Inspired Naturally – Kate MacAndrew, artist and school workshop leader based in Derbyshire

Hello everybody, I’m back! I think I’d temporarily forgotten how long and tiring moving house is! We have literally not stopped since the end of last week and, even now, we have a few boxes left to unpack. However, the new house is fantastic: situated in a beautifully rural village, open countryside around us and very friendly neighbours. What more could you ask for?! The photo above (sorry about the poor lighting) shows the new wooden sign and clay birds I bought especially for the new house. The sign is from this lovely Etsy shop and the birds from here. I’m hoping things will start to settle down soon so I can dedicate more time to writing posts and also to my artwork. I feel I have been neglecting actually making art and this isn’t a good feeling!

Whilst moving here, as we went in search for food during the unpacking of everything, we came across a little market town a few minutes away with a beautiful vintage furniture/accessories shop, an antiques shop and a FANTASTIC French restaurant (so much so that we’re taking some friends there this weekend) I can’t quite believe it’s all on my doorstep – I hope to take some pictures the next time we go so I can share them with you.

 It looks like I’m going to have my work cut out over the next few days – until my next post have a great rest of the week!

The Summer Fete at Shottle Hall, Derbyshire is nearly here! This is an event that I’ve been working up to for some time. It has been organised by Deb, the creator of fabulousplaces and I have been invited to exhibit! If you look, the date of the fete is 16th May…..which is also the date of the London Moonwalk I’m participating in (technically it starts at midnight on 15th) After the initial shock and despair at the thought of actually missing out on exhibiting I have been able to arrange to be represented!  So I will be there in spirit and hopefully physically there at the next show!

The Summer Fete promises to be an excellent day out for all the family so I highly recommend it if you live locally to Derbyshire. I will have many items available, including my popular cotton tote bags, greetings cards and fine art prints.

Changing the subject (quite dramatically!) I wanted to share with you my surprise love of the film below:

Whilst I have quite a broad taste in films: comedy, romance, thriller etc I didn’t, for whatever resaon, feel drawn to going to see Avatar when it was out at the cinemas. My friends and family all said I would like it but I resisted. This last weekend, as I spent time resting like the Doctor ordered I ended up watching Avatar on dvd….      

And. I. Loved. It.   

So much so I watched it again - as someone who has studied Animation for a time at Uni I appreciated the level of special effects and graphics – they are totally out of this world. The world the Na’vi live on is so detailed and stunning, you lose yourself in the film. This level of detail, mixed with a gripping storyline makes it no surprise that the film was/is so successful. So my lesson learnt is not to judge a film until you’ve seen it!

The weekend was also full of more reading and looking at blogs and also receiving these as a ‘Get Well Soon’:

and doing some of this:

As part of my Life List I’m trying to grow my own fruit and veg – I managed to get outside for a few minutes and stake my tomato plants to help support them as they grow. I’m still keeping them indoors overnight so they don’t get caught by the frost. The peppers are yet to be staked because they are no where near as tall yet. I’m enjoying learning how to grow these and there’s something very satisfying about seeing something grow in your care!

It’s Saturday and right now I should be out with my powerwalking friends completing our last long training session before the Moonwalk on 15th May. Instead, I am sat curled up on the sofa feeling extremely frustrated! Despite resting, resting and more resting since seeing the Doctor I am still under the weather. That said, I thought I should take the opportunity while I can, to blog at the weekend! I don’t know about you but I always think weekends go incredibly fast. All week you plan what it is you would like to do, see and get done and when it arrives you either do all those things (and feel exhausted by Sunday evening) or you end up doing other things and wish you had more time. I have got better at organising my weekends – one of the key reasons for this more recently is the fact I’ve had to schedule long walking sessions somewhere to get the mileage up ready for the Moonwalk. After this event I’ll be swapping my mid-week and weekend powerwalks for runs, in preperation for the 4 events I’ve signed up to between now and September.

On a more creative note, I have started progress on my ‘Life List.’ I know it’s a bit earlly for buying tomato and pepper plants if you haven’t got a frost-free greenhouse to keep them in but…… I couldn’t resist! I’ve had these (see photo) for a few weeks now and they have steadily got bigger. Sometime over the weekend they’ll be repotted and moved to a deeper windowsill. I’ve asked people’s advice and I’m planning to plant them outside come the end of May in the hope the frosts will be gone. I’ve also been given some strawberry plants which I’m hoping to find a home for soon.

Enjoy the weekend!

