An arty week with a giant squid

It has been a very arty week this week, despite my lack of posts on this subject.

Starting with Wednesday.

There is a secondhand bookshop on a corner of Unley Road that I have walked past many, many times in the last few years, but I have never gone in. On Wednesday, at lunchtime, I stopped for a second and thought, hey, I wonder if they have any art books? So I wandered in.

They not only have art books, but a resident artist too! Janet Bridgland has her studio above the bookshop where she creates fantastical watercolours full of vibrant colour and life. I spent half my lunch hour talking to her. It was great 😀 She holds watercolour classes which I hope she will still be holding in a couple years time when I’m a little more child free so I can attend them. I highly recommend those who live nearby and are interested in the arts should stick their noses in the door and have a look. She has her art for sale on the walls upstairs.

On Thursday I had the great honour of attending a talk by Graeme Base, author and illustrator of the best selling Animalia and a whole pile of other stunningly illustrated books. If you have never heard of him, you must definitely check out his art. Seriously drool worthy. Also if you’ve got kids they need a Graeme Base book, it is essential to their upbringing 😀

His talk was very inspiring. I found it very reassuring that many of his sentiments echoed those of Kelly Rae Roberts, whose course, Flying Lessons – Tips and Tricks for making your creative business soar, I’ve been studying over the last month or so (I also recommend that course to anyone who is interested in turning their creativity into a business). I really wish I had a pen and paper towards the end of his talk. He said something truly quotable and my brain sieve lost its exact wording within seconds. Basically he said do what you want, put your vision into the world because only you can. Don’t try to do what everyone else ‘might’ like, do what you like. It makes you unique and people will respect you for it. Or something like that. He said a whole bunch of inspirational things. If you get the chance to hear him speak, make sure you go.

What was even better? I got to go see him with my arty friend, Mynx! We had a girly-arty night out. And I had no kids with me! Woo-hoo! Dinner, Graeme Base and coffee/ice chocolate. And what did we talk about? Art, art, Graeme Base, art, art, oh, and art 😀 It was fantastic! There will be more girly-art excursions!

And what topped that night off like a little cherry? Came home to find this had finally arrived.

So yeah, Thursday was chock full of arty goodness 😀

So with all that arty vibe, what art have I been doing?

I’ve been painting a giant squid. I mentioned it briefly in my previous post, but it took a back seat to the stunning announcement that my studio had actually earned the adjective ‘tidy’ for once in its life. So here are some piccies of its progress. I’m quite enjoying this one.

And to give you an idea of how big it is, here is an earlier shot of it sitting at my desk.

It was watching Men in Black 😀

So yeah, I had an arty week with a giant squid. Don’t forget to go check out the artists over at Paint Party Friday. I’m late in checking in because I painted last night instead of blogging. Now I’ll go and do some more painting…er, um, looking at the time, no, perhaps, I’ll just go get dinner ready ::sigh::

Best wishes,
Liz