seedbedstudio

Find me on Facebook!

2013-03-11T19:59:00.001+00:00

Billie Holiday. Acrylic on canvas 2013

I am posting on Facebook at the moment and can be found there frequently! Here's my FACEBOOK page.

Buying art matters.

2012-10-11T04:44:00.001+01:00

Within Vulnerability lie the seeds of greatness.

2012-10-05T09:00:00.001+01:00

Like the way this quote from the amazing Brenee Brown,makes it feel right that I have called my creative space Seedbed studio. Watch this interview. This woman is all in!

http://www.goodlifeproject.com/brene-brown-vulnerable/

My new website is live!!!

2012-10-02T13:22:00.001+01:00

My new website is live! I am also offering an ECourse called "
Draw and Paint what you Love"at the end of October. Busy,busy,but loving it!http://www.seedbedstudio.net/?page_id=967

Ted Hughes letter to his son Nicholas. Long but sooo worth reading!

2012-09-16T15:39:00.008+01:00

When I came to Lake Victoria, it was quite obvious to me that in some of the most important ways you are much more mature than I am. . . . But in many other ways obviously you are still childish — how could you not be, you alone among mankind? It’s something people don’t discuss, because it’s something most people are aware of only as a general crisis of sense of inadequacy, or helpless dependence, or pointless loneliness, or a sense of not having a strong enough ego to meet and master inner storms that come from an unexpected angle. But not many people realise that it is, in fact, the suffering of the child inside them. Everybody tries to protect this vulnerable two three four five six seven eight year old inside, and to acquire skills and aptitudes for dealing with the situations that threaten to overwhelm it. So everybody develops a whole armour of secondary self, the artificially constructed being that deals with the outer world, and the crush of circumstances. And when we meet people this is what we usually meet. And if this is the only part of them we meet we’re likely to get a rough time, and to end up making ‘no contact’. But when you develop a strong divining sense for the child behind that armour, and you make your dealings and negotiations only with that child, you find that everybody becomes, in a way, like your own child. It’s an intangible thing. But they too sense when that is what you are appealing to, and they respond with an impulse of real life, you get a little flash of the essential person, which is the child. Usually, that child is a wretchedly isolated undeveloped little being. It’s been protected by the efficient armour, it’s never participated in life, it’s never been exposed to living and to managing the person’s affairs, it’s never been given responsibility for taking the brunt. And it’s never properly lived. That’s how it is in almost everybody. And that little creature is sitting there, behind the armour, peering through the slits. And in its own self, it is still unprotected, incapable, inexperienced. Every single person is vulnerable to unexpected defeat in this inmost emotional self. At every moment, behind the most efficient seeming adult exterior, the whole world of the person’s childhood is being carefully held like a glass of water bulging above the brim. And in fact, that child is the only real thing in them. It’s their humanity, their real individuality, the one that can’t understand why it was born and that knows it will have to die, in no matter how crowded a place, quite on its own. That’s the carrier of all the living qualities. It’s the centre of all the possible magic and revelation. What doesn’t come out of that creature isn’t worth having, or it’s worth having only as a tool — for that creature to use and turn to account and make meaningful. So there it is. And the sense of itself, in that little being, at its core, is what it always was. But since that artificial secondary self took over the control of life around the age of eight, and relegated the real, vulnerable, supersensitive, suffering self back into its nursery, it has lacked training, this inner prisoner. And so, wherever life takes it by surprise, and suddenly the artificial self of adaptations proves inadequate, and fails to ward off the invasion of raw experience, that inner self is thrown into the front line — unprepared, with all its childhood terrors round its ears. And yet that’s the moment it wants. That’s where it comes alive — even if only to be overwhelmed and bewildered and hurt. And that’s where it calls up its own resources — not artificial aids, picked up outside, but real inner resources, real biological ability to cope, and to turn to account, and to enjoy. That’s the paradox: the only time most people feel alive is when they’re suffering, when something overwhelms their ordinary, careful armour, and the naked child is flung out onto the world. That’s why the things that are worst to undergo are best to remember. But when that child gets buried away under their adaptive and protective shells—he becomes one of the walking dead, a monster. So when you realise you’ve gone a few weeks and haven’t felt that awful struggle of your childish self — struggling to lift itself out of its inadequacy and incompetence — you’ll know you’ve gone some weeks without meeting new challenge, and without growing, and that you’ve gone some weeks towards losing touch with yourself. The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn’t live boldly enough, that they didn’t invest enough heart, didn’t love enough. Nothing else really counts at all.

