Creative Springtime
What are your creative plans for April?
Springtime in London has a magical quality. The avenues are graced with elegant Magnolia trees. In the parks, gentle April breezes carry the blossoms across the paths. The world is coming to life again after a long winter. Creatively too it feels like a time to reactivate.
Last week I visited Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest purpose built gallery in the world. I was on my weekly Artist Date to soak up creative inspiration. First I went for a little wander in the sunshine. I past a skatepark with some cool graffiti, a curious antiques shop and ended up walking through a cemetery with a beautiful view of the city. It was the perfect reminder of why it is so important to take our inner artist out on a date. I took photos to use as reference photos for later sketches.
At the Dulwich Picture Gallery, I saw the Tirzah Garwood exhibition. Garwood was a British artist whose career has been overshadowed by her husband’s art. This exhibition in Dulwich gives her full creative credit. Her art has a magical quality to it. Walking through the exhibition is like falling into the pages of a children’s picture book. Oversized children’s toys come to life in her paintings. Garwood has the gift of being able to slide effortlessly into the world of childhood imagination and present it to us in paint.
The last room of the exhibition was particularly poignant. Tirzah Garwood was diagnosed with terminal cancer and told she would have one year more. She was only 41 years old. However, Garwood called that year the ‘happiest of her life’ because she was actively encouraged to dedicate herself to painting. You can see the mixture of emotions and memories play out on the canvases. One evocative painting showed her children playing below in the garden as she watched them from her bed.
My artistic takeaways from the exhibition were to be more playful with my art. I want to actively develop the fantastical and magical elements in my work. I’ll like to return to my previous project of painting my dreams. In the gallery shop I also spotted a book by Angela Carter and that reminded me to reconnect to her dark fairytales.
On Monday, before meeting a friend I hadn’t seen in 8 years, I squeezed in a second artist date. I wandered along Little Venice near Paddington Station. London was dazzling in the sunshine. I was fascinated by the canal boats. Some were immaculately kept, complete with little flower gardens. Others were more neglected. A little cat peeked at me through one window. I was particularly drawn to the graffiti under the bridges. Visually, I like the mishmash of colours and mark making.
During the winter months I’ve done lots of great drawing sessions online. I’ve enjoyed drawing birds (especially owls!) with Emma Carlisle. The St Patrick’s Day session with Helen Stark and Charlotte Hamilton was a highlight. Charlotte has also been inspiring me this month with her daily paintings of Mexican scenes. Melissa Martin’s drawing session of Japan made me want to travel and eat some ramen! I’m also grateful to Emma Carpendale’s co-sketching sessions for the time to work on my personal project.
These online drawings sessions have taken me and my sketchbook around the world from the comfort of my studio desk. They have also inspired me to start painting again for the first time in a couple of years. It is amazing to have access to so much creativity and creative wisdom online!
My upcoming sessions:
I’m offering three creative sessions: Mums Make Art, Creative Abundance and Creating Peace in our World. Everyone is welcome, sign up using the links below.
Mums Make Art Wednesday 16th April at 7pm BST
Are you a mum and a creative? If so this session is perfect for you. Wind down at the end of the day with some relaxing creative me time. I’ll provide some journaling prompts and you can write, draw or doodle in response. Also feel free to use this time as a creative co-working hour if you have a personal project to work on. All mums are welcome: mums of young children and mums of grown-up children! This session is designed to be accessible for mums so don’t worry about coming late or having to leave early. Sign up here.
Creative Abundance Saturday 19th April at 7pm BST
What does creative abundance look like for you? More materials, time, space or confidence? In this session we’ll look at how we can manifest more abundance into our artistic practice. There will be a mixture of practical tips and reflective writing exercises. The session will be open to all free subscribers of The Artist’s Toolbox.
Creating Peace in our World Sunday 4th May at 6pm BST
Can we use art and the power of the internet to make the world a better place? In this session we will explore the topic of creating peace on an individual level and collectively. We will make a peace zine so bring along your art materials for some feel good creative time. I’ll be running the session with Nina Koevoets, a peacebuilding trainer author of The Peace Compass. Sign up here.
I hope you have a very creative April. If you’d like to let me know what you’re up to creatively in April let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for introducing me to Tirzah Garwood. I'm going to explore her work. Another woman made invisible by her husband...
I won't be able to attend your Sunday session because it's at the same time as my own session.