"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" : My New Illustration!!

Back in December I posted a photo on Instagram of an illustration I had recently done and I received a message back from Pip who lives in France.  She was having a totally new kitchen   in her french farmhouse and really wanted something of them.  

Them?  Ok, so I initially thought it was 4 of them.  

Then it seemed there was, Humphrey and Maude, their two Bassett hounds, Ethel the miniature Daschund, Ralph (not quite sure if he is a Bassett cross) and there was Mary.  Mary is the beautiful grey dappled horse.  Oh and have I forgotten to tell you about Ruby the Greenwing Macaw.  

So here I was faced with 4 adults and their furry family. 10 in total.  I later found out that this was just a mere 5% of their family as they have so many animals that I wouldn't have been able to fit them on the paper! 

Sketch Number One with dogs needing changes!

I got straight into it and did an initial sketch which I sent to her.  She gave me access to her Facebook photos and there were just reams and reams of them.  It made me realise that I actually wanted to go and take photos of them all, including all of the animals because it's the little markings that are important. I'm not a portrait artist who does things exactly.  You guessed that right?!?! When you get my piece, it's my interpretation of you.  In a whimsical and soulful way.  

I realised that after sending this to her that the doggies weren't looking that great!!! They were indeed more squatter and had legs and feet that were crooked!  So I re-sketched and looked at the composition again.   This was better.  I always like to know what clothes you want to be dressed in, so made all the changes that were asked.

Sketch Number Two

Finished Illustration 

I have to be honest, I have never drawn a horse before so was a little anxious about this.  But Mary had such a presence in her photos that I loved drawing her. Obviously I wasn't going to draw all of her but the face is start. Yep!    I wondered if I could replicate the dogs and their little ways.  Using promarkers helps to add tone and depth but I needed something more.  So bring out the prisma colour pencils.  They were used to add detail and enhance the animal's features.  Then add in all my lovely pens and ink. 

I am really delighted with how this turned out and was excited to pack it off and send to them in France.  As I use a bleed proof paper, which is very thin, I was able to replace Humphrey and Maude at the centre, rather than at the end in the original sketch.  Having cut them out, I then backed this on to another piece of paper to give strength and enable them to mount and frame it.

I'm so excited to see where it will reside in their new french kitchen.

I'm going to be doing more of these so watch this space ♥

Much love

Jules xxx

Sharing Loran's Soul Portrait

When I began my drawings of the lovely women in Hannah Marcotti's Joy Up Group, I didn't know where this would lead me.  

My heartfelt wish and intention was to continue creating my portrait illustrations and I was still feeling like I needed to reconnect to my self through my art, I was still feeling so lost without Lucy and I just adored taking the photograph they gave me and intuitively responding to it.  

Loran very kindly said I could share the photo she gave me to draw her Soul Portrait and I am so excited to do so. When I saw her picture for the first time, I adored her glasses.  She also sent me an email telling me her love of purple and calla lilies asking if there was any way I could incorporate this into her Soul Portrait.  

Loran wrote to me to tell me how she felt when she saw her Soul Portrait

"I have been on pins and needles waiting for this and it is Wonderful! Thank you sooooo much. Love it!" She then later went on to write to me:-

"What came to mind when I saw my picture was Seth Godin's post on "Ridiculous is the new Remarkable." I think my glasses are silly but they are fun and light-hearted. One of my intentions for this year came from a message I received from the hummingbirds in my yard last summer - Lighten Up. So, when I had my professional photo shoot done in New York in September, I took my pompoms, tiara and glasses with me! I am loving being more playful and when I see my profile picture, that's what I am reminded to be.  My Soul Portrait reminds me to Lighten Up and that captures it all. It feels right". 

* * *

Thank you so much Loran for being the first reveal and for your lovely words.  I am in the process of going live with my Soul Portraits.  I'm stocking up and will be revealing all soon.  

Much love

Jules ♥♥

Some Me of Beauty

There is something extremely scary about taking a self portrait with your phone camera, noticing the inner critic step in to berate your hair, your eyes, your nose, your ears, your wrinkles, your skin, your boobs, your hips (ok if you go that far!)  

I took ages to do mine
Now I love her

I could go on and on and on.  Yet what if you looked at yourself with love? Truly.  What if you looked in to your eyes and said, "yes".   

There has been magic happening lately as I have been privileged to capture the light in the eyes, the soulful expressions of a beautiful tribe of women that are part of Hannah Marcotti's Joy Up Alumni. I have so much inside me to say about Hannah and her programmes, I will come back for sure.  Let's just say they are really life changing and helped me move through feelings of grief. These women have been so incredibly supportive, kind, caring and healing for me.  

