My favourite Podcasts

I have finally discovered the joy of podcasts. I love being able to listen to interesting stuff while I am sketching on my iPad. The times just flies and I have been learning all sorts of things. My only problem is finding podcasts that I like and so I thought that you might feel the same and like to hear about some of my favourites.

So this is what I have discovered so far!

No. 1 The Creative Pep Talk https://soundcloud.com/creativepeptalk

This is a fantastic show full of insight into the art industry and I have learned so much from the host Andy Miller. Since I discovered his podcast a few weeks ago, I have binge listened and caught up with all of his podcasts. His talks are entertaining as well informative with cultural references from Fraggle Rock to The Legend of Zelda. He seems to have a strange liking for the music of The Backstreet Boys, but hey, we are all allowed our own guilty pleasures.

His podcasts have made me feel less isolated as an artist and to also understand the ebb and flow of an artist's career.

Listen to this if you want to learn about how to make it as an artist and enjoy the odd laugh.

Happier with Gretchen Rubin https://soundcloud.com/panoply/happier-with-gretchen-rubin-ep-001

This podcast will make you happier! Gretchen is a bit of a happiness expert and whether you need cheering up or not, you will find the discussions to be thought provoking. From simple things such as why you should make your bed in the morning to why doughnuts at work can make you miserable. It's a funny look at what works for us as individuals and has lots of practical tips on how to achieve a bit more happiness in your life.

Listen to this for a deeper insight into what really makes you tick.


Good life project https://soundcloud.com/goodlifeproject

Jonathan Fields interviews some very interesting people (that I haven't heard off before) on a wide range of topics on the conscious/spiritual fringe. With subjects such as 'Parenting as a Vehicle for Liberation', 'The Art of Perception: How to See What Really Matters' and 'Transcendent Collaborations, Mentoring and Faith.' You can see that the subjects are quite eclectic.
I listened to the art of perception and was fascinated to find the art was being used as a tool to teach police officers how to really 'see' and share that information back in the workplace. It wasn't what I expected to hear, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Listen to this to learn about new and wonderful things.

The Dork Forest https://soundcloud.com/the-dork-forest

I was attracted to the title of this as I see myself as a bit of a geek and it makes for some fun listening. The shows are light hearted interviews by the comedian Jackie Kashian. The conversations revolve around pop culture, TV and the world at large. I listened to an interview with Moon Zappa (yes, Frank Zappa's daughter) and happily doodled away whilst learning what it was like to be a rock legends daughter.

Listen to this for some laughs and distraction.

The Lively Show https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lively-show/


Jessica Lively is someone that I don't know much about, but I think that I would like her if we met in real life. She has a conscious take on everyday life and her podcasts are an exploration of her thoughts on various subjects. She is currently travelling around Europe doing the Air B and B thing and her podcasts document her travels.
There are also interviews to be found, with people such as Gala Darling - author of Radical Self Love and Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat,Pray Love' and 'Big Magic'.

Listen to this for entertainment and self discovery.

I'd love to know what podcasts you listen to! Please share and let me know as I'm always searching for new things.

It's funny that in #junefae I'm actually more drawn to mermaids! I think it's something about me getting in the ocean more and feeling a bit more mermaidy myself!

I am planning to put this image onto wood and maybe decorating with some glitter. I love the effect of wood and it would also solve the problem of sourcing nice frames at different sizes. (It's surprisingly tricky!)

I think that wood art is also really versatile as you can hang it up or you can rest it on a shelf.

I've been researching how to do it and there seems to be a way of doing it that involves transferring the image onto wood with some time of glue! There are some examples on You Tube, so I am going to experiment! I shall let you know how it goes and let you know the process so that you can try it too!

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Thank you so much Lucy for agreeing to answer my questions. I simply adore your work! I love the joyful energy of your pictures and I think that your work helps spread fairy magic!

Thank you …you are very kind, Im incredibly flattered…..you have absolutely made my day!

I'd love to know a bit more about you as a person as well as your artistic practice. So....
Could you please tell me a little about your interests?

