le papier: 03/30/11

ok, so it has taken me a week or so to come down from the natural high i was on after attending the recent "bloom true" intuitive painting adventure in the Dwellingup bush camp know as Nanga Brook. this workshop was led by the one and only flora bowley from Portland, Oregon in the US. i suggest you pop over to her website to check out her bio. and inspiring work at www.florasbowley.com

flora is a well known artist who has been painting for 16 years and has only recently started teaching classes....what can i say except that i am pretty darn sure she has found her "true" calling. it was such a gift getting to spend three glorious days under her gentle guidance (both in painting and simple yoga practice) and a complete bonus getting to spend time with her and the other 8 ladies in attendance. i managed to make some great new friends who, like me, are driven by creativity. a special thanks needs to go out to the amazing donna from "donna heart" who invited flora to australia and facilitated this workshop. she is one woman who truly believes in the power of "ask and you shall receive".....

sue, flora, jayne, me, dixie, michelle, sarmarie, debbi and donna
pictured with flora's two completed works...we actually all match !!

in flora's workshop she encourages her students to let go of expectations and accept that there are no mistakes! nice one hey. her philosophy is very much focused on the "process" instead of the final product ... sooooo liberating. what could be better than listening to some groovy music and just gettin' messy with the paint right !!! ABSOLUTELY. she encourages us to build up colour value and volume by working in layers on our canvases, letting each layer dry off before adding another. i have posted below one of my paintings showing how the work evolved over the three days. looking back it this now i realise how much i learnt from my three days in "the bush" and from the wonderful flora -

have i already mentioned how serene yet funky this amazing american chickie was?

ok, enough with the ranting, i think you get the picture ;)

the four stages of "wonder"

and here is a picture of the finished piece i created entitled "wonder"

(as shown smaller above)

wonder

and here are some amazing pictures taken during our workshop showing just how awesome the setting was and how many different ideas came from the power of just "going with the flow" and letting ourselves spill out onto the canvas by exploring with colour, volume and pattern ...