For now, let's fast forward to late December. 

As some of you may know, I have been working, quietly and secretly behind the scenes on a Wedding Commission for a young couple who are getting married in August 2013.  They came to me in August 2012 asking if I would create illustrations of their 60 guests, for wedding favours.  They intended for all the illustrations to form part of the table plan and be used in so many ways I can't say right now as NOBODY KNOWS.

I was delighted to be asked, and I also went into a little panic - how would I create them?  Normally I use canvas and layering with my illustrations.  I always start with my sketch and soulful interpretation of the individuals I'm painting, but I don't fill in all the detail until they are firmly secured to the canvas.  

They wouldn't be needing the entire canvas so how was this going to materialise. 

I set about testing different mediums.  No to watercolour - no offence watercolour, I like you but you're not 'poppy' enough.  How about my delectable prisma colour pencils - again no, I tried, but it wasn't for the main colour, maybe to add some detail.  Felts perhaps? Well yes,  felts have always been a firm staple diet of mine, I liked the colours but their mixing capability and blending were limited.  Then I remembered I had a few Letraset pro markers.

I tried. I fell in love. Again.

I realised there was so much more to them. Being used for the base, blending and layering, but hell there were so many other pen/marker possibilities to add to the illustrations. I ADORE Pens. Did I ever tell you this?  I can't walk past a stationary shop.

Anyway I was hooked.

So I carried on with my wedding commission.  

Until December when I had no more to do as I was waiting for a new batch to arrive.

I shared them with the Joy Up Tribe in our private group and asked if anyone would be interested in me soulfully illustrating them, thinking a few may respond.  70 said yes!

So fast forward 6 weeks and I have a plethora of beautiful women in front of me.  It is taking me in a completely new direction and I am firmly, finally, planting my ART FEET FORWARD.

I integrate reiki symbols within these healing reflections. I sit and mediate with them so when they're sent out or scanned, they're on their mission to bring JOY and HEALING.

Ultimately they're Love In Colour.

I am now developing this whole new layer and redeveloping my website and my etsy shop.

Taking this forward to send out to the world.

I'm excited to step into this new chapter.

Ok I'm so pleased I have written a new blog post as I hadn't done one in 4 months, almost didn't want to remove the last one because of Lucy Loo.

I have done it. So that's broken the ice.

Watch this space for more. 

Have you ever come across Carolyn Rogers poem? It sums up all that I'm doing:

And I asked myself could it

Have turned

Overnight?

Knowing full well greyness

Had been

Coming and had even

Been there

A while

Just like that I woke up one

Morning

And I looked at myself

And what I saw was

Carolyn

Not imanji ma jua or soul

Sistah poetess of

The moment

I saw a woman. Human and

Black.

I felt a spiritual

Transformation

A root revival of

love

And I knew that many

Things

Were Over

And Some me of

Beauty

Was

About to begin.

Some Me of Beauty is about to BEGIN

Much Love

Jules ♥

Still No Internet, here's my next Wisdom Card-Maintain the Balance

In this next card, I reveal the inspiration behind Maintain The Balance.  I hope you find something that resonates with you.  Much love, Jules xxx

Maintain The Balance:

  

Maintain the balance in your current situation. Incorporate healing practices into your life that help you come back to centre.

Background to the card:

Inspired by my Australian friend Gaille, with very strong and ancient Scottish roots she was propelled forward to leave her native Australia and begin her life in Scotland. It didn’t happen swiftly, there was great change and upheaval, but her soul yearned for her Scottish Land and soon enough, she found her self immersed in the heart of North East Scotland, in the grounds of an old Castle.  Gaille’s profession as a forensic anthropologist sees her traveling all over the world to scenes of devastation.  In such an emotionally draining job, she maintains a calm and centred presence.  One minute she’s in the midst of carnage, the next she’ll be still in meditation.  It isn’t an easy practice for her to manage, but it is a necessity. 

The meaning behind the card:

If this card has fallen into your card reading, it is asking you to maintain the balance in your current situation.  The message that you hear may be different every time this card appears.  At times, it may nudge you to incorporate balancing practices in your life.  If your job is hectic and fraught, how can you balance this with something that brings you back to centre?  Maybe, Meditation, Music, Dance, Performance, Art, DIY, Sport?