I love cycling in the sunset, dancing in the moonlight, ‘being’ in my garden, having fun with friends, singing, dressing up, and daydreaming.

When did fairies start cropping up in your work?

I had to kind of bury my love of the magical realm when I tried growing up. But when I was in my early twenties I was invited to put on an exhibition in a theatre which was to be running concurrently with a production of ‘Peter Pan’ . As the story of Peter Pan and the Never Never Land had such profound significance in my childhood, I decided to devote all the paintings in my exhibition about the story. It re-awakened something deep in my heart and ignited a new path forward …and I am delighted to say that I have never looked back

Do you believe in fairies?

Of course!

Lucy studied art for an amazing 6 years, first at Ipswich & Norwich schools of art and then at the Royal College of Art in London.

Firstly, what made you study for such a long amount of time? And secondly what was the most valuable thing that you learned during that time?

I wanted to study as long as I could because I wanted to perfect my art, learn as much as I could from the tutors and students and I just loved being in the environment of an art school which gave me an arena to develop and grow creatively.
The most valuable thing I learnt from that time was the importance of drawing.

Drawing, for me is golden. It is like a unique personal language and tool for communicating.

You have an impressive brand thank you that encompasses textiles, books, painting and greeting cards and you have worked with some dream clients such as Liberty and Kew Gardens. When and how did you transform from Lucy Love Holt into Lucy Loveheart?

Lucy Loveholt is my private ‘self’ and ‘Lucy Loveheart’ is a public persona which grew out of a series of childrens books written by my mother that I illustrated . As a child I always loved dressing up and pretending so it was a natural step for me to adopt a magical version of myself in order to be what I wanted to be. With regards to my brand, I think I have been incredibly lucky, in that I (or my work), have sometimes been at the right place at the right time which has led to some golden opportunities. I have also been privileged in that I work in an incredible team who support and encourage me and help me to do what I love to do.

Has the path always been clear to you or has it been a matter of faith, trust and pixie dust?

Most definitely the latter!

You also use glitter in your artwork and it's so great to find someone else who loves it!

When I was working on my ‘Peter Pan’ exhibition I wanted to somehow describe 'magic’ somehow. The magic of flying and the magic coming from Tinkerbells wand etc. I had an epiphany when I found an old tub of glitter granuals and glue in my art cupboard and I started sprinkling them onto my paintings. it just worked so perfectly. When that happened it felt completely unique to me but I am sure many people at the same sort of time were discovering this as a medium. Now (thankfully) glitter is freely available in myriad colours and forms i.e. glue sticks and tubes and tubs and this makes working with it so much easier and even more enjoyable .

I find that glitter can be problematic though as it doesn't photograph very well.

Personally I love the way silver glitter photographs , as it takes on a lush 3D effect but iridescent glitter is indeed a problem so I steer clear of it before the artwork is photographed and then pile it on afterwards.

and feel that sometimes it is seen as a child's medium. Did you ever see it as a bit of a hurdle for you?

This is not a problem for me as I admire the way in which children paint and create , so to be seen in the same light is flattering. Occasionally I am asked by a client to not adorn my work with glitter and I am very happy to oblige. I have to say this is very rare. Not all pieces require glitter and I enjoy the challenge of being sparing with it or not using it at all.

Do you have any exciting plans that you would like to share?

I have just been working on some new collections of our own brand cards and prints which we are launching in the Autumn. Im so excited as I have worked with my team on the whole process so it feels like it’s a big team effort and its so rewarding being involved at every step. They all have a sprinkling of glitter and fairy dust (of course!). I have also worked on a Christmas collection for the Little White Company which is also being launched in the Autumn

Thank you Lucy so much for sharing your thoughts with me! I loved reading your answers and have now been switched on to the joy of silver glitter! I can't believe I haven't worked with it before.

I can't wait to see your new work!

Thank YOU so much for reading - I'd love to know your thoughts about your favourite fairy art.

If you would like to follow Lucy then you can find her website: http://www.lucyloveheart.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lucyloveheartart
Twitter: @loveheartltd

Music

I was invited to take part in a five day music challenge on Facebook by a friend and all I had to do was pick a song a day for five days. Easy hey? Little did I think about how difficult I was actually going to find it.

