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

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

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.

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

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

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: Z is for...

Zero excuses

Nope, this is not a post to preach to you today. This is what I decided at the beginning 2019 - no more excuses. I take part in challenges like this blog challenge, Inktober, and NaNoWriMo so that I can plan to do creative things.

I love my job, but working too many hours is not good for my mental health or my need to create. So I made the decision to stop procrastinating and to stop using a bag full of excuses to not do the things I love.

Is it working? Yes! Do I need time some time to just binge on Netflix? Yes, but it is a decision and not just an excuse anymore.

Until next time!

💚 Linzé 

PS: Keep an eye out for a series about some other stuff I do like to do - coming very soon!

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: Y is for...

 Yellow

The last of the three primary colours. I find it interesting that two of the three colours are considered warm colours - red and yellow.

Last year colours were some of the prompts we did for the #inktober52 challenge. Since I like illuminated letters, here is the Y I drew for the challenge.

Illuminated letter Y

Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💚 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: X is for...

 Xanadu

Some colours have weird names, but who am I to argue? 😉

Here is one of them. The colour was generated using the website coloors.co 

Comments and sharing are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💛 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: W is for...

Watercolour

Watercolour paint used to scare me, until I realised that it is such a lovely medium to work with. I love combining it with ink.

Here is a painting I did for the lab I work with. It is now framed and hanging in the soon to be second safety test facility - my field of engineering expertise.

iSERT house (RF, EMC, and safety test facility)
in Montana, Pretoria, South Africa

Comments are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💚 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: V is for...

Value

Value in art is the lightness or darkness of a colour. It is the differences in value (contrast) that helps us to perceive a drawing or painting as lifelike or three dimensional.

Pretty nifty technique in the artist's arsenal don't you think? 😁

Hatching and shading to show value changes
with a Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black 4B pencil

Comments are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until Monday!

💛 Linzé 

 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: U is for...

Ultramarine

Today we look at one of the cool colours. With so many shades of blue to choose from, it is sometimes difficult to pick a favourite. But I have to say that ultramarine is truly a lovely colour, don't you think?

Read some more about the pigment and how the colour is made @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarine

Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until Monday!

💙 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: T is for...

Texture

Adding texture to any art project can be both challenging and exciting. With dry mediums like graphite, the texture is implied with the method of application.

With wet mediums, texture can be physically applied with texture paste. Oil paint is such a heavy medium that the paint itself can be used to add textured effects to a painting.

Most mixed media projects are textured in some way, making it a popular technique for many artists, including myself.

Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💜 Linzé 

 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: S is for...

Stencil

Stencils are handy for mixed media work. Whether they are used with inks, paints, or to add textured elements to any painting.

I love using stencils in my art journal. Here you can see the textured effect for the flowers I did in my Stoicism art journal a while back.

Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💚 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: R is for...

Red

One of the top favourite colours for most people ir red. Although I am not one of those, I like using red in art. Do you know the meaning of the colour red?

Samurai warrior from Linzé's sketchbook
for #inktober52

Read a bit more about this hot colour here.

 Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

❤️ Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: Q is for...

Quinacridone purple

... is an organic compound used as a pigment in inks and paints. I just love the name and was curious as to its origins. Now you know too! 😃

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinacridone

 Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💚 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: P is for...

Pastels

When most of us hear the word pastels, we either think of subtle shades of colour or chalk pastels as a painting medium. Yes, pastel artworks are called paintings because of the painterly effects that they give.

I like pastels despite the dust they leave behind. The worst are the sticks, but the pastel pencils and the PanPastels are virtually dust free. I have been converted on the day I first used the pans, and prefer them and the pencils instead of the sticks.

A few pastels in my studio: PanPastels, Koh-I-Noor pencils,
and Faber-Castell half sticks

Which pastel sub-medium do you prefer to use in your paintings?

 Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

❤️ Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: O is for...

Oil Pastels

This is one medium that continues to challenge me, no matter how many times I work with it. So to limit the pressure I put on myself to get it perfect, I am now using it in my art journal purely to practice for fun.

Do you like oil pastels?

   Comments and sharing you art are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💙 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: N is for...

Neutral Colours

Black, white, and all the shades of grey form the neutral colours of the artist's palette. Of these black is often the most interesting since it can either be a cool colour or a warm colour depending on the pigments used to mix the final colour.

I love black as a colour to wear, but Pane's grey is my favourite neutral colour on the dark end of the spectrum.

Five of the neutral colours in the
Faber-Castell polychromos pencil sets

  Comments are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💙 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: M is for...

Medium 

The substances we use to create art is called a medium.

My favourite mediums are graphite, ink, and colour pencil. Today I am sharing a drawing I made as a group project with my art group. It is made with watercolour pencils.

The art group members don't like the medium, but this is one instance where a high quality pencil definitely makes a difference.

As always your comments are most welcome on Twitter. Thank you for visiting my blog today.

💚 Linzé 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: L is for...

LINE

The basic mark in a drawing. Whether a dot, or a line, we all use this same basic structure to write and draw.

So here is to the humble tiny structure of ink that is the base of the way we communicate with words or pictures. Cheers! 🥂

Comments are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

❤️ Linzé 

 

The #CreativeLife 2021 A to Z Blog Challenge: K is for...

Knives

Knives are useful tools for various applications in art. Palette knives for painting and texture work are widely used. A palette knife is also handy for separating the pages in a watercolour paper block.

Other applications for using a sharp blade includes scratching lines for detail work in watercolour, colour pencil, and graphite.

An interesting technique for using a knife blade is the sgraffito method which I used in an oil pastel painting.

Which techniques do you use a knife for?

Comments are most welcome on Twitter, thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until tomorrow!

💚 Linzé