Follow Your Dreams - Do What You Love!

 What are you dreaming of?

When I was growing up - even with the qualifications,  if you wanted to show your art work you needed a gallery to represent you, to publish a book you needed an agent/publisher, if you had a name you might get an advance.  Similarly if you wanted to be on TV or in the movies the agent would come into play and there was a very small window of opportunity if that - with certain roles going to the select few and you might be lucky to get a few walk on parts in a crowd scene.  'Its who you know not what you know'  were words I heard my father say a few times.  There were no guarantees, if it was thought that 'your face didn't fit' chances were slim to none.

But would you allow that to stop you?

Many have stopped short on their dreams, maybe having thought of what they want to do with the lists bouncing around their heads, having resigned themselves to not even getting close, maybe meeting a celebrity is the icing on the cake or reciting to who ever will listen how they 'nearly got to' 'always wanted to' came close to' pursuing their dream.  The graveyard is full of unfulfilled dreams and visions.

For every problem that exists there are thousands looking for the solution or alternative solution, the answer comes in many shapes and forms.  What if you held the keys to the very thing that others were looking for?  What if you didn't do it in the traditional sense but from a different point of view?  Becoming the publisher for the field that you want to enter!

The use of technology now a days means that you can be at one part of the world providing a solution for someone on the other side of the world while pursuing the dreams of your heart - what you have been dreaming about, wanted to pursue, someone else wants that product, solution, and it is sitting in your head, in your heart, and on your note pad.

So in the scenarios that I gave earlier and being of the artistic kind (the writer, actor and artist) -  the tables have turned on your ability as a creative to get your work in front of those who need and want to see it, sell your work, show in a gallery, publish that book and more.

It is time to create your own story - see the vision and make it plain...., it starts with a thought, you have to write it down and then look from every perspective to see how you can make that baby become a reality.

Don't over complicate it for instance agonizing where you are going to sell your book before you have written a sentence.  If you want to publish a book it first starts with you writing, forming a habit, and putting down on paper that which you want to achieve.  Why not join a challenge or two like 'the Ultimate Blog Challenge - posting every day for 30 days) and not only be committed to yourself but to sharing and being among others who are pursuing their dreams.  When you know what you want to do and the steps that you need to take, when those discouraging times come and you don't feel like showing up, you show up anyway.

All things are possible, do you believe?  It starts with believing that you can achieve your dreams and goals. If you are in the arts as mentioned, you can self publish, start a YouTube channel, or Podcast, have your own Website, and sell your art online all over the world in different formats.  You don't need to wait for permission, you just have to press publish or send!

So with that said, I believe in you!!, I know that you can do all that you set out to do, change your perspective, speak encouraging words to yourself and get around others who are encouraging, reaching for their own dreams. Like you I am working towards the dreams and goals that I have - I am not an expert, just someone who thought you needed to hear these words of encouragement today.

Now, go be the amazing soul I know you can be - I believe in you!

Stay blessed and be a blessing!  

100 Days of Handmade Foam Stamps

If you would like to see the stamps daily you can check out my Instagram HERE

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I am also taking part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and you can check out the posts HERE

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Mixed Media Art Courses to Check out

SALE - Enjoy $10 OFF all courses until 30th April Click on the image to see the course.

Use the Code at the checkout - create2

Creating in Faith - The Faith to Create - Spirited - Episode 180

Welcome to Episode 180 of the Podcast, the Episode today is titled Spirited





The video for this month with the Art Journal will be ready this week and if you want to play along in an Art Journal that you either are making from scratch, finishing off or from a shop brought one.  There is no pressure, just want to get you to take the time for yourself to be creative.

You can also think about how the words for this month speak to you and how they impact on the goals you are setting for yourself.

Creating In Faith Encouraging Recordings are to bless and inspire you to be the best of yourself. It can be really great to pull out your art journal/Journal and express what comes up for you either with images and colour, with words or with both. 

If you would like to see some behind the scenes, images and additional tips HERE

You will find the 2 art journal videos available to consume at your leisure - the Making of the art journal for the month and an art journal page process - Check these out HERE

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YouTube www.youtube.com/amandatrought

Blog - http://realityarts-creativity.blogspot.com

Patreon Blog - http://www.patreon.com/realityarts

Twitter - www.twitter.com/Realityarts

Instagram www.instagram.com/realityarts/

Facebook www.facebook.com/realityartss/

Check out some encouraging boards on Pinterest

Artwork available from the title image HERE

I also have an Arts and Health NHS Network for information on activities and organisations working in the field. 

Art and Creativity in Healthcare

You are welcome to join, it is a FREE resource and if you have any activities or want to talk about your work you are welcome to send me the information and I will see that it gets uploaded. You can create your own profile on the network and connect with others who are passionate about the arts in health too.

