and working on a few projects already in process.

So I will have to see how it is going to work. To be honest, it will work if I use it. How successful I found the new process, will be the question to answer this coming year.

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé

PS: Keep an eye out for another book feature coming this week!



Sunday 31 December 2023

What happened to my ideas in 2023 - part 2

 The good, the bad and the delayed (Part 2 of 3)

Last week I mentioned that I went through my journal of 2023 and found 44 ideas I had - to write, paint or draw, or generally improve my creative life. This week I want to tell you what happened to those ideas.

Abstract portrait, gouache paint, multicolour, Linzé Brandon, artist
Some ideas happen when I am playing in a
sketchbook. I used gouache for this one.

I am sure that you are like me, hoping that every idea we have will be a great one, but reality tells a different story. Some ideas should be discarded, others tried out to see if they could lead somewhere, and then there are the ideas for which the time is simply not right. And this last group of ideas can sometimes make us impatient even though we know full well that bad timing can be as bad as a terrible decision.

From my list of ideas, the business ideas definitely fell into this last category. There are things I have to do first before I can implement these ideas, so they are on a future to-do list.

I also found an idea I wrote down without adding any details of what I had in mind. Why I did that escapes me, so that one is a bust. That will teach me. LOL!

As for the rest:

* Three ideas were not used. These were for art projects that I did finish, but I didn't use the idea I wrote down in my journal.

* Twenty-three ideas were implemented. These were a mix of art and writing. That makes it 52% of the list, and not bad I would say.

* The remaining 17 ideas ended up as follows: 

- For future implementation: 5

- Rethink (maybe not such good ideas?): 6

- On my todo list right now (for doing in the next 4 to 8 weeks): 6


In Part 3 I will expand more on how I handle future todo's and share a few thoughts for capturing those journal ideas in 2024.

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé





Sunday 24 December 2023

What happened to my ideas in 2023 - part 1

There were more ideas than I thought (Part 1 of 3)

Over the years I have found that ideas for creative projects often happened while I was writing down my thoughts in my journal. If I didn't do something with the ideas, they were “lost” because I don't read past entries in my journals.

This year I had a plan: I would mark the idea in the text with a symbol (I chose a smiley face) and also record the page numbers in front of my journal so I could find them later on.

The inside cover pages of my 2023 journal

Most of the time ideas related to a book I was busy with were incorporated into the story within a few days because they were part of a story close to finishing. But they were not the only ideas. Then I had a brainwave: maybe I should check out my list and see what happened to these ideas I had this year.

A few surprises popped up:

1. There were more smiley faces than I had page numbers on my list. This meant that I was so into the flow of writing down the idea that I forgot to add the page number to my list.

2. While working throught the list, I also found ideas where I didn't add a smily face. Since I mentioned that I don't reread my journals, how could I know there were more ideas? The names of characters caught my eye. Since I don't use the names of actual people I know in my stories, it wasn't hard to figure out that I was “thinking” about a scene in a book.

3. I even had a few ideas related to my business. The ideas themselves didn't surprise me, but that they came to me while I was writing about non-business things was the surprise.

I am not going to give away my ideas, but I thought to summarise the number and types of ideas I had.

1. Book ideas - ideas for a new story: 3

2. Book ideas - ideas for scenes in stories already in process: 14

3. Books - cover ideas: 3

4. Art ideas for new/finishing paintings: 9

5. Art ideas for experimenting: 3

6. Art practice ideas to learn/master a new skill or technique: 2

7. Writing/journal organising ideas: 3

8. Organising ideas - studio and home office: 1

9. Bookbinding and other book art/craft ideas: 1

10. Business ideas: 2

11. Other: 3

TOTAL: 44 😳


In Part 2 I will expand on what happened with these ideas.

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦Linzé




Sunday 10 September 2023

The CreativeLife in review - keep learning, and creative projects

 Hello creative friend!

