Sparkles to Share

Family

This has been a very family orientated week with my niece's baby shower on Sunday and my son's graduation from the University of York on Wednesday ( if the chancellor looks familiar its Greg Dyke). Both were lovely occasions and really made me count my blessings.

Books

A book that I have been reading off and on for a while, and have just finished, is 'Steal Like an Artist' by Austin Kleon. Lots of good stuff here and I have decided to keep a log book as suggested by Austin. This is not a journal but rather 'a little book in which you list the things you do every day'. I kept a gratitude diary for over a year so am hoping to combine the log book idea with this and make sure I capture the 'sparkling moments' in my log book, or in my case log app as I hate writing!

Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told Me About the Creative Life

By Austin Kleon

Discovery

This week I signed up for anew e-course, the Renaissance Woman's Tool Box. I spotted the link on Kelly Rae Roberts sponsor page and before I knew it had signed on the dotted line. I have been majoring on art and photography courses this year so this is something a little different. Starts next week - very exciting!

Photography

I am lucky enough to either run courses or attend events at Hilliers Gardens where as well as displays of plants and shrubs, they also often have 'Art in the Garden' exhibitions. I only had about 15 minutes to nip out and take photographs on Monday but it was well worth it.

I really love delphiniums, but they are a flower you don't see a lot of so I was thrilled to see this display.

Even without the 'geraniums red' they bought this poem to mind - this is just an extract

“There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And all the day long he’d a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).”

— A A Milne

See you next week, and in the meantime do share your own sparkling moments in the comments section.

Introducing Week of Sparkles

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”

— Henry Miller

Today I'm trying out what I hope will become a regular feature on my blog 'Week of Sparkles', where I share with you some of my sparking moments of the week and would love it if you would share some of yours in the comments section. Anyway, here goes!

Film

I have been watching an amazing documentary about British photojournalist Don McCullin. It has been hard to watch as he has documented some terrible atrocities, but what gives the sparkle is the way in which his soul and his integrity shine through the horror he is capturing and the fact that someone has had the courage to record what has happened gives hope to the world in the long term.

“I don’t just take photographs, I think”

— Don McCullin

I saw this on the BBC as part of the Imagine series, so it is probably available on iPlayer, otherwise you can get it from Amazon.

McCullin [DVD]

Starring Don McCullin

Discovery

Stuff about the demise of google reader had been all over the net this week with various people suggesting replacement programmes. I didn't use google reader and to be honest I wasn't sure (and still don't know) exactly what it did. I have never been really good about keeping up with other people's blogs and always felt vaguely guilty about it, mostly reading the few that were delivered into my in box. So I decided to give Bloglovin' a try and I'm really lovin' it! It works brilliantly. especially when using the app on my phone or iPad, and makes it quick and easy to keep up with everyone's blogs. You can find it here or by clicking on the Bloglovin' button on the sidebar of this page.

Books

As always I have more than one book on the go, but this weeks sparkle winner is 'Life is a Verb' by Patty Digh. I love the way she interweaves the stories of her life with her quest to live 'each individual, glorious day with more intention', though I have to admit I haven't been doing the exercises, something to go back to perhaps?

Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally

By Patti Digh

Photography

Limited opportunities here this week but I did go to London for an appointment and afterwards got my camera out on the walk between Oxford Circus tube station (having learned that getting the camera out of its bag helps immeasurably with the process of taking pictures!) and one of my favourite clothes shops. These are my favourites of the pictures I took.

I really wanted to see this couple sitting at this cafe!

I loved the fabric on this bag that someone was carrying!

I was intrigued watching this guy prepare the mixture for the bubble pipes outside a Moroccan cafe ( you can catch a glimpse at the right hand side of the bike photo) - I'm sure there is a whole terminology surrounding this, but I have no idea what it is.

I love reading the blue and in this case green plaques on the London buildings. I especially love the idea of a 'Man of Science' even though I have no clue as to who he was. I was getting my husband to proof read this and he was horrified by my ignorance as his college science society was named after him as an alumnus.

I thought this new cafe looked really cool with its iPad on every table and a lovely condiment tray.

These were some of my sparking moments of the week - I would love to hear about yours

A Little Painting ...............

Back home for a couple of days between French holiday and the Somerset art retreat and have realized that what with all the pack and unpacking, son packing for university and general stuff do do after a holiday I am not going to get a blog post written about France anytime soon. So instead, and with the upcoming art retreat in mind, I thought I’d share with you some of the painting I have been doing over the last few weeks.

The inspiration is Mati Rose McDonough’s book Daring Adventures in Paint. Mati takes you through a series of lessons and techniques, each building on the last, until in the final lesson you can use all the techniques in the book. I think it works very well as a guide and like most good things you can take from it what you need, adapting the techniques to your preferences and tastes.

So far I have done three pictures all of which are new departures for me, building on the techniques in the book. I would welcome your comments.

Back after the art retreat so excited about it!