The importance is for you is to maintain a balance and become realigned.  Perhaps you’re feeling a pull to a different way of life, the wisdom behind the card prompts you to explore the options and find small ways to move closer.  This is not about jumping and leaping, it’s relating to equilibrium and integrating a practice that allows you to re-calibrate. 

How to use this card:

Use this powerful image in quiet meditation or some solitary time will be very balancing for you.  Her eyes hold your gaze and by looking in them you can begin to feel a sense of balance.  It is almost like gazing at a mirror where she invites you to quieten your mind, breathing consciously and notice what you find in the image.  There is nothing to distract you except her beckoning, balancing eyes. 

Note down how you’re feeling in reading this wisdom.  Do you feel a pull to trace your past, or explore an ancient family town, city or area?  Do you feel a tug to incorporate or learn meditation? What is calling you?  How will you respond to this call?

Look into the eyes of this Celtic Goddess and feel your body respond.  There are swirls of energy underneath the canvas, whirls of movement, yet they’re balanced and symmetrical.  The metallic blue of the background is the blue that responds to your throat chakra, the centre of communication.  Remain centred and balanced, express your thoughts to yourself in your writing.  

* * * * *

I'm creating a set of 44 Wisdom Cards and Book -  each card will be inspired by someone who has meant something to me, someone who has inspired me or taught me something.  They could be people I know, or people I don't know, living or passed over. They may be people I have seen from afar.  They may also be animals and elements from the planet around me.  They may also be from dreamtime and with symbolism that I can’t recognise.  What I know for sure is, it will all unfold.  If you'd like to read more about this project, click here

Jules xxx

PS Text may change in final copy.

All photographs and text copyright of Jules Dolly/Julia Dolowicz 2012

A Jules Dolly mini mini workshop

Haven't blogged for a good while - I am immersed in the words of my book and going through everything to see if there's anything I have forgotten.  I have only one week to go, I plan to send it all off on Friday 30 March - well......that's the plan.

In the meantime, I had a small wee workshop that I was delivering for Liverpool Limmud.  It's a Jewish learning conference that happens in Liverpool every 2 years, all denominations are most welcome and it is a jam packed day full of talks, workshops, lectures and food!  They asked if I would be interested to do a Jules Dolly workshop - I only had an hour - so I wondered what could I do that could be linked to a Jewish theme.  I decided to create a new design and teach everyone how to make a decoupage greeting card.

I love this process - starting off with the sketch, then the colour, then the paint, then the finishing touches to the design.  Moving straight to copier and reducing the image - Voila - we have a design for an A5 card.

It was fun. I introduced them to my 6 step guide Cut Glue Stick Build Embellish Varnish.  Can be done with wrapping paper but obviously it's more fun to do it using your own design!

From Sketch to Colour to Mixed Media

Add caption

Dibbling and Dabbling at my Painting

When I came back from Portugal after Flora Bowley's class I started another fairly big canvas.. (here's my paintings from this workshop). I dibbled and dabbled with different styles of putting on the paint - styles that Flora really encouraged us to use, to step out of our comfort zone and "get our paint on".   It has been about 5 weeks since I returned and every day (pretty much) I dabble with this painting.  It has transformed in front of me.  What once looked like a Koala bear, sometimes a Rabbit, has now, I believe, become a silhouette of a lady.  It's not quite there yet.  But as I dabble every night at my easel, which is in my bedroom looking out onto our garden, it tempts me to paint, even for just 20 minutes, to add another layer, to see a different take on it.  

Here's the process: 

I have perhaps missed a few photos of the process but you get the gist don't you?

I'm really loving her.

Here's my latest canvas in Jules Dolly Healing Stylee.

She's called: "It's all OK".

Happy Monday
Jules xx

Cameras are my Friend

When it comes to cameras and taking photos, I tend to point and shoot.   I have had a real yen to learn just some fundamentals about photography and taking pictures of my work.  So it was fantastic to have the opportunity to attend a short workshop run by Dot-Art in Liverpool called Introduction to Photographing your Art.  Elaine Stapleton from Insight Photography was the workshop facilitator and I really liked her presentation style and how she managed to pack quite alot in to a short few hours.  

For me, it answered some really simple questions.  We had some theory which was necessary (and not boring at all).   The basics for photographing your art, where to take pictures, how to "Fill the Frame" (that's my new favourite phrase now), zooming in on the photograph whilst on the camera to see the pixelation (there, another big word - am I a photographer yet?!?).  How to create prints from your work, copyright, ideal paper to use for different finishes and the best printer on the block in Liverpool if you want professional prints done without the hassle of using your own printer.  So much more but you would have gone if you wanted to know, right?

