Are you UP for a Challenge a Course or BOTH!

Alright the One BADASS Art Journal course started last week, how did you get on.  if you haven't yet signed up there is still time to jump in to have some fun.  We are only on week two and there is plenty of time for you to get on with the amazing lessons by the great lineup of teachers, and we have had a couple of great lessons so far.

SIGN UP HERE

10 Prompts 10 days, 10 Minutes

This was a great way to kick start your creativity and to show you that it only takes 10 minutes, you deserve that.

We got to the end of the 10 days, time always seems to pass so quickly. I will be posting about the images separately, but how did you get on?  I will also be putting together a PDF booklet so that you can have, and if you are subscribed to my mailing list you will be able to get access to a range of other creative goodies as well.

#1min1take Video Challenge

I am currently taking part in the video challenge which runs for 5 days, so you will be blessed with a range of videos that I will be sharing about the creative process, asking those questions that helps you get unstuck, you can play along in your art journal and write out the answers and create some images that mean something to you.  I will be announcing some giveaways, showing you some quick and easy art techniques that you can try.

Introduction to the #1min1take video challenge

Act of Kindness and Art Giveaway!

I will share with you how this painting came about.  Watch and comment on the videos on my YouTube Channel to see what other giveaways I will be announcing.

Be great if you join in, let me know what you are inspired to do, take the time out for you and make this year your best creative year yet!

Remember to stay blessed and be a blessing!

Do you want to get your Creative Juices flowing? ....#101010

Hey there, we are counting down the days for the start of the online Course – One BADASS Art Journal.   It officially starts on 6th February 2017. There are some great teachers, 19 Lessons with lots of juicy videos, inspiration and lot and lots of FUN!!

Sign Up HERE

With only a few days left before we start the course I wanted to give you a great opportunity before the class starts - totally FREE - 10 prompts, in 10 days for 10 minutes #101010:

Take part over the next few days with 10 mini exercises to kick start your creativity - every day for 10 days I will be giving you a creative tip/prompt/idea.  I want you to spend a minimum of 10 minutes, longer if you can to do the exercises and let me know how you feel after the 10 days.  

While you prepare yourself for the BADASS Journal course, or if you are still in-between stages of making up your mind I wanted to bless you over the next few days.  These 10 prompts  to kick start your creativity come from my bigger publication of 65 Ways to kick start your Creativity, and you get 10 different ways for free!

The great thing about these ideas is that anyone can do them, you don’t need to be an artist, so if you are looking for ways to unwind or give yourself that much needed time then these are things ideas that you should try.

For each activity you can try it using different mediums or surfaces, colours - do not limit yourself.  I want to give you ways in which you can experiment if you want to.  You can adapt it anyway you like to suit, and there are no right or wrong ways to create, so do not put any boundaries on yourself. The most important thing is to have fun. 

I am really looking forward to have you join us on the One BADASS Journal and I have a lovely lesson to share with you, and some of the creative tips you can take part in over the next 10 days will help loosen you up a bit, and whether or not you take the course they will be useful to you as you embark on your creative journey.

When you take the opportunity to purchase your class through my link you will get two great bonuses sent to you and they include:

25 Way to fit Art and Creativity into your life and is filled with some great ways to find the time to be more creative.  

Canvas Embellishment art class with over 2 hours of training and together they are both worth over $30.  If you have taken this class before don’t worry there are additional hints and tips that I have added, a great workbook, with lots of process photos for you to see as you create your work of art.  In the class you will see the way I approach painting on a canvas and embellishing, and you are totally welcome to do the painting as I have done, or you can use the tips and create something of your own.  You will walk away from the class with a selection of useful tools that you can go on and use in other paintings.

While you make up your mind for the BADASS Art Journal course you can play around with these tips. 

Join me HERE tomorrow - totally FREE - 10 prompts, in 10 days for 10 minutes #101010 You will get the first tip tomorrow, if you don’t want to miss a day and get them straight to your inbox, then you can sign up to my Mailing list for the 10 prompts, in 10 days for 10 minutes #101010.  

I will also be giving you some inspiration via Instagram so check me out there as well, and if you are sharing what you do over the next 10 days on Instagram add the hashtags #101010 and #realityarts

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

31 Creative Things to do with Recycled Materials - Birds - Day 6

Welcome to My Day 6 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  I am running slightly behind and hope to catch up with all the things I want to share with you.  I was inspired to make the ducks after watching Heather Santos on a course called Soul Food run by Mystele  There are always nuggets to take away in Mysteles courses for you to add your own spin on it.  Check them and their videos out they are both inspiring.