Nice article on the health benefits of art

2012-09-14T00:40:00.002+01:00

http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/08/23/art-for-lifes-sake-the-health-benefits-of-culture/

"Woman in yellow light"

2012-09-08T19:36:00.001+01:00

“Art is a language of the body with no rules,but convinced passions”
George Segal

Sometimes more is more!

2012-08-28T20:35:00.003+01:00

I know its hard to see the fairy in the jar in this 'Fairy in a jar' project from my artcamp, but what a 'love bomb' from the delighted maker Hannah (age 6)!

The amazing world of colour

2012-08-28T17:20:00.001+01:00

Here's a link to a really thought provoking post on colour.
I would highly recommend it.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.empiricalzeal.com%2F2012%2F06%2F05%2Fthe-crayola-fication-of-the-world-how-we-gave-colors-names-and-it-messed-with-our-brains-part-i%2F&h=8AQEKl8Q2&s=1

A little bit of sunshine pleeeeeeze!

2012-08-04T15:50:00.010+01:00

On another lashing, rainy day in Ireland, this fantabulous, tongue in cheek, graphic rendering of the difference between New York and Paris raised my seriously in need of some sunshine, flagging spirit, big time. Check it out! Unlike our lousy summer,it will not dissapoint, and is a beautiful illustration of 'less is more'.

August 20-24th summer camp full!

2012-08-02T14:10:00.002+01:00

I have a waiting list for my next camp.
Thanks for all the much appreciated support this summer.You can sign up for my newsletter http://www.seedbedstudio.net for updates on my autumn schedule,and my exciting plans for online art lessons!

Go create!
Pauline

New Work

2012-07-30T21:29:00.003+01:00

Acrylic on board. Untitled as of yet. Open to suggestions! Submit an idea in the comments below.

Art journalling is a gift

2012-07-25T10:30:00.005+01:00

My daughter Millie is 13 and loves my art camp but I am not sure how long more that will last as the hormones rage and I morph from Hero to Zero in the tug of Independance!
I very consciously introduced journalling to the older campers this year.
I wanted Millie and the other girls in camp to have somewhere to place the torrent of emotions that they will have to navigate in the years ahead.Introducing them to the concept of a visual diary, and encouraging them into a creative journalling practise, might just give them a useful tool for the choppy waters they will encounter.
Have the girls permission to showcase some of their journal pages,which are currently poulated with positive affirmations (this too will pass!) and will do
shortly, so stay tuned!

Occupy Hands street.

2012-07-22T11:38:00.002+01:00

Here's some random sight bites of our playful work ethic at Seedbed studio summer camp.

This blew me away!

2012-07-21T09:30:00.008+01:00

Have to say that all the clay work that my campers did this week rocked,but this one is special.

Grace had made the cat earlier,and she came up to me and said she wanted to
make a kitten. As we has had three day old kittens outside,I told her to bring some clay to where they were,so that she could use the baby kittens as a reference for her piece,and off she went. Later,I stopped by her table to check on her work and found this! How she has captured the kitten feeding is amazing,and so poignant. She is only eight years old! This is an example of the magic happening,why I love teaching,and what art teaching is about for me. You create the right conditions,and step aside,the rest is not your business. A bit like life really! Stayed tuned.Will be posting more from the art camp over the next few days.

Work in progress

2012-07-20T21:52:00.001+01:00

It breaks my heart when boys give up art.

2012-07-19T16:53:00.017+01:00

Roisin and Joshua made 'fairies in a jar' projects, respectively,in art camp. They worked so well together,and Joshua came up with his message on the stone in the photo below,after watching older girls in the class journalling affirmations and other cool stuff.I love how he spells 'neaver' ,It's so endearing. I have very few boys in my art classes,which is so sad,because their presence adds so much to the experience.Joshua was so much fun, and made his presence felt when he thought things were getting a bit too girlie! He brought in a huge Jar, and a toy troll he had for his take on a fairy Jar,which was wonderful. The boy:girl ratio in art classes needs to change,because creativity is the new literacy,and they are missing out big time.

Life Drawing with Mittens!