  Like most of you I'm sure, it is sometimes tough to find a moment to write a blog post, or just find time for yourself. I still have to do my planning for the coming week, but here I am checking in. And it's been a while, ouch!

  Recent times for me included being hit by a nasty cold, and I am still struggling to completely shake it off. I don't get sick, but when that one bug kicks my butt, trust me it does a good job to take me down. But I am recovering, so there is hope! LOL!

  I have just finished the Find Your Joy Taster course, presented by Louise Fletcher. Maybe one day I will be able to afford the full 12-week course.

My ink and wash painting for the Artkula
September Photo Challenge
  There was a bit of overlap with the Art Soul course as well. The presenters use mostly watercolours, whereas Louise's course use acrylics. I love ink and watercolours so I did a few of the lessons too. But there was one lesson where I skipped the class, and rather watched the artist's website course. I am still learning oil painting, and she used cold wax medium which I am unfamiliar with. I've ordered some, and will soon have something new to play with.

  Of course, one of my favourite online artists will soon have her taster Lifebook course starting a bit later this month. Since I am a fan of Tamara Laporte, it was a no brainer to enrol in that. I own her book, and have been doing my own Lifebook since 2021. But there is always something new to learn or experiment with, when it comes to art.

  On top of all the courses, and challenges, I have decided to take part in a national art competition. The deadline is the end of October, and the theme is to interpret and redo a painting from one of the old masters. Not a simple thing for sure. It took me about 4 days to properly plan the painting, and so far I have done most of the preparation work. I painted the first layer of colour on the background, so it is now simply a case of getting it done. Not as easy as it sounds though, but definitely a challenge and fun, I have to say. I am not going to say more, but I will share when I am allowed to do so according to the rules.

  Prime Prey's (Book 6 in the Nations of Peace series) cover is done, and I am happy with the editing. The prelaunch information is already on Smashwords, but the cover and the final manuscript will only be published in November.

  When I have a few moments, I am working on a small series of contemporary novels revolving around two paintings with supernatural abilities. The first draft of the first novel is done, and the second is a few pages long. They will only see the light of day next year, or even maybe 2025. I will have to check my planning for the next books in the Nations of Peace series.

  My dogs are telling me it's time for dinner, so I will love and leave you for now.

  Wishing you a creative week, until next time!

🇿🇦💜  Linzé



Sunday 28 May 2023

The CreativeLife in review - reading, painting, and coffee

 Hello Creative Friend!

    This week's post is truly a mix of stuff, and I am sure that you are well aware that life happens the way it does, and all we can do sometimes is to go with the flow. I had that experience the past few weeks, and several days it was not easy to cope with. That is what coffee is for, right? We deal as best we can in the best way we can.

🇿🇦 💜 🇿🇦

I am reading Life by Julian Baggini & Antonia Macaro

Once you have developed the capacity to be stimulated by your own

thoughts, experiences and reflections, you will never be bored and life will

never be without interest. The inner life is thus a source of remarkable self sufficiency. 

You learn that your happiness need not depend as much on

others as you might have believed, and you might find yourself thinking, as

Rousseau did, that ‘These hours of solitude and meditation are the only ones in the day when I am completely myself and my own master.’ 

~ Life by Julian Baggini & Antonia Macaro 

🇿🇦 💜 🇿🇦

    To be honest, I had so much coffee that I had to stock up earlier in the month than usual. But that's life.

    The 2nd week of the exhibition starts on Wednesday, so if you're interested you can find the details here. Entrance is free, but booking a ticket is helpful for the gallery to manage the numbers.

    With the end of the month coming up, I had two paintings to finish. They are part of the Artkula challenge for May 2023. I was hesitant with both because I don't like painting portraits (the Photo Challenge) nor do I like repainting the same image (the Themed Challenge). While neither will win any awards, I learned a few things along the way which to my mind is what taking part in these challenge are the most important thing.

