This post is mainly about my experience of the Bloom True on-line painting class I have been taking for the last 5 weeks led by Flora Bowley but before I start sharing my experience of the class I have a new treasure chest to share with you. I am still processing my holiday photos from the spring and this short video focuses on our visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Cambodia, Land of Temple, Road and Lake from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of my Bloom True journey just to say its been fabulous - the course has been holistic rather than only about painting and painting techniques and this has worked well, engaging your whole being, body, mind and spirit, in the process. Throughout the course I worked on two paintings and I am going to illustrate the story of one of them from start to finish. Flora's technique is based on adding many, many layers to each painting and practicing non- attachment and intuitive painting to further each canvas - much harder than it sounds!

My first painting started like this

Then progressed to this

Followed by this

Then this

and this

Still going!

nearly there now!

and finally!

I'm not of course absolutely guaranteeing that it is the final final version, so watch this space! What of the other painting I hear you ask - well having been through a tree phase its current iteration is an elephant which I am not loving, lets just say it has a way to go!

I have just started Kat Sloma's course 'A Sense of Place'. In this first week Kat has posed the question 'Do you travel to photograph or photograph as you travel?'

Thinking about this question I realise I photograph as I travel. However I try to take my camera with me most days as you never know what unexpected treasure you are going to find, even when you are somewhere you know well.

Both these sets of pictures were taken during an impromptu lunch hour walk last summer.

I derive a lot of pleasure from coming upon things unexpectedly so would not always want to plan my travels around things I have identified that I really want to photograph. I also think taking photos of famous monuments is often very difficult, unless you are able to spend days in preparation. Thus my recent photos of Angkor Wat were not particularly successful whereas I was really pleased with a picture of the captain of our boat on Halong Bay that I couldn't have planned for in the same way.

Similarly my attempts to capture the Temple of Literature in Hanoi weren't crowned with success but I was very happy with the pictures I took of some of the young people I saw there.

When I came to look for photos to illustrate this point, I realised I had already deleted most of the more general views of the Temple of Literature!

It will be interesting to see whether, as I get more deeply involved with photography, my perspective changes on this!

Blooming True and Other Stories

A Sense of Place - Week ONe