2012-07-17T18:57:00.013+01:00

My art summercamps continue this week, and we always start the day with some drawing. My daughter's cat Mittens, was a very compliant model,happy to snuggle up in his paw shaped furry bed, and was joined ocassionally by Lily, his baby sister.

The material used is compressed charcoal, a huge favorite of mine ,and I have passed that passion onto my little seedlings as you can see! They love the stuff and are getting very good with it. I teach them through a combination of observation and sensorial prompting with huge ammounts of praise, as I coax them to push their work further.Its a myth to think that children have endless access to their imagination,they need stimulus as much as the next person. What they have in shed loads is enthusiasm and open minds,until the school system of rote learning ,and competiveness versus co-operation has its way!

Ok they're captured on my Ipad, as I am so busy teaching that the photography is very basic, but aren't these drawings pretty cool! I think so, and I am sooo proud of my students who range in age from 6-13years old. I work with small groups (max 10) as that keeps it great fun for me as well.I learn as much from these children as they do from me. Its a little lab really, where all sorts of magic and alchemy happens. Stay tuned, they are making the most amazing clay birds and cats which I will post soon.

Anke's birthday treat

2012-07-17T17:23:00.007+01:00

Anke came with five friends to the studio to have an arty party for her birthday treat. None of these women had ever drawn before. After two hours, they were able to freehand etch Matisse style line drawings onto foam pads with a biro, to create indented lines ,and made beautiful monoprints which we framed for them to take home.
The session started with a blind contour exploration of their heads, which is fun and really relaxing, and ended up with a take home framed artwork.Before departing ,a toast to the birthday girl with french champagne and kir was made (that bit was Ankes idea not mine,cross my heart!). If you would like a tailor made adult arty party for your birthday,or special occassion,where dress is seriously informal, and you give your guests a great sense of fun, achievment, (and no hangover!) ,then contact me with your ideas or let me give you some!

Deirdre enjoying the touchy, feely, blind contour drawing exercise!

These charcoal expressive renderings of the head, beat an egg shaped diagram hands down!

Another Pauline working on her monoprints,she took to this like a duck to water!

" Bathing in Babylon "

2012-07-11T21:16:00.007+01:00

Acrylic on board. 2012

Art Summercamp

2012-07-10T19:00:00.011+01:00

Every summer I run a small summercamp for children between 5 and13. I love teaching them for one simple reason, they energize me, make sure that I stay in touch with my inner child, and we have a ball together! Here's a flavour of what we get up to. Enjoy!

We made mono prints and I printed them on Tee-shirts

The older children made journals, they really got into it and will keep it up at home
Working on a journal. its a place for art and thoughts.
We always make cupcakes on the final day
The younger children loved making these fairy jars!
Clay work is always a big hit! I teach the children to sculpt the clay so that bits don't fall off.

Everyone had a whale of a time!

Steal like an Artist

2012-07-04T08:42:00.005+01:00

Why do we worry so much about originality when we are engaging with a creative practise.Wish this guy Austin kleon was in my class in Art College!

First Twitter, now Facebook, what next!

2012-06-27T19:40:00.010+01:00

Having joined twitter recently,I am also a facebook virgin no more! Better then that, I have been posting in a private facebook group as part of a wonderful online group of like minded women who are developing their art practise.My 13 year old daughter is horrified as I continue to get lured into social media, which I have only dipped into very occasionally until now.
The facebook group is the forum for an online course in painting with a wonderful Portland Oregon based artist Flora Bowley that I signed up for as a novel way to kickstart my painting process again, after a period of time spent focusing on my drawing skills.I also wanted to research ways of bringing Seedbedstudio to people who find it difficult to free up enough time to travel to an art class. I come across this all the time, busy women who are starving for some creative outlet in their lives, but have very limited time to invest.

Lots of women doing this course, and I am really enjoying their company and encouragment. I'ts great to be with all these kindred spirits who are taking their creativity seriously. We post our work-in-progress on a private facebook page. This is optional, but I'm so glad I participated in this aspect of the course, as it is truly beneficial, and great fun.

Above is one of my almost finished paintings, untitled as of now.

Ring the bells while they still ring

2012-06-13T18:23:00.003+01:00

There is a crack, a crack in everything.

Thats how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

"somedays we live at the point of tears"

2012-06-10T15:01:00.001+01:00