What is quite funny about watching ducks in the water is that they usually look so calm and collected on the surface, moving from one place to the other in the water, what we don't see is the action beneath the water.  Their feet are moving very quickly in a flurry to get them from one place to the next, yet here they are making it look easy.

Amanda Trought - Mixed Media Art - Sculptured Bird

After making the first duck I just went on to make a few more, and now love how you can transform recycled material.  The base for the ducks is foil which really compacts well, so if you are looking for a use for any foil you may have laying around here is a great example.  Obviously if you have used it to cover food or cooking you will need to wash it first.

Amanda Trought - Mixed Media Art Bird

Amanda Trought - Mixed Media Art Bird

The other thing I use is recycled paper, made into clay, and I found a great recipe online.  I altered it slightly to suit but it is archival, long lasting and another fun way of recycling.  The last additions were the embellishments to make them unique. I will be posting my recipe and a video of how I make the paper clay for you to give it a go.

Ok, so you met these three birds you'll have to be introduced to the rest of the family...(smile) at some point I want to share some of the tropically based sculptures that are beginning to show up, but that is for another time!  

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

In the meantime you can:

Sign up for a course I will be teaching on

Sign Up HERE

My Course Bonuses you get for free when you sign up HERE

Free Booklet - 25 Ways to fit Art and Creativity into your life!

Art Workshop, Over 2 hours of instruction - sigh up using the link above and get this free

And the Awards goes to.......NIFCA Visual Fine Art Exhibition

I won three awards in the NIFCA Compitition

I recently took part in the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts - Fine Art and Craft, here in Barbados and I submitted 4 sculptures.  The exhibition yielded some amazing art work by very talented artists and I was blessed to be selected to have my work on display among them.

There were different categories, non professional and profession, and a variety of additional awards in each category.

I submitted my sculptures in the professional category and was blessed to have had 3 awards - 2 bronze and 1 silver award.  It is great to have had this and I was very pleased.  It is a great encouragement, especially to think about from start to finish of the process, getting the form to complete, selecting the work (finishing the work!) - I nearly didn't enter.  Thinking about what I wanted to be included had me changing my minds a few times.  I encourage you if you are thinking to take a step out and share your work that you do so.

Here are the four sculptures that were exhibited

The Gift - Bronze Award

The Gift has been inspired by trying to understand the gifts that lay within each of us.  We all have some treasure locked away, hidden from the world, and we need to locate it, dust it off and let our lights shine. I love working in layers and for the art to express something to different people.

The Gift - Sculpture, Amanda Trought

The Gift - Sculpture, Amanda Trought

Angels walk among us - Silver Award

This sculpture is a reminder that there are angels all around us disguised.  The kindness shown by a stranger, someone going out of their way to accommodate another, to the generosity shown by others when you least expect it.  The blessings don't always come packaged as you would hope.

Angels Walk among us - Sculpture, Amanda Trought

Angel Walks among us - Sculpture, Amanda Trought

The Dancer - Bronze Award

The Dancer was inspired by a sculpture  - The Little Fourteen year old Dancer by Edgar Degas, and I was compelled to create one.  My dancer tells of hardships, over coming and breaking free.  Don't we all have something we are trying to let go of?

The Dancer - Sculpture, Amanda Trought

The Dancer - Sculpture, Amanda Trought

The Stilt Walkers Treasure

Inspired by the Carnival stilt walkers it tells of the unusual situations and circumstances we can find ourselves in and how we need to hold on to what we hold dear.  Others may see us in a different light, but it is not how others see us but the treasures that lay within.  This is one of the biggest sculpture I have done so far and is currently being exhibited at The Crane Gallery, Barbados

The Stilt walkers Treasure

Treasures and gifts seem to come out in my work quite a bit, and I guess essentially what I would hope is that when someone sees my work it creates and emotional response in one form or the other and touches their creative spirits.  All pieces are for sale - looking for a good home, and I will be uploading them to my website.

There are some other exhibitions that I visited  this month that deserve a post all to themselves so keep an eye out this week for the posts.

Stay blessed and be a blessing. 

Click HERE to find out more and register

 If you haven't signed up for the One BADASS course, you will be in for a treat if you use my code.  I am giving away a free guide and class to create a mixed media art canvas.  Check out my post HERE to see what they are.

Everyone's a Winner - One BADASS Art Journal - Giveaway winner announced!

Today is the day that I announce the winner for my giveaway on the BADASS Art Journal Course.  We are really looking forward to teaching on this course and you have a fantastic lineup.  Thank you so much to all those who took the time to leave a comment and enter the giveaway, it was great to connect with you.  

We have a winner for the free place on the course, and it goes to Dash Cam (Carolyn) and the information will be winging its way to you.  Well done!

