Week 6th of 52 Weeks: A photo no show.
Sadly I was not able to take a shot for week 6 of the 52 Weeks Project. It rained, rained, rained and Orla was not well and off school with a stinking cold. As a result, I didn’t go anywhere or do anything other than look after her, cuddle, lay on the big bed, and watch films.
However, I did do something I had been meaning to do for months. I installed the CMS Drupal 6 (after a few gos trying to install 7, which didn’t fly due to compatibility issues, despite the input from my hosting company). So, three days of some hard coding, building, installing modules, customisation and valuable input from my friend Karen Jinks, I had my new site, ‘Illusio Creative Art Shop‘ up and running. The Paypal payment modules fully installed and working, and so am good to go.
I have been listing all my prints, original art, postcards etc all week, and I have to say, I am very pleased with it and was glad to be able to uninstall and delete the ropey WP Ecommerce plug in I was using.
So, go check out my new Art Shop.
Week 5 of 52 Weeks: The Letter L
Why? Because it’s the initial of my name, because I like it, it’s pink and pretty, and because I have been nowhere in week five, as it’s cold, wet, gloomy and crap. Besides which, I am a painting demon at the moment, as I have a show in June, and if I don’t get my arse in gear I wont have any work for it, so am not going out.
However, as light relief in the evenings, I have been doodling letter art, this of which is one, and I will be releasing as prints sometime in the next few weeks, when I have time to scan them all. 
I love doodling letters, always have. Very therapeutic.
Anyway…back to my painting.
How we can help Gorjuss Art!
For those of you who like, appreciate and buy the wonderful and whimsical art of Suzanne Woolcott of Gorjuss art, you may be aware that Suzanne has been very ill for quite some time. In fact Suzanne underwent a very serious spine operation a year ago that did not go well. It left her with a hole in her spine and consequently many complications, not least of which contracting meningitis. Throughout it all, both her and Grant soldiered on, creating art, running their business and caring for their children.
Sadly however, her health has deteriorated to such an extent, that things have reached crisis point for both her, Grant and their family, and they all face a hard and uncertain future.
They don’t want handouts, or charity, what they need is our support and encouragement. Please read Grants latest post, and learn how we can help support them most effectively.
Thank you…
Lorrie
Bowing out already!
Well, after my loudly trumpeted start to the ‘Journaling for a Cause project, sadly, I am going to have to bow out. Three days in and I am struggling.
It’s not just trying to do the prompts, play with Orla, answer emails, work on new art, get to the post office etc. I then have to photograph the journal entries, get them onto Flickr, blog about it etc. It’s not doable. First day I was working on my Day I entry at 11.30 p.m. Day II, I was working on it whilst Orla was playing and she kept asking me to play with her. Today…just not doable and tomorrow we are out for the day. So…
I really looked forward to doing it, but I need to look after my little girl and keep up with my commission work and paint. I will do the next one when term starts in September.
Aaahhh well.
Journaling for a Cause Day II
So, here is my entry for Day II of Journaling for a Cause, today’s prompt from Janel:
Journal Prompt 2: I am a huge fan of writing out my goals, short term and long term. I thought it would be appropriate to have some journaling goals for ourselves too!! What are your goals for your journaling?
Now, I was not able to make today’s entry as original or interesting as I would have liked, it was pretty much created sporadically and snatching spare moments whilst looking after Orla and Ella (her best friend), as it’s the school holidays. I feel that a lot of us Mum’s who are doing this may struggle a bit over the next 30 days, but I will do my best. I elected to post this here, and not on my art blog asI felt it was less about my art, and more about me. I will probably post them here every day, and summarise on my art blog at the end of the week.
My five bullet points for my entry are as follows:
- Be spontaneous
- Less obsessive
- Do something different
- Challenge myself
- Be authentic and true to myself
- Most of all make it fun and enjoyable
The crux of the above is this; I am tightly wound both personally and in my work and always have been. I have a tendency to OCD which I have to continually fight against (which means I can be overly perfectionist about my work and have been known to destroy as many as five or six (or many more) working versions of a piece of art. I liked the idea of a group project, and felt this would challenge me to do something different, and given that the subject matter would be dictated by another person, would take me out of my comfort zone. Above all, that I remain true to myself, am authentic and resist the urge to compare and fret over it But last and not least…to enjoy the experience and not make it too onerous and something that becomes stressful or a chore.
Journal Prompt II
Oh, and if you are wondering about the melon. I asked Orla to choose from one of her many stickers books a sticker she felt would most suit the content of the page, and she chose this one.
Lorrie Whittington
Visual Artist and Designer
Chichester, UK