🇿🇦 💜 Learning on YouTube this week - sketching with ink to improve my skills 💜 🇿🇦

   The next few weeks will be interesting work wise since I have two vastly different products to test. One of them is a whole system which we tackle in parts, and it is going to be a challenge. I love a challenge so I am looking forward to that one.

   In our art group we are busy do a drawing with charcoal. It is our second drawing of Big Ben as part of the buildings, and architecture does add some challenging details to the project. Despite the mess, I am enjoying it. With the paintings done, I will probably spend the rest of the day working on the charcoal project. After making myself a cup of coffee that is. 😏

Wishing you a creative week.

Until next time!

🇿🇦 💜 Linzé

PS: Keep an eye out for the next book feature - it might scare your pants off! 😁



Sunday 30 April 2023

The CreativeLife in review - BuJo, art exhibition, and water

 Hello Creative friend!

This post covers about two weeks, but I am sure that you will appreciate it more for me keeping (or trying to) it short and not bore you with the minutiae.

Living in the beautiful country of South Africa does come with serious challenges these days. I am sure that my fellow countrymen and women are just as frustrated as I am with the constant problems with our power network. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that we resorted to installing a solar power system at home. While lack of power can and do create a lot of frustration there has always been another problem that bothered me more: no water.

Living in an urban area means we are dependent on our water to be pumped to reservoirs from rivers and dams via purification plants. For that to happen, we need power for those pumps (and they are power-hungry monsters). We have load-shedding schedules (which we can use for planning) to help with those power cuts. When there are multiple failures in the generation plants, we often find ourselves without power between 8 to 12 hours per day - for days on end.

No power at home also means no power to pump water. And then recently something seriously went wrong in the water supply network and we were without water for 4 days. In some areas, people didn't have water for almost a week. I never thought myself to suffer from anxiety, as a practising Stoic resilience training helps a lot, but being without water created a level of anxiety that I didn't expect...at all!

It also made no sense. I have about 20 litres of water in reserve for filtering our drinking water. Nothing to do with a crisis, I happen to have space for the four 5-litre bottles that I rotate for daily use. We catch rainwater in two large tanks outside, which we use to flush the toilets. Since it rained a few days before the water crisis, I knew those tanks were full. So it was only water for showering. So no rational reason for my anxiety, but rational thought notwithstanding, I was not myself for those four days. I think it has to do with control. With power outages no longer a problem in my home, water became the issue. Something to think about for the future.

My podcast listening this week Rafi and Klee

You might be familiar with Bullet Journaling (or BuJo for short) with all those YouTube creators and their hours of creating beautiful setups. I tried a BuJo a few years ago and didn't like it. Recently I have reread the book and decided to try it again. When I looked at my planner, I noticed that despite not being a formal “BuJo” I have been using the basic concepts anyway. So I got myself a dot grid journal and set it up to use from July. My current planner ends in June.

With the upcoming art exhibition and my book projects, my current planner didn't have enough space to plan and organise everything that I have on my plate this year. And no, no pretty pictures and drawings within sight. I used a bit of washi tape or a water-based marker to underline a heading or two, but this is the extent of the creativity I added. I would rather spend time drawing or painting than decorating a planner. My journal will remain separate, but if you read Ryder Caroll's book, you can also use the BuJo for long-form journaling. I am not.

Connect with me on Substack

I did transfer the ideas from my Ideas Journal to my BuJo. It made sense that is why I did it. So one less journal to keep up to date. I had already used some of those ideas, I just never bothered to update the Ideas Journal, so it had to go.

The new paintings I planned for the exhibition are making slow progress. Too slow in many aspects and irritates me to no end. I am tired and find it difficult to stand for even a short time to paint. I have not lost interest in the paintings in fact, I am excited to see how they will look, so I am hopeful my energy levels will improve soon so I can get back to painting.

I have been working on an abstract portrait graphite drawing and it is looking good so far. I had not planned to put it in the exhibition but if I can get it done I might do that.