Everyone indeed is a winner, as we still have a great early bird registration (URBADASS) code, which gives you 15% discount off the cost of the course and on top of that I am giving away a couple of bonuses .

When you sign up HERE you will get the following bonuses, for you to keep and work through forever!

Bonus 1

25 Ways to fit Art and Creativity into your Life

Hints and tips to get more creative time into your day

Bonus 2

Art Workshop Canvas Tutorial

Filled with mixed media, layers, embellishments and more - over two hours of instruction!

This is a really great way to start 2017 on the right foot, you will be stretched, blessed, inspired, taken out of your comfort zone, motivated and supported, having fun in the process!

I do hope you can join us

Playing Card Art - Spending Time in the Garden, & Giveaway Update

I love spending time in my garden, I find it a place that offers a time to relax even when you are weeding or pruning some of the plants.  One of my morning routines is to go out before anyone has stirred on my walk and then walk round the garden to see what changes have taken place

As well as spending time in the garden, I have been finding a lot of my work has that element of nature within it, whether it is a tree, the sea, something that for me I find very nurturing.

Playing Card Art - Amanda Trought

This painting is a mini, done on a playing card measuring about 3.5 x 4 and it came in handy when I didn't have much time but wanted to do something in the studio.  There is always time to do something creative, you just have to think about what you want to get done and break it down into chunks.

I kept it very simple, with a limited pallet, this is also a great way for you to clear your mind of the clutter and the need to use loads of supplies, and what often happens is you spend time looking at the supplies rather than working.

I hope you give it a try, I will be sharing some hints and tips to help you stay creative over the next few weeks, and I also have a few challenges coming up in the new year that I would love you to join me in.

Don't forget the giveaway for a place in the One BADASS Art Journal Course finishes on Tuesday 20th December 12pm (EC) and I will be drawing the winner on Wednesday 21st December.  Check out the Blog Hop post to see what you need to do and fingers crossed, it could be you!

Spending time in the Garden - Mixed Media Art

Stay blessed and be a blessing, sign up for my Mailing list to receive downloadable goodies to help you on your creative adventure!

Today is my Blog Hop Day - BADASS Art Journal 2017

BADASS Art Journal 2017

You made it!, thanks for showing up, and if you tuned in each day I hope that you were blessed by the prompts I shared with you.   If you would like to check them out you can do so HERE

This is my second year as a teacher on the BADASS Art Journal course and I am super excited to be working with this talented group of artists.  Grow with us as you take this course.  I believe that there is always room for growth, and there is never a cut off point, it is a lifelong thing.  As you grow in experience you learn new things, use different techniques and change your perspectives.

I love working with colour and texture, and allowing the stories come out from the page.

Texture allows you to create some interesting effects

In my lesson I will be sharing with you techniques that allow you to play and use surfaces that you wouldn't normally use in your art journal in very different ways!

As you can also see I love creating faces, the characters each telling their own story....

Now that you have seen some of my work I am excited for you to finally see the two goodies I will be giving away when you sign up using my link here on my blog, which include:

25 Ways to fit Art and Creativity into your life.  
A guide, filled to the brim of wonderful ways in which you can get more time out of your day!  It also filled with encouraging and inspiring quotes and images!

Mixed Media Art Class -Tutorial Video .  

Your very own Art Class - Step by step instructions to Make a beautiful embellished canvas, hints and tips on supplies and resources, over 2 hours of instructions and a beautiful PDF instruction booklet for you to download!

If you want to just go ahead and purchase the course  you will get the two goodies above, you can also get an early bird discount by putting in URBADASS at the checkout to receive the 15% discount .

If you sign up for the Mailing list as well you will also be sent extra goodies to help you on your creative journey.

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GIVEAWAY - 1 FREE SPOT AVAILABLE

 I am running a giveaway for one free spot on the course, so follow the instructions below to see how you could be in for a chance to win.  For each action you get a chance to win. 

1. Comment on this post and tell me why you would like to win.
2. Instagram - like my page and comment on the blog hop post
3. Facebook - like my facebook page and comment on the blog hop post
4. Sign up to my Mailing list and get an additional 2 chances to win

As I have been saying over the week, don't worry if you have never taken an online course before, you will get lots of support and encouragement, it isn't about competing with others or being able to draw or paint, it is about sharing.  You will see a great amount of love and encouragement that will be flowing through the community, there really is nothing to worry about but so much to gain.

To purchase the course and get your early bird 15% discount put in URBADASS at the checkout 

Buy Now

Remember to sign up to my Mailing list, you will be getting information about what I am up to in my creative journey, tutorials, Arts and health advice and resources, giveaways and more and also be in with an extra two chances to win a free spot on the course.