Phew... I'm needing a break. Here are some photos I took during the workshop - items were just on hand that Elaine had brought. I realised that I have a slight tendency to lean and shake ... so I may need to use a tripod when photographing a painting in order to avoid the slight shake rattle and roll that I have.  

I just love this colour purple

In photography, you would avoid the horizontal line of the table, meeting wall, but I kinda like it. 

A little arty but just testing it all out

Elaine even covered a little bit about Photoshop and I hadn't realised just how I need to get to grips with it, for watermarking my prints, organising my own headers for blogs and for manipulating paintings to get to the right colour pallet.  It was a real eyeopener.  I realised I had to organise my files better and make good use of the external hard drive I have and to always have a original set of prints saved.

So I left.

I was buzzing.  

I felt really buoyed up. 

I have never left a workshop in such a bonny and bouncy mood, (apart from Flora's in Portugal! see here) 

I loved working with my camera.  

I loved working with other people, loved learning about creative arts and meeting new people.  It was just great. This was the first time I had 'come out' of my studiobedroom and into Liverpool.  I feel there will be more of this.  

I came home and started snapping.  Whoever/whatever was around got snapped.  Here's what I took, using some basic things Elaine mentioned.  I have still a looooooong way to travel, but for now, I'm pleased with some basic concepts and I can PLAY with it all!!

Happy smiley blue eyes.

and of course her Majesty has to be in it somewhere (note the guitar in the background, I have started playing again! Yay!

I have also realised something quite big about my Reiki Healing which I'll talk about soon.

In the meantime, love to you

Jules xxx

Blooming Magical

I'm just gathering my self together to reflect on my trip to Estoril, Portugal.  

Where to start?  I'll start with the kitchen window as this just made me take a breath.... Oh to have windows that open inwards (why do they not do that in the UK? )   I was staying in a lovely Portuguese guest house apartment above Margarida's language school and it really was so charmingly lovely...  

I took the time before the workshop to write, journal, rest and recharge before Flora Bowley's Bloom True workshop, which took place in Margarida Alberty's  Art Studio.  

It was all just truly bloomingly lovely.  

Effortlessly, Flora coached us to not fear the blank canvas, to move with music and to begin by mark-making.  Such FUN.   I have never done anything like this before.  I have never been to an art class, nor have I painted 'large'.  She also planted the seed of non-attachment within a painting. What she meant by this was - to 'let go' within the painting and to not become attached to parts of the painting but to BE BOLD and MOVE forward as the painting constantly changes.  We were always turning the painting, to see what we could see, from another direction.  We also spent time looking back, from the other side of the room and this had a huge impact on me.  

In fact, it was quite an Aha Moment!

I reconnected with an urgency to paint and to have Flora's experience by my side, it was just wonderful.  We were only 9 in the class, so we had so many opportunities to watch her, ask her and just bathe in the lushness of her artistic flair.  

Changes to canvases were happening by the minute!

At the end of day one. Phew, that was some painting class.  

10am till 7pm

 

I began to see swirls and circles wherever I walked that night.  This was the local supermarket boarding.

Watching Flora paint was meditative, to say the least.

After 2 days, one of my canvases looked like this.  I would have liked to spend more time on this piece but I think I may leave her now and start on a new canvas, a much bigger one and just 'go for it'.  I love painting this way and I'm sure it will add to my Jules Dolly Art, but this releases another part of me that I never knew about!

My two finished pieces.  

Our group: (Margarida is taking the pictures) 

To complete the weekend, we went to a lovely Portuguese restaurant where we laughed and laughed (and enjoyed some sangria!)

I'm still floating and there's more for me to reflect upon, but I felt that I wanted to post my initial, raw, thoughts from the workshop in Portugal.  Thanks Flora, Thanks Margarida and Thank you creative spirits that were in the group.

Off to Portugal

Flora Bowley

On Wednesday I'm off to Portugal.  Take a breath Jules... it has come round sooo quickly and I'm not quite prepared for what I'm about to do.

I'm going to Bloom True, to take a 2 day workshop with Flora Bowley.  I have loved and do love her work and I'm pretty excited to be learning a different stylee of painting.  Having had no real painting tuition, we're going to be completing 2 big canvases (by big, around 75cmx75cm).   Wow.  How on earth am I going to get them home on Easy Jet.