I think this post is getting too long, and I need to wrap it up before you fall asleep. LOL!

Wishing you a creative week.

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé



Tuesday 11 April 2023

The CreativeLife - abstract painting #2

 Hey there Creative Friend!

Today's post has some more info on the materials I have used so far plus a close-up of the painting after adding the blue layer.

Note that I purchase my materials from my local art supply stores, or online from South African art materials suppliers. Any good art materials can be used to create similar effects.

The background colours

I painted the background with Mars Black, Neutral Grey, Titanium White using these brands of paint. Zellen is a local brand and their Zelcryl acrylics are thick and very nice for impasto work, but I thinned it down for this painting.

Iris is another brand from a local company Prime Art. I am not sure if the paint is actually made locally.

Mont Marte needs no introduction, I am sure. Their dimension acrylics are really nice to work with too.




The texture mediums


In my previous post about this painting I mentioned the textured mediums. I like both, but for this painting the smooth medium didn't dry as expected even after I added the additional textured effect with the sponge roller, so I use the coarse medium as a second layer.

Atlas is a local manufacturer.

Dala is more well-known internationally. This medium actually contains grains of sand which provided the texture I was after for this painting series.



First 2 layers of colour


Next up are the first two colours I added to the paintings. Both are my darkest shades of these paints without adding any black. The first layers were unmixed, but I plan to mix the colours for the next two layers - which I will share in my next post of this project.

Another Zelcryl colour - permanent violet, and phthalo blue from Daler Rowney's System 3 series. I have recently started using the System 3 paints, and so far I really like the rich colours and the thick consistency of the paints.







And here is the promised close up. The texture is visible, although the colours appear more subtle. But these are the first layers. Stick around to see how I add more layers to achieve the effect I have envisioned for the paintings.
close up of texture in mixed media painting



Until next time!
💜🎨 Linzé


Monday 10 April 2023

The CreativeLife - abstract painting #1

Hey Creative Friend!

About two months ago I pulled out the last three square stretched canvasses in my stash and put them out on the table in my studio. At first I just painted the background a plain neutral grey. Then added the black and white blocks with palette knives. I liked the result but it was not yet a painting, or three.

Holding the 3 canvasses next to each other

A few weeks later, the muse tweaked my ear and the first layer of texture went down. When it was dry I was rather disappointed with the result. It was too smooth. Then I pulled out the heavy stuff. And that texture is really rough, I tell you. Had to stop myself several times from touching it while it was still wet. But I love the result! Now I can start painting.

Disappointment :(
   
That's more like it :)









The purple is a favourite colour of mine but it is just the first layer of many. 

Purple 😍


Stay tuned, as this project comes to life over the next days.

Until next time!

💜 🎨 Linzé


Friday 7 April 2023

The CreativeLife in review - books, paintings, and living with pain

Hello Creative friend!

I wrote this post over several days.

Did March really go by that fast? It was like here and then gone before I could blink. I did get a lot done, I have to say and perhaps that is the reason I didn't notice the date change. Work is slow, and that is a bit of a concern, but I do have some things to test this week, so things could be picking up again.

I cleaned my gouache palette 😂

April is difficult because we have 3 short weeks in the month. For most people that is great, and it used to be for me as well when I was employed full-time. Since changing to self-employment, fewer workdays in a month can be difficult - this month it will be, as this year has been so far.

You may have seen the Blog Challenge logo here on my blog, but I had a change of heart. Sometimes it is necessary to decide where you have to spend your time, and prioritise that before what you think you can fit in. Since making that decision, I stopped worrying about it and focused my writing energy on a novel I am trying to finish. To help keep me motivated, I am taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo.

Past experiences have shown me that the writing challenge is useful to help me finish a book; at least the first draft of it anyway. At 79k words, I am close but there is something about to happen in the story that might push it over 100k. Because it is a novel in my fantasy series, the word count does not bother me. It will bother my pocket when it comes to editing time, but that is a problem for later. Right now my priority is to get the book finished.