Pen and Ink - Amanda Trought

So what you waiting for - lets get busy!  Looking forward to connecting with you!

Ok there are 3 more teachers to go in this Blog Hop. Remember to check out the list of other teachers and join them on their blogs, and have a chance for winning a free spot on the class.

Dec 16 – Keri Sallee – thecreativelifear.blogspot.com
Dec 17 – Robin Mead – www.robinmeaddesigns.com
Dec 18 – Tiare Smith – www.tiaresmith.com

How Long will it Take - Daily Prompts & Blog Hop Countdown BADASS Art Journal 2017

How Long will it take?

How Long will it take... having a plan requires a deadline.  Set a timescale for achieving your goal, be realistic with the time you have and what steps need to be put in place.  Today is the final day of my prompts and encouragements.  I hope that you have found them useful, inspiring and encouraging.

Every day this week I have been giving you encouraging prompts and images that I hope you have been able to utilise for your growth. Today is my blog hop day, come back and join me in my official post, get your chance to win a spot on the course by doing a few simple steps.

I have some cool bonuses for you as part of my sign up.  I have really enjoyed sharing with you and look forward to have you join me in the class.

BADASS Art Journal 2017

Today is my day, I will fill you in with the post coming up later and sharing with you all the goodies I will be giving away when you sign up using my link here on my blog, I will even be doing a giveaway for one free spot on the course, so do come back and see if you could be the lucky one. 

Don't worry if you have never taken an online course before, you will get lots of support and be around other encouraging creatives.  It is always great to see the amount of love and encouragement that flows through the community, you have nothing to worry about and so much to gain.

If you want to just go ahead and purchase the course you can also get an early bird discount by putting in URBADASS at the checkout to receive the 15% discount .

While your at it, sign up to my Mailing list, you will be getting information about what I am up to in my creative journey, tutorials, giveaways and more and also be in with an extra chance to win a free spot on the course (thought I'd give you a heads up!)

Remember to check out the list of other teachers and join them on their blogs, and have a chance for winning a free spot on the class.

Dec 16 - Keri Sallee

Dec 17 - Robin Mead

Dec 18 - Tiare Smith

Daily Prompts and Encouragement - Round-up

Daily Prompts and Encouragement

list of Suggestions

I have created a selection of prompts and encouragements as part of my introduction to the BADASS Art Journal 2017 course that can help to lift your spirits and give you that boost that you need in your creative journey.  

Actually you don't even need to be on a creative journey, but you have identified things in your life that you would like to change... well, see the links below and they will lead you to the posts

I would love you to come and take the class. I will also be sharing some goodness along the way so make sure that you check back daily!

Start today - for change to become permanent....

No overnight formular for success....

How many times have you told yourself you can't

.

Ideal lives - what do your goals and dreams look like

Don't reinvent the wheel - look what others have done

What are your dreams and desires - break it down

Golden nuggets of inspiration - carry a note book

Give yourself a boost - think about your successes

How Long will it take - set some deadlines - are you being realistic with your time?

There will be more inspiration coming your way so do sign up to the mailing list, and check out my YouTube channel while you are around

Give yourself a Boost! - Daily Prompts & Blog Hop Countdown BADASS Art Journal 2017

Give yourself a Boost

Write down all your successes and achievements.  This is one of the simplest was of giving yourself a much needed boost, especially when the going gets tough.  You can see just how far you have come, and every now and then look back over your list and every now and then congratulate yourself.

You have made it, I hope you have enjoyed the encouragements so far.  Tomorrow is my blog hop day, hope you will make it back.

I have been sharing each day leading up to my Blog hop session to remind you just how precious you are, how many were you able to put into practice and what growth have you seen so far?  

BADASS Art Journal 2017

My day for the blog hop is TOMORROW! and I will be sharing with you all the goodies I will be giving away when you sign up using my link here on my blog, I will even be doing a giveaway for one free spot on the course, so do come back and see if you could be the lucky one. 

Don't worry if you have never taken an online course before, you will get lots of support and be around other encouraging creatives.  It is always great to see the amount of love and encouragement that flows through the community, you have nothing to worry about and so much to gain.

If you want to just go ahead and purchase the course you can also get an early bird discount by putting in URBADASS at the checkout to receive the 15% discount .

While your at it, sign up to my Mailing list, you will be getting information about what I am up to in my creative journey, tutorials, giveaways and more and also be in with an extra chance to win a free spot on the course (thought I'd give you a heads up!)

Remember to check out the list of other teachers and join them on their blogs, and have a chance for winning a free spot on the class.

Dec 15 - Amanda Trought  - this is me!

Dec 16 - Keri Sallee

Dec 17 - Robin Mead

Dec 18 - Tiare Smith