Happy Valentine's Day from Stormy London!
If there’s one thing I know for sure on this Valentine’s Day, it’s that we all need a little more tender loving care. Life is hard, and wonderful and complicated, and I think we often take care of everyone else around us, and put ourselves last on the list. I know I do that!
Yesterday, on my way home from the High Street with a heavy bag of groceries, I stood at the bus stop in the driving rain with two other women. We were all drenched. We all had heavy bags in our arms. We said nothing, but stood in solidarity under the one tiny piece of dry ground under the bus shelter. My heart went out to these women, and all of you as well, who put others first. Who go to the shops in the worst weather possible to buy flowers and balloons for your boyfriend, husband, children, or grandchildren. They love you for it. Believe me. They do.
Today I want to remind you that the storms you are walking through are making you stronger and giving you perspective. They might be minor squalls or huge hurricanes, no one else knows how big or overwhelming they are but you. But the storms will pass. When the sun starts shining again, you will see the beauty of the world with new eyes.
So Happy Valentines Day! From stormy London to you, wherever you are!
Block towers
Over the weekend we built block towers. No. Scratch that. We built block sky scrapers. I think we have a future engineer in the house. I love seeing her creativity and ingenuity blossom with each day.
Invincible creativity
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. — Albert Camus
I’m collecting quotes to give me strength as I embark on the busy creative voyage of 2018. Care to share in the creativity? I’m going to be sending monthly meditations on the creative life to those on my mailing list. Sign up on my home page.
The Wolf Moon plus a free iPhone wallpaper of my water-colour palette
On of my small resolutions for this year was do record my observations of the full moons in my daily drawings. I want to try to connect to nature and the skies in a more direct, observational way.
Yesterday’s full moon was difficult, as it was cloudy, rainy and windy most of the evening. Here in London we are enduring another epic storm (this time named Storm Eleanor). All night our windows rattled in their casements and rain lashed the panes. For a moment the clouds broke and I saw the glorious moon backlighting the stormy sky. It is the Wolf Moon.
Grab this image for your iPhone wallpaper!
Space Light and Inspiration for 2018
On the first day of the year I always take a deep breath and tidy the house to create space for new possibilities to arrive in the coming days and months. There is a deep connection between breathing and space and creativity.
This is something I want to explore in the coming weeks.
“Inspiration” means “to breathe in” in Latin. Does that resonate with you? I’m going to send out a newsletter meditating on breathing and inspiration at the end of this month.
Why not sign up to learn more?
My week in drawings
I've been scanning, photoshop editing, and responding to emails all morning. That means I wish I could spend the rest of the day sitting under a purple tree, reading poetry and dreaming up new stories. What do you wish you could be doing today?
One of the highlights of this weekend was going to the Affordable Art Fair in London. I loved spending the afternoon soaking up the art, the energy, and the inspiration.
My week in drawings
The sunset last night was magical, like someone had made broad brushstrokes across the sky. It's so good to be home, to be sleeping soundly again after a week of jet lag adjustment, and to be anticipating an exciting autumn full of creative work and fun.
Just as the children are heading back to school with excitement and expectation, I am returning to my studio after a summer of travel. I have new projects to start, and a brand-new sketchbook to fill. You can see me flipping through my just-completed sketchbook on my stories. Don't you just love new art supplies?
Summer in Canada
Someone once told me that the soul travels slower than the body. Little One and I have been back in London for almost a week, but I still feel like part of my soul is still in the wide plains of central Canada, staring the the clouds scudding across the sky, moving endlessly towards some imagined horizon.
Little One loves the story "The Big Red Barn," by Margaret Wise Brown, and any time we drove through the farmland she would start reciting the verses for memory. "By the big red barn in the ancient field, there was a pink pig, learning to squeal. There was a big white horse, and a very little horse..." etc. It was so wonderful to see her discovering a new landscape.
Landscapes, buildings and objects change the way we move and think. This is a thought I'm working through slowly. I stand differently in my house here in London, compared to my mom's house in Canada. Neither is better or worse, but just different. I breathe differently. I have different expectations. The pace is different. The light is different. The scale and proportions are different. And all these things mix together to create a recipe for a different way of being. I love being able to experience both, to savour both, and I'm going to spend more time thinking about this as the weeks slide into autumn. (Seasons do the same thing to us, and I'm wondering how different I will feel as the days draw in? Will my posture change? My cravings? My daily requirements?)
Those were a few thoughts on the nature of travel.
And here are few things I loved about being home in Canada....
1. Quiet. The wide, tree lined streets, with boughs creating arches as grand as the tallest European cathedral. The light slanting through the leaves as though they were stained glass windows.
2. Big skies. Extending infinitely. Clouds building structures above. Evaporated architecture.
3. Tall stacks of books to read, borrowed from my mom. And the anticipation of hours of inspiration as the seasons change.
4. Sitting in my dad’s thinking spot (thinking thoughts).
5. The quiet sounds of the house while the baby is napping. The fridge snoring (as baby describes it's hum), the floors creaking gently, and the deep breath of relaxation.
6. Evening walks after an early supper. Pushing the buggy part of the way. Letting Little One race on the sidewalk between the driveways as fast as she can, blue-glitter shoes glinting in the evening light. Then back in the buggy to push the worn-out girl home for bedtime stories and kisses.
Rain washing the dust away.
Morning coffee routines: planning the day ahead
Coffee and Fools and Horses in Winnipeg
Brave, solitary trees, standing strong in the wind.