Creative Encourager

Creative Encourager - If you want to talk about creativity and the direction you are going and need a listening ear, sign up for a FREE 30 minute call http://bit.ly/Encoura


Join me on Patreon

Course Review and Insights - Life Book and Soul Food

Life Book and Soul Food are in progress and as I said a few days ago HERE the focus for Tuesdays on the blog for 3 weeks out of the 4 will change slightly as I share insights and Ahha moments from the courses that I am doing, while sharing some of the work. In an ideal world I would just be doing my work on the courses, but the reality for most of us is that life still goes on in the meantime. There is no pause button, so being realistic you can’t get everything done at once, it just isn't possible and choices have to be made.

In both courses we have already had quite a few videos to watch and techniques to try out, while we battle with the ‘Critic’, and mine tells me ‘I don’t have the time’ and that it isn’t necessary to grow or stretch myself, and by no means climb out of my comfort zone. My critic is the one who wants me compare myself to other artists as I sit up watching anything on sky tv – flicking through the channels until at least 1am rather than be in my studio space being creative, perhaps what the critic needs is a holiday with a roller coaster ride of adventure to shake it up a bit!

Within all the chatter and the noise the still small voice says ‘don’t be afraid, everything will be alright, you can do all things, I will give you the strength, step out in faith, your steps will be ordered and when you can’t stand, I will carry you, standing in the gap for you!’  

What I‘ve been doing so far on the courses is thinking about what I am learning from each contributor, what is it that is an encouragement to my own work and the processes that I use. There isn’t always going to be something, but even doing something different from the way you would normally do it will help you come back refreshed. 

A couple of things that I am trying to do is be freer with the techniques and playing with the materials, thinking about colour and how I use it in my work and whether I can be bolder experimenting more with the materials that I have. 

In Life Book Tam did some useful exercises around the colour wheel and i thought about the different ways I use it and how I can experiment with colour more within my work.

My Encourager

Be strong in heart because miracles can happen 

This image came out for me as that gentle reminder that I just need to be who I have been called to be through my work.

In Soul Food, Mystele shared with us how she uses her gelli plate, I don’t have one but have been improvising with a Perspex plate using the tools I have and I created a few backgrounds which led to this image;

Fly

The perspex is hard and it dries quite quickly, so I’ll continue to experiment and see what I come up with over the weeks.

Yesterday I spent time watching Gwen Seemels contribution

working with coloured markers and pens and working in layers. I’ve been using Promarkers pens and more recently Spectrum Noir and revisited a page I did 

Love yourself..

And thought that I would spend more time working with the pens as I quite enjoyed it. I had stopped using the Promarkers because I felt that I’d hit a wall, but again just needed to push.

I intend to do more pen based images. What also resonated with some of the things she said was about layers and self portraits. Over the course of around 20 years I have only done 2.  I guess with all the faces I have done over the years there is a little bit of me or my personality in each.

Doing self portraits really gets us to look at ourselves and we need to do this from time to time. We can be too hard on ourselves, and walk with the perception of what we think others are seeing and then depending on your frame of mind see yourself how you think others are seeing you or how you think they think you should be seeing yourself! ((Really).... – did that make sense to you?).

I only want to see myself the way God sees me...

My Heart Overflows

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings an crowned him with glory and honour...Psalm 8:3-5

I want to see the gifts and talents I have been blessed with used to bless others. My word for the year which I’ll remind myself of again is ‘attention to detail’ – what exactly can you hear, see, smell, feel, taste – and being present, all of me in every situation. I want to see the seeds that I planted and tended last year bear fruit this year. I am looking for growth, change, sometimes it will be uncomfortable and awkward, sometimes I’ll share, sometimes not, but we are going to see new opportunities, doors opening, new techniques learnt and we will be speaking of miracles. I don’t want to be the same or do the same things that I did last year and I plant to work hard to see those things come to pass.

Planted by the River

Let me encourage you as you face your own journey, to really see yourself, who you really are, the whole you, not a fragmented image. It is not an overnight transformation but a slow and steady pace, a get you up early and stay focused pace that calls on you to be here in the moment right now!

If you are talking either Soul Food or Life Book or any other course that is great, it would be lovely to hear how you have found the course so far, share your insights. If you hadn’t taken the step yet, it is still early days and you don’t need to worry about catching up. Whatever you do today do it with meaning, passion and intent. I am looking forward to sharing other insights with you along the way. Blessings!

Leaping into the Unknown?

 

It is always a great idea to take a stock of where you are, where you are going and where you want to be.  This is key especially if you have set some goals, and dreams that you want to see fulfilled.  We are coming to the end of February and if you take your eye of the ball you'll turn round and see that Christmas is not far off and you won't know what you have accomplished.

