Tools of my trade

I'm getting ready for a series of collage workshops. The tools of my trade are varied! I use marks to create different papers to collage with and use a variety of inks and paints. I make my own mark making tools as well as having a good collection of found objects. I use different printmaking techniques and make my own printing blocks. On the workshops I share these techniques and show how to use the different papers to tell a story, the story of your creative soul.

Melbourne Festival 2015

The annual event that is the Melbourne Festival is a sight to behold! The village of Melbourne, Derbyshire is kidnapped by artists and makers who fill every available space. Home owners are held to ransom and give up their conservatories, and dining rooms as exhibition space. Shop windows and shops are filled with art and gardens are turned into sculpture venues. By magic the sun is made to shine and for forty eight hours visitors come from far and wide to buy beautiful jewellery, ceramics and art.  

The flow of life is ever onward

So it is October (already!) and we are betwixt and between seasons. It has been a fine September of misty mornings and sunny afternoons and I've been absorbing the sun's rays as much as possible. I suffer from seasonal adjustment disorder and so it is a bitter sweet time of year. I love the sense of change of autumn. I love the sense of letting go. I love the rhythm of the days that equal the nights and the sense of sunrise and sunset that keeps a gentle beat to life. But in there I feel the retraction of the sun, the shift to cloudier days, nights drawing in. And so I try to find solace in capturing the memories of late summer, of capturing the sun in my work as a talisman to use on darker days to ward off the dragging greyness that winter can bring. I use the sun in my work to keep a light burning in my soul.

Radiant Light -visit my shop at www.helenhallows.com

And it is that sense of capturing the sun, the autumn trees, the intense palette of reds, yellows and ochres that will inspire my next workshops, 'Shine Like the Sun' on Saturday October 10th in Long Eaton and 'Grow Your Own Art' on Saturday 17th October at Focus Gallery in Nottingham. Using multi media techniques with paint, inks and collage, students will create a collaged block, inspired by the season.

Garden Shine

Summer is still shining her light here and I am soaking it up and storing it! I'm juggling family days with studio days. Colour is every where and it is soaking into my soul. I love this time of year, the days feel full and nature is bountiful. We've started to crop our produce at the allotment and are enjoying courgettes, blackberries, plums and beans. 

In the garden I see the sun in everything, the apples are swelling, the sunflowers reaching for the sky. This rudbeckia is my latest addition to the garden along with some dahlias that are going to sing their song as summer fades.

The sun is infusing my work too. It's life giving force has been a powerful symbol in art through all time. Ever since childhood I've enjoyed drawing that circle of radiating light. I'm going to use these images in the darker days of Autumn and Winter to remind myself of that warm energy. If you'd like to create a sun collage, an amulet of summer energy, why not join me for my creative collage workshop on Saturday October 10th in Long Eaton? 

'Shine like the Sun' is available to book here. If you can't come to an in-person workshop you can find out more about my connection to nature and the seasons and how you can use them to develop your creativity by listening to my spoken word creative visualisation CD 'I am Nature'. Available in my online shop for £10.

'I am Nature' - Creative Visualisations CD Launch

In the last year I have lost and found myself creatively. Established ways of working no longer seemed to thrill me and I felt disconnected from my art and creative space. I felt like I was ticking the boxes but sleep walking through life.

It has been a period of great vulnerability for someone who has always trusted their creative flow. I had never had the feeling of fear before when I sat with a piece of paper or a new sketchbook. I had lost the feeling of my creative destiny. And it hurt. Feeling blocked disconnected me from my inner self.

Last winter I started to write again. I loved to write when I was younger but the business of my days meant I had stopped  Through journalling I was able to express my feelings and reflect. I was able to respond to why I create. I was able to listen to my heart. I unearthed a deep connection to nature as the source of my creativity. I recognised this in myself and my work but I had forgotten to honour it. I had forgotten to honour myself.

Through going in to nature I was able to heal my creative soul. I walked with my head up and saw the birds swoop. I sat in the garden with a blanket and absorbed the rays of the sun. The day of the eclipse of the sun was an epiphany; I treasured my life, my purpose and my place in nature.

I have taken sections of my writings and recorded them as a spoken word CD, 'I am Nature' - Creative visualisations for working with nature as inspiration.' The words are an expression of where my creativity comes from and how I use the seasons to create a rhythm for my life. In publishing this, I hope to share my love of nature and awaken others' creativity. It has been an exciting process to take my heart felt feelings and work with a team in bringing my words to life and into a format I can share.

Each section is a narrative of the season and is followed by silent time for creative visualisation. There are short tasks to centre you in nature and nurture your creative process. 

"I find myself in nature. It is my guide. I create with nature and my work celebrates my connection with the source.

My work is an expression of all that I feel when I connect with the earth. It captures a moment when all my senses are engaged in a creative epiphany. My expression of this is through mixed media art. However we express ourselves, art, music, poetry, we need to be open to receiving inspiration. We need to create a space, physically and spiritually to create from. There is a sacred space where our inner and outer worlds merge." HH2015

To buy 'I am Nature' at the early bird price of £10 (includes UK p&p) click here. And for international delivery here.

I would like to thank Fiona Pattison at Happy Press for believing in me and in this project. Also Craig Shaw at Happy Photography for his amazing photographs. And Piper Dawes at Calder Recordings for her patience in bringing my words to life.

Creative Nourishment - July

Hello from my studio! It is summer and I feel alive! I love the energy and the colour of the season. If you haven't already read the interview with me for UK Handmade, you can read it here. I mention that I'm planning an Indian inspired summer. With that in mind I had a trip to Leicester's Golden Mile. It wasn't quite the day I had planned - it was definitely monsoon season! We sheltered in Bobby's and had a great thali. The supermarkets were eclectic and colourful and I came home with incense and spices. It was a burst of Indian colour, scents and tastes that my heart needed.

The eclectic colour of the day  saturated my mind and inspired this photo shoot for my decorative chair workshop that I am running in November.

Alive

I get so much joy from visiting gardens. The colours, textures and shapes are amazing. I love to look at the patchwork of it all. Here, it had just rained and the plants were so vivid. I am always amazed by  the variety; each flower lifting its head to the sun; reaching up for the rain. Alive.