Today is Good Friday, and the end of an eventful week. I hope you are enjoying a Blessed Easter.

For the past few weeks my right shoulder have been acting up a bit. Not painful exactly, but more a sensation of discomfort when I moved it. I don't know what caused it, or perhaps I forgot. On Wednesday morning I woke up with such excruciation pain in my shoulder that I could barely move my arm. Yes, that was a surprise - and not a good one.

One of the SBR2023 ink and
wash paintings I made
Since I could move my hand ie, no difficulties below the elbow, and could at least finish the report I had to write for work and managed the words I had planned for Camp NaNoWriMo. I just had to take it really easy I thought. But it was not enough.
One of the SBR2023 ink and
wash paintings I made

After a sleepless night, and a potent painkiller, yesterday morning started with my husband having to help me get dressed. He leaves for work at 5am, so it was an early start for me too, but it couldn't be helped. Yes, I hated that because it made me feel like a child. But pain is a horrible thing on the best of days, right? 

I made an appointment to see my doctor, but he was only available in the afternoon. There was some work to do, but I decided to go out for breakfast mostly because I was a bit too lazy (and in too much pain) make it myself. My local Wimpy is close to my home, but the drive told me that my shoulder didn't like the trip. Driving really hurt, even though I took care as best I could.

While enjoying my breakfast, my doctor's receptionist called to move my appointment earlier. I was grateful to accept the option. Two hours later I had a cortisone injection, and prescription for potent anti-inflammatories to take for a week. My shoulder it would seem was badly inflamed.

My Podcast listening this week ArtJuice: 
https://open.spotify.com/show/3jFtwBciHeEPlNF5Gf411T

This morning there was no pain, amazing, so after a lovely breakfast with Hubs and my father-in-law, I decided to work on some of the paintings for the exhibition. It was fun to push texture paste around with a palette knife. Since I practically plastered the stuff it will take a day or so before I can paint the textured sections.

I am taking it easy the rest of today, even though my shoulder might feel better I don't think for a moment that it is healed yet.

And on that note I think it an appropriate ending to this post.

Wishing you a creative week!

💜🇿🇦Linzé



Sunday 26 February 2023

The CreativeLife in review - change, art, and loadshedding

Hello creative friend!

It's been a while since I chatted with you, and of course it is my fault for not keeping to the Sunday schedule. But that is going to change. My Sundays seem to be filled with so many activities, even though I seldom plan my day that way. It also impacts my blog, which makes me sad for not getting to write it like I want to. So I am going to make a change - and experiment with a few different weekdays. It may also vary from week to week, but let's see how it goes.


My books and many more at 
https://buff.ly/3xLi8UH
from March 5-11!

February has been a difficult month. We decided that we had enough of the problems of loadshedding, and installed a solar power system at home. It helped to resolve one concern created by the constant loadshedding...saving my poor fridge. When it took me 20 minutes to get the fridge to start the compressor (the previous few times it took about 10 minutes) I called Hubs and told him, that's it. We cannot afford to replace appliances that we need. I don't care if the TV is damaged, or if we needed to replace a microwave (for example) but replacing food storage appliances could have huge financial financial implications. You might think that such losses could be claimed from our insurance, but since loadshedding have gotten worse, the insurance companies have been refusing to payout such claims.

The second thing remains a problem, but we are managing it for now. At first the service technician said it was because of loadshedding, while we disagreed. Well, it is still a problem even without the power going out anymore. So will have to see.

The first of the planned stories for publication is with my editor and I am working as fast as I can to finish the 6th novel in the Nations of Peace series. I am struggling however to make the story flow at this point. It happens and it is a pain in the butt. But I keep going. Editing will probably delete a lot of these words, but if I stop the book won't get done. Onward it is then!