I am not about to give you any tips or hints about the 'Top Ten Things' that you should be doing to maximise your time, or the 'Amazing Systems' you need to have in place.  All these are useful tools that you need to put in place in order to see any change.  You do need to be expanding your mind, reading and learning from those that have gone before.  But I think that you already know all this.  My guess is that you've been holding yourself back for one reason or another, or haven't quite come to terms with the fact that you really are able to make changes to your life and you've just been waiting for permission to take that step for whatever reason!  Sometimes you find making those changes harder than you thought, you come across rocky ground and suddenly those old way of doing things really does look appealing.

Taking the leap
As I sat thinking about the things I needed to do, I realised all those plans that I had got excited about at the begining of the year, things I wanted to learn, experiences to put in place, I realised they seem to get lost in 'stuff'.  I had taken my eye of the ball and drifted down a different road, and I could walk away from my dream and continue down this road or do a U turn and get back on track committing myself to something that will bring me closer to my goals.  Generally speaking I feel that I have quite a good sense of direction and can work out where it is I need to be, but every now and then you find yourself drifting, and loosing sight of things, but you have to learn to pull yourself back into check.  

This year one of the things I wanted to learn was how to work the video camera so that I could start showing some of the processes I use in my art.  I had all the excuses ringing in my ears as to why I shouldn't and  What I decided to do was just to go for it anyway.  Once I worked out where I needed to have the camera placed, and what angle looked better the only thing to do was to press record.  I didn't have to worry about anyone else seeing it, it didn't have to be perfect in anyway, all I needed to focus on was what I was learning and the new doors that open when we acquire new skills.

What has to change is our approach,  know what you want to do, acknowledged the fear of not maybe knowing exactly how things are going to turn out, but go for it anyway.  I took the leap and didn't worry whether the videos came out the way I thought they should come out, but just wanted to have fun and knew that I could learn the necessary skills.

We often stop ourselves from doing something because it doesn't turn out the way we feel that it should, despite it being our first time, feeling that we should immediately be the experts.  We begin to compare ourselves with others and wonder why our efforts don't look like theirs,  forgetting that the more you practice the better you get, and the more skill you ultimately acquire until it's the way that you envision.

With that being said, with no one stopping you but yourself don't let another day pass by without doing something that will get you closer to your dream.  

What is it that one thing you should just take that leap and do?

Blessings for the weekend!

Review of Delivering Happiness - a path to profits, passion, and purpose

Once I opened up the book to read, it joined the ranks of books that I didn't want to put down until I finished, that said it's one of those book that you can keep on dipping into, trying out the ideas and making changes to your life.  Delivering Happiness is not only for employers wanting to make a change in the work environment and to their customers, but it is for anyone who would like to make changes to their mindset and ultimately their lives.  It is written in a clear and humourous style.  Tony Hsieh reflects on his life, his mistakes and his successes in an open and honest way.

Overall, I thought the book gave great insite in to his journey, written so that it is easily accessible - telling his story and encouraging the reader to change at the same time by getting you to ask yourself some key questions.  It was also great to hear the views of his employees and the act of being open and transparent as an organisation, whilst sharing the vision behind the company organisational structure.  I definitely encourage everyone to read it, and take a look at their website -  http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com   

When you walk with purpose you collide with destiny........ Bertice Berry

New Year - resolution fantasy or reality?

Firstly, Happy New Year

If you could imagine the ideal life/work, lifestyle what would it be? What type of relationships would you have in your life? Where would you travel? What would your job be? I asked myself that question and made a list of things . When I looked back on all of the things on the list I realised that each one on the list were all achievable now and I wouldn't have to wait till that ideal time, place or the right people to start. What it required me to do was think out of the box, and look at them in different settings, parts of the world, break them down to achievable chunks, put a time frame, make myself accountable - telling a friend etc.

My list looked like this:

• My job/working environment - Being self employed, working all over the world in exotic places,
• Having a studio and gallery representation
• My health - eating the right food and loosing weight
• Improving relationships with friends and family
• Travelling - holiday more than twice a year
• Home environment 6 bed room house with a studio to do my art, large garden, and a granny flat for my elderly mother - maybe in the uk or abroad - Why limit yourself to the UK if you went further afield you might get more floor space for your money.

 

With the new year here and everyone making resolutions, some even breaking them already, what can be done differently to get the result you want? If loosing weight is on your list what have you done so far ? Rather than wait for the end of the week , go for a half hour walk today, join the gym this week rather than next week.

Look at each goal and think what small steps you can do to make it a reality. Think of ways to keep a check on yourself and keep yourself motivated by giving yourself rewards along the way. On a monthly basis do this exercise to see how your getting on.

What could you do to make more time to pursue what made the most of your talents and abilities while earning a living. The thing to remember is to remain flexible. How many ways can you achieve your goals? Will changing the environment or people make a difference? Set yourself a time frame and as you start achieving certain goals make new ones that you can follow.