Grain elevators = prairie skyscrapers
Windmills harnessing the natural power of the open plains
Roads disappearing towards an imagined horizon, which keeps moving forwards as we move forwards.
Story time and cuddles.
Travels!
My week in drawings
Today has been a hazy, lazy, rainy day. We celebrated a birthday by having home-made carrot cake and banana bread and delicious coffees at beanberry coffee in Kingston. Their shop is like an ancient alchemist's laboratory full of tubes, copper, chrome, and glass bell jars covering succulent pastries.
The recipe for a perfect Sunday night: my favourite jazz playlist on Spotify, our favourite zucchini tomato pasta, and a stack of new books from the library for bedtime. After toddler bedtime it's time to make lists and plan my week.
And.... another children's book is finished and delivered! Now it's time for lots of fun sketches, play dates and outings with my toddler daughter, travel, and artistic experimentation!
This morning Mary and I decided to be adventurous and try another new cafe in town. We loved department of coffee and social affairs in Kingston. The coffee was great and the atmosphere relaxed. We've lived in Kingston upon Thames for a year and a half, and there's still so much to discover.
Old and new rub shoulders in the city of London. This morning I took a few hours off to get a change of scenery. I love the city of London, it exudes such an efficient, stylish, orderly atmosphere. I absorbed a bit of it this morning, and then headed home in time to pick my daughter up from nursery after lunch.This image turned out much more abstract looking than I anticipated. Sometimes city-scapes end up looking like shapes instead of buildings!
The rain is sluicing down the windows and ricocheting off the pavement outside. Supper is simmering and we're warm and cozy inside. It's been a lazy, but also busy, day. Errands in the morning. Naps in the afternoon. Rain on the roof lulling us into a state of relaxation.
My week in drawings
This morning Mary and I met our coffee group friends at the "secret" cafe in canbury gardens along the river. The wind teased the pine trees. The waves on the river winked at us through the tall oaks. And we sipped our coffees, licked our ice creams and chatted about our summer plans.
When I need to clear my mind I often step into the garden and inhale the bracing, clean scent of lavender. It sweeps all the cobwebs out of the corners of my mind. Then I can head back to work again.
This morning Mary and I took the train into London to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. It was a misty, mizzly morning, and it felt like we had the streets to ourselves. We wandered Covent Garden and Waterloo bridge with wide eyes.
Today, amidst deadline prep and housework, I zoomed into town to get some treats for my husband's birthday celebration tomorrow. I took ten minutes to sip a latte and sketched the people around me. I love coffee shops. People chat, read, work, and no matter what they are doing they seem contended and connected: either in conversation or in concentration on a task. A little sketch for a busy day.
Taking a moment
Lately life has felt like a mad dash to the finish line carrying an egg in a spoon and balancing a stack of books on my head. I have an illustration deadline in a week, which has thrown all my carefully balanced schedules into flux. This morning, after a few hours of intense work, I took 30 minutes to sip a hot chocolate and daydream at our local cafe. How's your Monday going?
My week in drawings
Last weekend we went on an "aventure" (as my toddler daughter calls it) and cycled through Richmond park and along the river to Richmond village. Then we had coffee and croissants under the tall, broad plane trees and watched the rowers sculling under the bridge.
I love the sculptural shadows cast by a lovely, big summer hat. It's so fun to play with hats in my drawings. I got this hat years ago when we lived in Cape Town in a small seaside town called Hermanus.
Child-like creativity and my week in drawings
I love seeing my toddler daughter's imagination come to life. Each day she invents new games of make believe. Her imagination is so sweet, innocent and confident. To her, there is no such thing as a silly or stupid idea. Isn't that how we should be with our creativity? I wish I had her joyous confidence and silliness.
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An artistic wake-up call
This morning I had a 4.45am wake-up call from a toddler who had had a bad dream and needed a potty break. It was hard to grumble when I saw the sky. One minute it was flaming pink and amber, but by the time I had tucked Little One back into bed it was back to grey. It was a fleeting moment and it made me think about being awake and observant. It is the artist's job to see everything, but often I'm so bogged down by crazy to-do lists that I plunge blindly forwards without really taking time to see the world around me.
This 4.45am spectacle was a little reminder to keep my eyes open.
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My week in Drawings and Verbs
Looking at // the light streaming through my studio window and feeling grateful for fresh, summer days in London. My laundry is drying in the sun. The flowers are blooming floridly. And a sweet breeze is teasing my gauze curtains into a flutter.
Planning // for a weekend of rest and rejuvenation. Weekdays are packed with illustration deadlines and house-hold tasks. Weekends are for sitting in the shade with a book and staring at the clouds scudding across the sky.
Sketching at Strawberry Hill House
After a long, dark London winter, it is practically a requirement that your soul bursts out of your sternum with joy with the light returns and colour explodes from every corner of the natural world.
One such, joyful, exuberant morning we ventured across the river to Strawberry Hill House. It is a jewel-box home, and the inspiration of Horace Walpole, man of letters and gothic novelist. Every corner was bathed in the prismatic light from the stained glass windows. And each room was unique, imaginative and eccentric.
There is always something to be inspired by in our neighbourhood. Sometimes life feels busy and frantic and I forget to "look" around me. If I stop for a moment (even the shortest interval between breaths) and try to really "see," I am always amazed by the beauty surrounding me.
A Small shift
Lately I've been thinking a lot about the small choices I make every day that might have an impact on my health. I want to spend the next few weeks focusing on those little moments. Today I'm drinking a little extra water. What are you doing today to improve your wellbeing? It doesn't have to be a huge resolution; just a small shift.
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