Another art exhibition is also coming up and I am working on a new series of paintings. At least they are progressing without a struggle, and I am having a lot of fun in the process.

Some of my paintings are now featured in the Wild Baobab online gallery if you want to take a look. Yes, it's me, Linzé is my pen name. I avoid using both my real name and pen name on social media. Aside from being confusing, it makes life easier for me.

And on that note it is time to wish you a creative week.

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé



Sunday 5 February 2023

The CreativeLife in review - planning, time management, and the creative life

 Hey there, creative friend!

It's been a week or more since my last post but mostly because I have been taking time to do other things. Work was a bit slow, but that will change tomorrow. More on that a bit later. I have not been working, or making art - what I have been doing is reading. Not only books on my to-read list, but also a few of my own unfinished manuscripts. I do that for the simple reason to find inspiration to work on my current novel-in-process. I feel a bit stuck.

I know the next major scene involves a kidnapping, but what is bugging my creative brain is making that happen in a way that will actually work. It is one thing to kidnap someone, but making it happen in a story is a different matter altogether. The solution has not yet presented itself, so in the meantime, I found an interesting book well worth reading until my creative brain cells figure out what I need to write.

The book is called Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. It is an interesting take on time management. I have only progressed about 25% into the text, but I am enjoying learning a few things.

ink and watercolour painting of an Irish castle
Ballysaggartmore towers ink and wash

Back to the work thing. Tomorrow I have to start testing several industrial pieces of equipment coming in to the lab one after the other. This type of equipment is a huge challenge (which I thoroughly enjoy, mind you) but they also take a lot longer to test than the multi-media and high-tech equipment that we normally test.

I am not anticipating problems, but I feel that it is important to be prepared for the feeling of being overwhelmed which will invariably happen along the way. If you have been reading my musings for a while, you will know that I have a game plan in place for when that happens. This time around, I think that perhaps an adjustment to the game plan might be in order to anticipate the situation and work with it before the feeling hits me head-on. Because once I feel overwhelmed it can often be difficult to recognise the feeling and then sit down to work on resolving it. And this book might be helpful for that. It is too early to tell, but I have a feeling that using the 12 Weeks Year planning I am implementing this year, along with Four Thousand Weeks, I might be able to live a productive and creative life in 2023 without pushing myself too hard.

I do have an ambitious list of goals for sure, but what I have put in place with that list is to prioritise those goals. It does not only help me figure out where to put my time when things get busy at the lab, but it will also help me focus on the things that I feel are a higher priority.

Prioritising goals might seem weird, but I love what I do in my work life and my creative endeavours, so it is a win-win situation as long as I remember to take care of my health and well-being too.

One of my creative goals this year is to work on improving my skills with oil pastels and oil paint. Oil pastels have always been a difficult medium for me, but I am finding it more fun the more I use them to create drawings. In the Artkula group, there are two challenges every month, and I find doing at least one of them with oil pastels to be an enjoyable way to improve my skills.

Oil painting remains difficult. My sketchbooks do not lend themselves to oil painting, so I purchased a sketchbook purposely designed for oil painting. Since I am still a pure novice with oil paint, it takes time for me to do an oil painting. To this effect, I have done an outline of a self-portrait during the past week on this new paper. I finally made my own Mahl stick, set the pad on one of my easels, and I am ready to start painting.

There are a few things on the to-do list this week that needs to be done for the solar power installation in our home, but if that happens quickly then I will have a bit of time to start work on the portrait, otherwise, it will be early next week. Am I worried about the potential delay? To be honest, I was worried, but I decided to let things happen as they should, then there will be less pressure on myself to do stuff. Since I am prepared to start the painting, it won't be such an issue if there is time available earlier than anticipated.

Organising my studio remains a thorn in my side. I found a small bookshelf at a really reasonable price that will help to organise one area in my studio that has been annoying me to no end. I ordered two of them. That corner in my studio is used to store items I use for journaling and mixed media, so if they are better organised, it will be easier to find what I need when I want it. I will post a few before and after pics when I got that done.

