Tuesday, 10 January 2017

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.

31 Creative things to do with Recycled Materials
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.

31 Creative things to do with Recycled Materials
Amanda Trought - Mixed Media Art Bird

31 Creative things to do with Recycled Materials
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

Friday, 6 January 2017

Pantone Color of the Year 2017 - Greenery - Around the studio

I have been inspired in my studio by the Pantone Color of the Year for 2017 which is Greenery.



What is the PANTONE Color of the Year?
"A symbolic color selection; a color snapshot of what we see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude."
Who is the Pantone Color Institute
"The Pantone Color Institute is a color research and information center that shares its color expertise with professionals in a variety of industries including fashion, commercial/industrial, contract and interior design, graphic arts, advertising, film and education.
Pantone studies how color influences human thought processes, emotions and physical reactions, furthering its commitment to providing professionals with a greater understanding of color and to help them utilize color more effectively. Leatrice Eiseman, America's leading color expert, is the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute."

I am really interested in the way that color can impact on our health and well being.  I ran Art and Creativity workshops for a 4 year period with the elderly living with dementia, and encouraged my mother now 93 years old who has lived with dementia for the past 18 years and whom I was caring for to take part in creative activities. I saw the value of using color in an art activity, and the impact it made whether you were a participant or a viewer.  Check out my Arts In Health site and the resources of other organisations working in the field.

Creativity really touches parts of the brain that we just cannot truly understand and I found after the Arts and Creative activity the participants in my group became more focused during the rest of the day and they engaged with other activities, were more relaxed and they would talk about the activity that they took part in with others.  

Mum at the Art Session I ran at the day care centre

The work was displayed around the center and they were very proud of their efforts.

Mum liked patterns and lots of color - especially red

I was able to talk about my work in the Barbados magazine Better Health and shared my passion for the Arts and Health and the connection to our well-being.


Since hearing about Greenery as the Color of the Year, I thought I would see how much in our everyday the colors are being used.  It is amazing how once a particular color is highlighted you begin to notice it more.  I went round my studio to see examples of 'Greenery' and there was more than I thought. 

Greenery - Pantone Color of the Year 2017
Can you identify any of the items?

After I began focusing on on the color I saw it everywhere, and obviously looking out the window it is all around.  


Greenery - Pantone Color of the Year 2017
Some of the items are more obvious than others....

A lot of my supplies and tools have elements or shades of the color...

Greenery - Pantone Color of the Year 2017
Some you may have seen....

I also use the color quite a bit in my paintings, and over the coming week will be sharing more about my creative process and where the color has featured in my work.

Greenery - Pantone Color of the Year 2017
Some you may even own!

I will also be sharing more over the next week or so a trip I made to St Nicholas Abbey which is set in very lush surroundings and I took lots of photographs where the color greenery is evident and how it is used in the setting, from around the home to out in nature. 

St Nicholas Abbey - set in 350 acres!

I will also be sharing a video on my YouTube Channel - Realityart of 3 pieces of art work where the color and shades have featured quite a bit.  I hope you can join me, and perhaps it will encourage your creative adventure.

Sign up for my mailing list (on the side bar) and check out some of my other links listed.  It would be great to have you on board.  

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Thursday, 5 January 2017

31 Creative Things to do with Recycled Materials - Day 3, 4 & 5


Welcome back to todays post in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  For the rest of the month I will be showing you what I have done with materials that can be recycled.  Rather than throwing them out I have given them a new lease of life.  Using a bit of imagination and lots of creativity there is so much we can do with the things that are normally disguarded and with resources depleting on the planet, we have to find a way to reduce what is readily thrown away and save some of the earth for generations to come.

With that said I am always up for a challenge and I have over the years found ways to save my self some money when it comes to the use of storage containers.  Using a bit of paint and a glue gun you can do wonders to any surface:)  Take a look at my Pinterest board, there are some lovely things that I would love to try - inexpensive solutions that look great.

Here are 3 very different storage containers that I have created


Storage Tin made with rolled paper



This one is made out of a tin covered in rolled paper, it makes for a very sturdy container, and I have added a border round the tin to stop it from falling over.

Plastic bottle container - looks unique!


Plastic bottle with the top taken off it makes a cup like container that is used to store all my pliers and Stanley knives



This is the top of another bottle that has been turned upside down and covered with the rolled paper.  It makes the container study and now I have a great place to put the rocks and stones I collect.  You can make them as big or as small as you like and decorate them either with a color scheme or something funky.

I have some great examples coming up so do come back tomorrow to see what they are.  

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Saving Yourself - When you feel like your disappearing

Saving Yourself When you feel like your disappearing addresses the need for us to make sure we think about our own health and well-being on a daily basis.

Have you ever found yourself doubting your own feelings and emotions, or that your feelings didn’t matter? Do you even know how you feel right now?  You sometimes hear people talk about how you should be feeling based on their own needs, but they never really ask you, and never seem to have the time to listen to what you might have to say.


It is easy to feel as if 'you' don't matter, you’re not used to shining the light on yourself and you really don't want to make a fuss when people don't acknowledge just how much you have done for them.


Lots of us go through this problem, we've spent years caring for others, whether it is our children, someone else’s children or we've cared for an elderly relative.  We often find it difficult to think of what it is that we do like and it seems as if we have slowly eroded who we thought we were.  Often not being able to answer the question 'what is your favorite......?'


I can totally relate as I found that when I was caring for my mother with dementia and when my son was little I often felt that I didn't know who I was any more.  I spent the majority of my time trying to cater for the needs of another that I didn't know what I wanted, or how I felt and it has been a long journey to rediscover the 'me' I know I can be.

I found that when I didn't have some 'me' time whether it was 5 minutes or 2 hours, this was when I was more likely to feel undervalued emotionally drained and stuck just longing to be rescued somehow!



The easiest way to ensure that this feeling of stuck-ness doesn't happen is finding that much needed time, even if it is 5 minutes you need to schedule it and put it in your diary.  Let others know that you are taking the time, set your watch and go do something creative.


I have 5 easy things that you can incorporate into your day you can do all 5 or just one and this will help you fit creativity into your day and jump start your creativity

1.  Write down your ideas, you know you have them.  Find yourself a set of index cards, or write in a journal and list them, things that you might want to do, try out, go see.  When you start writing things down it helps take you to the next step of putting them into action.  Dust out those corners of your mind and see how many you can come up with in 10 minutes – you can give yourself 10 minutes right?

2.  Identify all the things that you can do in a short space of time say 5 minutes for you, list them, and these are the things that you will take the time out to do when you have shorter pockets of time to spend on yourself.

3.  Take your time – whenever you schedule time for yourself focus on what it is that you are doing, don’t try and do a whole range of things, value you in that space at that moment and really enjoy spending time on you!

4.  Where can you go for inspiration?  Think of places you can go, it could initially be around your neighbourhood, the local park, a garden, you might be able to incorporate a once a week trip to a museum, or gallery.

5.  Try something new! Think about the art supplies that you have and try something different, you might use them in a different way, or try a new technique, just allow yourself to play.

Once you start giving yourself this much needed time you will find that you’re not so stressed, and you can breathe again.  You might even be able to hear the birdsong outside your window!


What one do you think you will try first?

If you would like to have more tips and encouragement sign up for my mailing list

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Amanda
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