Creating a Life List! ‘What’s that all about?’ I hear you ask! I followed a link off Kelly Rae’s Twitter feed and came across this post. Since finishing Marisa’s e-course I have been thinking a lot about my blog posts and what I’d like to share with every one – there’s always the risk of sharing too much, or worrying you haven’t got anything interesting to say. I’m hoping to grow in confidence about my ability to write interesting and authentic posts. When I read Karen’s thoughts on creating a Life List it resonated with me. I thought, ‘That sounds like fun’  and something I can share with people on my blog – I grabbed a pen and paper and started jotting down a few of my ideas. I tried to think of both big and small ideas so as not to feel too overwhelmed! Here’s what I’ve come with so far:

Learn how to grow my own fruit and veg

Make my own jam/chutney

Go on safari

Visit Rome

Swim with dolphins

Learn how to use a sewing machine

Buy and experiment with a polaroid camera

Write a creative book

Learn how to make pasta

Improve my fitness further and continue completing the Great North Run and other events to raise money for a charity very close to my heart

Create my own e-course one day

Start a running club at one of my local schools I’ve taught at

Go to Paris again

Sponsor a tiger

Ride on a horse across a beach

Learn how to recognise star constellations

Research my family tree properly

Visit Australia

Learn another language

Have my own exhibition

I have just 20 here – these are the thing that came to me straight away - I’m not going to worry about what’s on my list but use the list to inspire me and to remind me what it is I’d like to do. Sometimes with daily life getting in the way we forget what’s really important to us. It’s important to take a step back.

What would feature on your Life List? Go on – give it a go!

P.S The above picture was taken by my iPhone as I watered my new herb container – I love ladybirds!

o, it’s Friday already and I feel like the week’s past so quickly and I haven’t got half as much done as I wanted to! I did do some more work on my cat painting  - I don’t think it’ll be long before I attempt the eye – I’m looking forward to seeing it finished.

One thing that’s happened this week, which I’m very excited about, is being accepted by Deb of fabulousplaces.co.uk as a ‘fabulous’ local artist to Derbyshire and will soon be appearing on her wonderful website. If you do live locally to Derbyshire or Nottingham (which is also now part of the website) I highly recommend you take a look. I’ve lived in Derbyshire all my life but still find fantastic places to visit I didn’t know existed by looking on the site. This will also mean I’ll be exhibiting at the website’s next show, the Summer Fete at Shottle Hall, Shottle, Derbyshire. This event is free to get into and the exhibitor list coming soon is sure to be fantastic.

The image above wasn’t taken this week – it was taken from the car on a recent trip to North Yorkshire – when the weather was gorgeously sunny and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It’s a photo which makes me feel summery just looking at it!

Having had a break from blogging until my new site was up I realise this is my 3rd post in a space of 4 days – I knew I’d have a lot to say when I got back!

iven the fact I have been crazy busy with getting all the info for this blogsite done and trying to keep on top of my ever-growing to-do-list I haven’t updated my painting progress in a while. Having said that, now it’s all about the little details, adding small amounts of texture where it’s needed. This update doesn’t look too different from the last one – these little bits of texture don’t stand out as much as the initial parts of the image. The eye is the bit I’m most looking forward to and I’ve decided to leave it until the very end!

The beautifully designed letter ‘G’ I have used to begin my post is from this site – a great link from Jo’s newsletter  at The Darling Tree.

In other news, I’m reaching the end of a very long program of training for the London Moonwalk on 15th May, raising money for Breast Cancer. Click here to find out more about this fantastic event and here if you’d like to sponsor me! The event begins at midnight and 15,000 people will be walking the 26.2 miles to raise as much money for breast cancer as they can. Last weekend a group of friends and myself who are completing this together walked 14 miles and this weekend is our 16 mile walk – so far we have managed these distances without too many injuries! I received my event number, t-shirt, cap and bra (which we have to decorate for the event) yesterday – it’s all becoming very real now and I’m very excited!

As some of you may know, I signed up to Marisa’s online course In The Fish Bowl: Life as an artist online. It has just finished and, despite having yet to listen to the last installment (due to lack of time!) I feel I have learnt so much. Marisa has the ability to tap into the nitty gritty bits of running and maintaining an online presence  and tackle each stage in a way that feels manageable. I’m looking forward to carving out some much needed quiet time to reflect on each part of the course and move forward with confidence. When signing onto the course I felt I was at an important stage in my business – having just embarked on getting a brand new blogsite started (which I am thrilled with) I felt I needed a little push to really believe in myself and keep going. I have had so many wonderful opportunities in the last year and want to make this year no exception. As my new site shows, my workshops and commissions are a new and very big part of my development and I feel so passionate about them. Marisa’s class has reinforced this passion and reminded me why I do what I do. I am determined to keep doing what I love and to take each day as it comes…. the possibilities are endless! The course also allowed me to become a member of an online community, a part of a group of people all looking to create and be a a part of the online creative world. Meeting these people through their blogs and reading about their journey’s was one of the most inspiring parts of the course and I want to say thank you to them!

On another note, the photo above was taken on one of the first longer evenings here, with the sun staying up that little bit longer – this is my favourite time of year – longer evenings, more sunshine and time to do things outside. I’m really enjoying getting back into blogging, I just think I’ll need to get used to thinking about potential posts on a weekly basis again!