The thing is, I love music, but my relationship to it has greatly changed.

The friend who tagged me in the challenge shared a lot of my musical tastes and discoveries during my early twenties. We went to see bands all the time and would often buy the same albums and listen to them at the weekend whilst talking about life, work and dreams. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, My Bloody Valentine, Ride and a whole host of other indie bands were blowing our minds.

It was a fantastic time and music then was an investment and a gamble. You often had to judge an album on its cover and also on the label and the other artists who shared it. There was the Chart Show that had a five minute Indie slot where you might learn about another band.

Buying an album was therefore quite a commitment. You had to listen to the whole album, because you had spent money on it. You paid attention to every song and you would know the song order. If the album was a good one then it would be played over and over becoming the soundtrack to conversations and the explorations of life.

Music and its lyrics expressed my emotions in a way that nothing else did and I found refuge and relief in albums that expressed my feelings about the world and articulated things that I hardly knew anything about.

From vinyl, to CDs to iPods to Pandora, to Spotify and Mixcloud my approach to music has become very different.

There is no commitment to any band when I tap on the discovery button. Some songs don't even get past 30 seconds if they are not able to instantaneously match my mood.

Albums I like and listen to the whole way through get forgotten about when I next look for something. My thirst for newness and my bad memory make it easy to keep clicking and scrolling or just listening to dj sets where the songs are never identified.

If I do actually like an artist and remember their name then they might make it to the 'radio' stage where Spotify will then deliver similar artists and titles in an endless stream that is only interrupted by adverts at increased volume.

I'm not complaining. I think it's pretty amazing. The stuff that dreams are made off. After the years of searching for artists that I like I really appreciate being able to discover new music for free.

It's me that's the problem. I don't spend the time researching and getting to know a band anymore and rely instead on recommendations from an algorithm.

So when I was invited to take part in the challenge my head started to spin as I started to question what music from the past I still liked and what music from the present I could actually remember.

I think I only made it to day 2 of the challenge and I think those two days were Tabitha inspired Disney songs!

I started listening to old albums, some Alanis Morrisette, The Cocteau Twins, Julian Cope, looking for songs that could some how sum up the best of all the music I loved. Even listing those artists now seems really limited and more a result of a transient mood than any real evaluation or judgement of worthiness.

I couldn't pick single songs out of old albums anymore than I could pick single songs out of new ones. The task that looked so simple was actually vast!

I still don't think I could pick five songs... How could I? But it's been quite a fun journey and it's made me think and appreciate the importance of music and the people that I share it with.

I'd love to know your favourite artists, albums or anything musical you'd like to share!
Thank you for reading.
Best wishes and fairy kisses.
Jacs xxx

I have just signed up for Lilla Rogers Global Talent search and I am really excited about it! I've been feeling a bit lost after finishing my big projects and have been looking for something to get stuck into and this is it.

I have admired Lilla Rogers' agency since I discovered it a couple of years ago and fallen head over heels in love with the artists she represents. There is something fun and original and exciting about the agency and I would be really proud to be part of it.

The prize for The Global Talent Search is to win a couple of years representation which would be totally amazing and the process is quite exciting too!

You have to pay £30 to enter, so you have to be pretty serious to take part in the first place and then you have to wait for a creative brief which is released on the 29th July. You have a couple of weeks to produce work to professional specifications and then wait to see if you are one of 50 to be selected to the next round.

If you are one of the 50, you then get another brief and another deadline to complete it by.

Five people then get chosen and interviewed by Lilla herself.

I know that my work needs a bit of tinkering with though to be ready to present and so I am starting some research early. I have started gathering inspiration mood boards on Pinterest and so hopefully I will be ready to present some good work when I find out what the brief is.

I think that the whole process will be really useful for me and even if I don't make it in the competition, I hope the I will have some work that I will be turn into products that I would be proud to sell.

Wish me luck! 💕🌟✨😀🌸❤️

Renata Loree is a conscious artist who uses her yoga practice to also infuse her artwork. Her images are of strong women, Angels and fairies and are always vibrant and beautiful.