I had really wanted to go on the Do What You Love Retreat in Yorks organised by Beth Nicholls, which happened recently, and from the feedback from my friend DillyBoo Swirly Girl that looked amazing (Flora did a 3 day workshop there) Check out Dilly Boo's painting, it's amazing!  So I saw the workshop that was suddenly put on in Portugal and in talking it over with Will, decided that it could be a real retreat for me.  A Re-Treat.   So I'm going Wednesday, returning Monday and will have 2 days on my own there, 2 days to explore Lisbon and the area where I'm staying, which I think is called Estoril?  I'll be back on Monday and hopefully have in my possession 2 canvases.  Here's hoping so. xx

A bit about Flora Bowley: 


She is an internationally celebrated painter, teacher, inspirationalist, and world traveler. Flora believes there are no mistakes in the creative process and strives to do something new in every piece.  Her unique process of layering free-flowing color with natural forms and expressive mark-making combine to create lush paintings born from the present moment; chaotic, subtle, mystical and ever-changing.  

Flora lives and works full-time as a painter in Portland, OR, where she is inspired by magical forests, abundant gardens and a thriving community of fellow artists. Throughout the year, Flora enjoys traveling, painting, and teaching her “Bloom True” workshops in colorful locations around the world.  Her work can be found in numerous galleries and also on a variety of unique products made in collaboration with the uber-groovy paper goods company, Papaya.  She is currently working on a top-secret book due to be released in the Spring of 2012.

One of Flora's many paintings "Deep Peace"

Jules Dolly Workshop Success

Anyone who delivers workshops know that the preparation and toolkit required can be quite hefty.  I have spent my fair share over these last 10 years delivering and facilitating workshops within employment and within my own self employment. Workshops based on a self-development theme, e.g. Vision Board, lots of activities that require preparation and group work.

However, it NEVER ceases to amaze me how much stuff I take to a Healing Art Workshop! 

I love it!  

The colour and the textures, the shapes and the smells.  

I have a checklist and tick things off as I gather my supplies.  Never forgetting incense, my playlist and ipod speakers plus my tibetan symbols to clear the energy.   Setting up, the room looked like a children's tea-party.  I was only able to access the room an hour before, and boy, could I have done with 2 hours? Yep!

It looked great.  Coverings on the floor, coverings on the back of each seat and lovely wash away tablecloths.  

All our 8 ladies turned up, 2 from Lytham St Anne's near Blackpool, 2 from Kirkham, near Preston, and 4 from Liverpool.  I was so excited to share the process.

After introductions, I asked everyone to write down their worry on a post it note and sealed it in a silver foil dish.  Anything that may have been troubling them: "Am I good enough to do this?" "Will I find my way home after", "I should be spending time doing something else today".  Whatever their worry (and some wrote a few), they all were popped into the foil dish to be put to one side and with the aim that it would not be at the forefront of their mind during the day.  

Funny, I forgot to ask if they wanted their worry back at the end!  Maybe they wanted to take someone else's home with them?!!  

In clearing up, I put the foil dish in the bin bag - so noone gets any worries!!

 

Things got well under way and before we knew it, everyone was getting stuck in, preparing their background with collage material, tissues, papers, felt, fabric.  They had all brought a rich supply of their own, which was wonderful.   This was an introduction, however some of the ladies had done collage before, scrapbooking, acrylics, and we even had an art school grad in the mix.  So in using my Jules Dolly template everyone created such a different end result.  Don't you just LOVE it when that happens?

We had to break for lunch, and it gave everyone a chance to have a walk around the wildflower centre, visit the little gift shop and enjoy the break in the rainy clouds - they were so kind to us yesterday, just when we stopped for lunch.  

You know what it's normally like when you go to workshops, everyone drags themselves back into the afternoon session, feeling the affects of the lunch, people tend to droop.  Not this GANG! Oh no!

They were back in before our lunch time had finished and eager to carry on with their dolly canvas.

The room was a real healing zone - a meditative space - contemplation was happening.  At times there was chatter, certain moments I would be talking, guiding, visiting each of them to assist and advise.  Other points in the afternoon, we listened to music, and it was quiet.  Blissful Healing Art in the Make.  

I was so taken aback by what they achieved.  In an Hour and Half just as we stopped for lunch, they had formed their background and fixed Dolly Template.  In the afternoon, they steamed ahead and by 3.30, they were finishing off and signing their names.  Truly Remarkable.    

Magic happens when healing art is given the space to appear.  I felt that happen yesterday and I'm sure they did too.  So before I write far too much - here's a round-up of all the lovely ladies and their finished paintings.  

Becky

Sheila

Tracy

Julie

Julia

Kay

Morag

Debbi

It was a special day.  

I'm planning the next one and the next one and the one after that.

With love

Jules xx