An exciting week ahead for me, and I wish you a creative week with time for loads of fun time too!

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé

Sunday 15 January 2023

The CreativeLife week 1 and 2 - planning my CreativeLife

 Already halfway through January and it was barely yesterday when we started the new year.

Hello creative friend! I trust your 2023 is off to a creative start and that all your creative hours this year will be satisfying and fun!

I am sure like me you have already set your goals for the year and cannot wait to work on them. Did you remember to plan time to rest and time to rellect? I had to remind myself to do that too and deliberately spent the past week focusing on that even though I did do some work too.

The lab is back to work already, but I will only get stuck in this coming week. We have big industrial pieces of equipment coming in for testing and I will probably start on those within the next month. They require more time and energy so it will be a busy time for the safety section for the upcoming three to four months.

My creative goals for this year include the publication of three more books. Two shorter stories, and then the 6th novel in my Nations of Peace series. The book is entitled, Prime Prey, which is the first of the Protector sub-series.

The shorter stories are almost ready for professional editing, and I have already spoken to my friend Vanessa Wright, who is the editor of an award winning children's book. Well done, my friend! You are an awesome editor and soon children in many schools in South Africa will know your name too.

Portrait of a lady in Panpastel
and coloured pencil

Vanessa has edited multiple of my books in the past, so it will be yet another great year to work with her again. More details on release dates in future posts, so keep an eye out!

Goals for my 2023 artistic journey will be a bit different than the past few years. For one, I am not going to take part in Inktober52. The prompts were becoming less inspiring and frustrating. I will say however, that taking part has siginificantly contributed to my drawing skills. Inktober in October? Will see when the time comes.

Since joining the ArtKula community I have been more inclined to rather take part in their monthly challenges, so those will be my focus for this year. I have laso decided to focus more on the oil mediums (oil pastels and oil paint) this year to work on improving my skills in using these mediums. I also plan to continue my study of my favourite artist's work, Wassily Kandinsky. I have a book, but my study will include copying more of his work so that I can learn more about abstract work.

Our art group is already actively busy with our projects this year, starting with experimenting with expressive abstracts (in sketchbooks for now), and a large fantasy style acrylic painting. This coming week we will start work on an ink and watercolour painting of an Irish castle. Definitely a challenge because of all the details. But we need to challenge ourselves as artists too, otherwise how are we going to improve our skills while having fun?

While all these projects may sound like a lot, and they are, I have decided to include one session per month in my creative planning to just do anything I am in the mood for. The group will have the same choice: do something other than a group project, catch up on a project, or just relax. Our Lifebook project will be an excellent choice for this free time. It is our third year doing a Lifebook, and for me it has been worth it on so many levels. My journal is for writing, but my Lifebook has the added element of art with little to no writing, but it is still a record of me and my life, only expressed in a more visual way.

This post is already taking up a lot of your time. Thank you for reading and let me know in the comments what your creative goals are for 2023.

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé

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Sunday 4 December 2022

The CreativeLife - weeks 46, 47, and 48 in review

Hello creative friend,

 I need to drink a lot of water because of the diuretic effect of some prescription meds. So on Tuesday I left my home office to refill my water, when I stepped into poop. Yup, right in front of my office. Inside my house. At first I thought there is a gecko running around, because they sometimes sneak in. I don't mind them, they are cute, but they are quiet. And the noise I was hearing told me it wasn't a gecko.

Following the sound, I found a bird in the area where I have the laundry on drying racks. And a lot of bird poop on the floor. And a frightened bird. It was a pied starling. It was either chased by one of the dogs into the house, I leave the backdoor open when I am at home during the day, or it flew in because it was curious. Either way, I had a scared bird on my hands and clean laundry which I was not in the mood to wash again.

Since there was only one exit, I had to get it back into the kitchen but it was not cooperating. Instead it flew into the living room making me cringe at the though of bird poop on the couches.