I think that art and yoga go extremely well together as they both are paths of self discovery and requests the practitioner to sharpen her perception of the world.

Thank you Renata, for agreeing to answer some of my questions - I'm so delighted as I adore your work.

Does your yoga practice shape the energy of your work?

Yes, I think it started with yoga. I painted all my life, but with my yoga practice there was always a need for expression. Just like in the movement in yoga and the postures being a container for a feeling and moving energy, I needed to express how I was feeling and what I needed to connect with and let go. Putting it down on canvas became very freeing for me and healing to my soul.

Do you have a fixed image in your head before you start painting, or is it a more intuitive process?

Most of the time there is a need to express something. I get images in my head constantly, then I work out on the canvas how it can be done. Sometimes it changes or goes through a progression.

I saw that you started work on a tarot deck a little while ago. I would imagine that to be a very challenging project, not just because of the amount of artwork, but also the depth of vision that needs to go into each card. Could you tell me what initiated the project and where it will end up?
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The Tarot deck started again from a need to figure things out, I used it to find answers in my life and connected with it very intimately. So as usually, I like to express the images I see personally. I really wanted to finish it, but I started it at a time when I had plenty of free time to work at it. That seamed to have changed as I started to get commissions for other work. I stopped at the Major Arcana, and hopefully one day I will get to finish the whole deck as well.

You have a class on this years Lifebook - could you tell us a little bit about what students can expect to learn?

The lessons in Life book were very expressive again. That is something I have been working a lot with, and I think some students found it really challenging. But many of them were surprised that they could actually do it and it was fun. I tried to offer two different versions, one more intermediate and one more advanced. It was on working with watercolors and learning to layer them in a portrait, plus painting hands.

Could you describe where you live and the lifestyle of the place?

I live just outside of Boston in United States. I think predominantly the life around here revolves around working families in a lower to upper middle class. It’s always really hard for me to describe the community that I live in, because I am always so immersed in the yoga community and then in my art, but there is a lot to do around here and its only a half an hour car drive to Boston.

What do you do when you are not practicing yoga or painting?
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I mostly just do the things I need to do to survive and to be with my family. I rarely go out anywhere, even when I am invited, because I am usually immersed in some project I have to finish. But it’s because I love it, or it might be also that I am kind of a homebody.

What are you the most excited about at the moment?
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At the moment it’s just evolving in my community of artists and developing my style. I belong to wonderful group of artists called HearfulSoul Artist Collective, and they are all really amazing women with the same interests. Developing these friendships is really important to me, because it supports me on my journey, and I also don’t feel so isolated. I think being a working artist can be that way sometimes, when I paint for hours, the time just goes by so fast, so it is really nice to know that there is an audience there to share my work. I am also really excited about teaching art. I know that there is a need for art lessons and the internet makes it so much more accessible to offer so many different skills in a video format. It’s something I really would have appreciated when I was learning how it paint, and it’s something that helped me to start on my art journey again about 5 years ago.

Thank you so much! I saw that the retreat in Portugal is just around the corner for you - that sounds amazing!
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I know it does, I really hope we can make it happen.

Thank you Renata! It was so great to learn more about you and your art.
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If you would like to learn more about Renata then please follow her on Facebook 

​Renata's blog 

Her website is: https://renataloree.com/

'

A little lonely child am I
That have not any soul;
God made me as the homeless wave,
That has no goal.

A seal my father was, a seal
That once was man;
My mother loved him tho' he was
'Neath mortal ban.

He took a wave and drowned her,
She took a wave and lifted him;
And I was born where shadows are
In sea-depths dim.

All through the sunny blue-sweet hours
I swim and glide in waters green;
Never by day the mournful shoures
By me are seen.

But when the gloom is on the wave
A shell unto the shore I bring;
And then upon the rocks I sit
And plaintive sing.

I have no playmate but the tide
The seaweed loves with dark brown eyes;
The night-waves have the stars for play,
For me but sighs.
By Fiona Macleod