Looking forward, looking back.

It strikes me that wherever we are on our life's path, sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other can be the hardest thing. You (I) can build an empire (ok, a small one) but if there's a break in the flow, it's hard to move forward.

Looking back at 2015 it has been a strange year. At the end of 2014 my health took a nose dive and so I started the year feeling very run down. Winter is a reflective time, but the time I spent with myself was full of negativity and I knew I needed to make some changes. I felt lost and blocked; creatively and spiritually. There's that balancing act in life of the relationship with yourself, and the outer relationship with family, friends and the bigger picture of the world.

I started working with a mentor, someone who could be a sounding board for a head full of conflicting ideas; someone who put me at the centre of the picture who would help me shape my life according to my dreams. And so started a journey towards more self awareness.

In connecting to myself again, I learnt to prioritise myself and to care for myself. I started to write and to use positive affirmations to fuel my heart. I took my life and looked at each and every part and I came to a renewed understanding of being me. I went back to my centre. And in that space I was able to see clearly. From that place I was able to write about who I am creatively, my inspirations, and about how I connect to life. I found a resilience and a determination to use the gift of my creativity. With the encouragement of my mentor, I wrote from my heart about my connection to nature as my life force. I need my garden, my chickens, the sunshine, the landscape. So many of us suffer from nature deficit disorder and seasonal adjustment disorder because we are so disconnected from the energy of the land. So my journey became a project to express my needs, to express where my art comes from.

Listen to an extract here.

The CD that arrived as a result of these writings surprised me! It wasn't what I was expecting! I feel vulnerable sharing it with the world, saying 'Hello, this is me; this is what life feels like for me.' And yet, I hope there is inspiration in my words for re-connecting with nature, both to our own inner nature, and to the miraculous beauty of the world. In committing my response to the seasons into writing, and then as recorded spoken word, I found a new respect for myself, my creativity and the power of nature to heal. If we could all spend time with nature, spend time creating from our hearts, honouring our humanity I really believe the world would be a better place. Taking the time to honour my own needs has certainly made me better.

I invite you to share my journey this year in the form of the spoken word CD that was born from my reflections. On the CD I talk about each season. I notice the small details of my world, I talk of colour and the footsteps towards becoming inspired to create my art. I invite you to visualise the seasons, to dream and to imagine. And then there are some simple tasks for engaging with the outdoors - walking, collecting, noticing. In calling the CD 'I am Nature' I wanted to remind myself, and others of our own uniqueness, and the need to honour that creative voice.

So, looking forward to 2016, I am focusing my workshops on nature as source and running a series of seasonal workshops called 'Inspiration from Nature'. My workshops invite you, at any stage of your creative journey to come and put a foot forward, to have a beginners mind, to empower yourself that you can, to reconnect with your creative spirit and nurture yourself. They can be bought singly or as a series of four that will share the building blocks of my mixed media art. I will also be running an art holiday in the Derbyshire/Staffordshire borders on the 9/10/11 of July. Called 'Back to Nature', there are three days of walking, sketching and mixed media collage workshops. There'll be a supportive, creative, beautiful environment, including an outdoor hot tub experience in the shadow of the dynamic hills that surround the farm. It's going to be fun, creative and utterly restorative!

I'm ending this year on a high. I'm rested and reinvigorated and ready for all that 2016 has to offer.  I hope you can join me at one of my events or exhibitions.

Wishing you a warm and creative festive season.

Helen
x

A Year of Inspiration from Nature

I've been busy getting my workshops planned for 2016 and they are all available to book in my shop and Eventbrite page.

I've planned seasonally inspired workshops throughout the year that will share the techniques and ideas behind my mixed media landscapes. Designed to fit together to give you creative confidence and help you develop your visual language, the days can stand alone or be booked as a set of four.

Book all four workshops together and receive a gift of my 'I am Nature - Working with Nature as Inspiration' CD and a mini print from my range (RRP £25)

Spring Sketchbooks - Saturday February 6th 2016

Mark Making - Saturday June 25th 2016

Evoking the Seasons - Saturday October 1st 2016

Stitch techniques with Paper - Saturday November 12th 2016

This is me!

This is me! Autumn is my favourite season. I love the rich colours. I'm trying to slow the year down, to take the time to be outside, to collect conkers and leaves and bring nature back to the studio.

Happy Autumn

Celebrating the seasons has occupied the human spirit for millennia. In these fast paced days and artificially lit nights, I feel grounded when I go outside, observe what is happening around me and acknowledge the wonderment of nature. The simple gifts I collect, a fallen leaf, the fruits of my allotment and garden all bring me into the here and now. It is on these forays into nature that my mind is at peace and ideas for my creative work evolve.

This is me

I am a mixed media artist inspired by the seasons. I find myself in nature.

I run holistic creative workshops to share my processes and offer inspiration for a creative life.

I make painted and collaged art that reflects on how good it is to be alive.