A bit of thought went into coming up with a solution. I closed the beaded curtain hanging in the passage to my office so it couldn't fly that way. I know it is a bit boho to have a beaded curtain, it usually serves another purpose, but it kept a bird where I could try and redirect it outside.

Inktober52 Prompt #45

It flew everywhere, pooped again, and thank goodness only the floors, except a spot on a curtain but I wasn't too boothered about that. Then I got an idea. Since it was avoiding the kitchen, I think the dogs were scaring it, I had to open the patio door. This door is difficult to open, but I managed.

Back to the bird. It saw the new bright light and flew right at it. I was holding my breath when it landed on a drying rack - with Hubs' work pants. Then it landed in a gap of the security gate. And flew away. Yay! No bird was injured in the process, but my mood was sour for sure. I have so much work to do, and now I had to wash the floors.

Oh well, it all turned out all right in the end, and the house had clean floors too.

I might have mentioned that I had decided to not keep up with the Inktober52 prompts during November to focus on NaNoWriMo. The idea was to catch up in December, and I did. Four drawings in two days - not too bad I think. Since I am up to date with the challenge, I can relax because I really don't like falling behind on challenges.

The priority is now to get all the work done before the lab closes for the holidays. While our group art sessions continue on Thursday evenings, I will not have time for anything creative for a while. I don't mind because the thought of the break, is really motivating despite year-end exhaustion.

I have also been contemplating my blog for next year. No major changes, just a few thoughts that may or may not be used.

Thank you if you had bought a copy of my latest novel, I really appreciate it. If you haven't grabbed yourself a copy yet, there is still a few days left. The rest of the series will be in the Smashwords end-of-year sale at 50% off from 15 December if you want to grab yourself a few more books to read this holiday season.

Thank you for reading, and I will chat again soon!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé



Sunday 13 November 2022

The CreativeLife weeks 44 and 45 in review

 Hello creative friend,

The past two weeks have seen the end of Inktober and the start of NaNoWriMo. Both challenges that I take part in for my own benefit. This year my energy levels are taxed to the limit, and some days are more difficult than others to achieve the daily word count target of 1667 words.

https://qkt.io/yVOXtZ  <- Click the link to book your FREE ticket to the art show

As usual I get started with a bang and the words flow with ease and without too much thought. I am a pantser at heart, but this novel, Jarod's Choice (working title only) has been brewing in my head for a while now. Before the start of NaNoWriMo I had already written about 12,000 words to get the story started. So it was not as if I was staring at a blank page on the first day. But then the notorious second week arrived and the struggle set in.

It was hard. Harder than every attempt at NaNoWriMo I have had before. Just writing 1700 words barely takes me two hours, but this time it took me nearly a day, everyday. I had my personal computer next to me on my desk while I was working and typed a few words here and there when taking breaks from work. It was difficult to say the least. Then Friday morning arrived and I decided that a change of scenery was called for. So I waited until load shedding was over, packed my stuff, donned a waterproof jacket because it was raining, and moved my butt to a local Wimpy.

Since I had already had breakfast, I ordered coffee, a slice of their decadent triple chocolate cake and got to work. Whether it was the coffee (I had two mugs) or the chocolate cake, or both, but the words came easily and fast. I could hardly keep up with my characters.

If these words will remain during the editing process is a concern for another day but writing more than 2000 words in an hour and a half does not often happen to me. Definitely grateful to the writer's muse who showed up when I was at the keyboard. The words have continued their flow since and I think my characters are happy with me, otherwise they would just make me struggle some more. LOL!

When the words were tough, I spent the time to work through the edits of the last chapters of Keeper of the Dragon Key. I still have to proofread the whole manuscript again, but I have set some time aside for that after I finish NaNoWriMo.

So it is back to writing now.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time!

🇿🇦💜Linzé



Theme reveal: My A-to-Z blog challenge 2024

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