Inspired by eclectic pattern and colour. Blown away by the miracles of life. Made from stardust.

I journal to find my inner voice and I sketch to capture moments of connection to nature.

You can follow my journey on my blog, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Find ways to connect and my prints, products and workshops at www.helenhallows.com

Thanks for joining me. It means everything to have you here!

Creative nourishment - May

I treated myself to two days in London so I could find nourishment for the ideas in my head. As spring has advanced, the murmurings of my winter mind are starting to find a voice. At the forefront of these ideas are a wish to embrace colour. With that is a return to a love of folk art and a symbolic expression of the soul. My soul.

I have found my way back in to nature, planting my garden and meandering in the woods. My work has often included trees and it is to trees I am returning for inspiration. At the weekend I was fortunate to visit the Weleda gardens. It was a beautiful fresh spring day and I could feel the sap rising in the trees there, and in myself. It is that connection between us and the trees, the 'tree of life' that is a symbol of many cultures, that I am exploring in my new work.

So, with those ideas in my mind I headed to the Victoria & Albert Museum to explore their collection. I've been visiting the museum since childhood and there is magic in those rooms of beautifully crafted artefacts.

I spent hours drawing from the collections, recording decorative details and symbols of trees and growth and shared a connection with those makers who had drawn from our shared symbolic language. 

Whilst there I had the opportunity to attend the Alexander McQueen retrospective. Not usually drawn to fashion couture, this exhibition blew me away. The creation of the exquisite and the totality of McQueens creative vision was hugely inspiring. It was beautifully curated, sensory exhibition. What I take from the exhibition is to honour the urge to create and to nurture my creativity and creative voice.

So back in the studio this week, I'm working on vision boards and bringing together the threads of ideas so I can start some new work.

If you would like to share a day with me creating with symbols to represent the universal themes of growth and life, I'm running a 'Grow your own art' workshop on Saturday 27th June in Long Eaton near Nottingham. It will be about finding ways to move forward on your creative journey and you will create your own work of art that symbolises growth. I'm taking bookings now. 

Autumn Days

I love this time of year and this year, Autumn is excelling herself. The colours are rich and the days have been warm and enticing. Each day I have collected a leaf and worshipped their variety and sugar infused hues.  I am savouring each day, knowing that soon the rich colours will be gone.

Full colour

Doing something new can be very refreshing. This week the Photocraft online photography course that I am doing will come to an end. It has been such a life saver in helping me move forward in my business. It has opened my eyes to new possibilities and helped me see my own creativity with fresh eyes. Completely unexpectedly, it has made me paint my wall beetroot!

New ways of working and playing have reinvigorated me and I'm very proud that I'll be featured in the new Photocraft tutorial on creating inspiration boards. You can see a trailer here....

This week I'm learning about styling shoots so have been out collecting props. After a week of pinning style inspiration on Pinterest, I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I got to Homebase! I'm loving the Habitat ranges there. I think I might be a rainbow when I grow up!

Purchases

I recently purchased these books.  Both have inspired in me the creation of sketchbooks and journals that are real. Creativity as a part of the journey of life;  the visceral pleasure of the tactile;  the putting of paint on paper.  The journey from looking to seeing and translating the mark, a view, an idea, a colour palette.  I love my online journey but miss the time spent filling sketchbooks, not always knowing what for, some would be useful, some not.  Even now, I refer back to journals, scrapbooks and sketchbooks from art college and when I was a freelance designer.

In Orla Kiely's Pattern book, a book I had resisted getting because her language is so strong and directed, I loved reading about her own creative journey from her first experiments as a child and the progression of her career and business.  I loved the simple way she puts her visual inspirations together so I am now waiting for a parcel of notebooks from Muji, inspired to do the same.

David Hockney's, A Yorkshire Sketchbook created in April 2004 has inspired me to take my watercolours next time I'm in Yorkshire and pay homage to his beautiful county.  I love the tonal studies and his capturing of the great sweeps of the landscape.

I am also finding guidance and inspiration here to get me through the back end of winter and maintain my creative flow.

Mark Hearld

In my mind, Mark Hearld can do no wrong.  I love this film where he talks about his work.

Full House

Yippee!  My workshop on March 13th is now fully booked!  Ten people will be joining me to share my techniques and inspirations.  I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you.

If you'd like to know more about future workshops, send me an email and I'll add you to my mailing list.  Beans Gallery will be having me back in September.  Please register your interest with proprietor Karen.

Inspiration

Here's what's on my studio wall at the moment.  There are textile designs from the Omega workshop, paintings by Dora Holzhandler, applique by Primmy Chorley, and work by Peter Green and Henri Matisse. 

Peter Green print

Also tapestry from Edinburgh's Dovecot studios and lots of quilt designs.  I love the structures of simple quilts, Amish and African quilts.  The faded pallettes of time worn cloth....beautiful.

Amish quilt