Bank Holiday Monday - hurrah

Our last Bank Holiday now until Christmas......and it seems like summer has well and truly left us. Although I think I glimpse the sun trying to come out.

Here's the latest video from Wyanne.......I love this painting.

Have a fun day wherever you are.

Helen xox

Do what you love

Jim sent me an email this morning with a quote from Steve Jobs which I just have to share. It is very inspirational. I also urge you to either read his speech or watch it on You Tube as it is amazing.

Here's the quote;

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

As Steve says....Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

xox

And the painting continues

Did a bit more to the painting last night, Need to add more yellow leaves but enjoying the playing about with it.

Saw some random acts of kindness last night on the commute home from London. Restores my faith that people will still help each other out.

Have a good day xx

Flower power

I've added some more flowers and things to the painting, but still have more to do. It's funny how in a painting there are some things you love and they are usually a result of a happy accident.

Feeling quite emotionally drained as the last few days have taken it out of me, so the comfort of painting is doing me good.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Helen xx

A painting in progress

Here is a glimpse of the painting I started yesterday. Really not sure where this is heading, but I am just enjoying the process to see where it takes me. I played about with different techniques and I enjoyed it. I must remember to let go of worrying about the final result and embrace the creation of the final painting.

A glimpse of a painting in progress from Helen Mills on Vimeo.

Here's to a better week this week than the one I have just had.

Happy Monday to you all xx

Healing with my paints

I've had a tough few days and yesterday my beautiful cat Pipa sadly had to be put to sleep - it was probably one of the most heart breaking things I have had to do. At almost 17 she had a good innings and was a real character and this picture below that Jim took really sums her up. I will miss her so very much.

So today I am taking some time out for me and starting on a new painting I want to hang in my bedroom. I need some artwork to compliment the white walls and as there is green in the room I need to do a green coloured picture.

I have no idea where it will lead or how it will turn out. I hadn't intended on using brown but sometimes a painting tells you what it wants and I am going with that. I also wanted a folk art style picture, but I will just go with the flow.

I am grateful for the friends and family I have right now who are being so supportive to me. Anyone who is an animal lover will understand how I am feeling.

Wishing you all a good weekend..

Take care

Helen xox

Hurrah for Fridays

I've noticed that when I am feeling overwhelmed with things then I tend to go quiet. And that is what is happening at the moment.

I hope that normal service will be resumed shortly.

In the meantime I started a painting last night which must surely be a positive thing and here's a picture of the paints and inks all lined up to be used.

I hope you have a fab weekend.

Helen

Karrie Evenson

This is a long video but if you get some time it's great to watch. Karrie has a really natural style and I love the freedom and ease at which she paints.....and such bold colours too!

We should learn from the past

Yesterday I mentioned how disgusted I was at the events happening in London. These have unfortunately spread across the country and mindless youths are being sheep like and jumping on the rioting bandwagon.

As I went to bed last night I thought about my dear Dad who would have some wise words to say about the current situation. And I missed being able to give him a call and chat to him. We could always have a good debate and it's such a shame that now I am older and hopefully wiser, I can't sit down with him over a cuppa and listen to him.

A comment Valerie made on my blog yesterday made me think about my Dad. He was brought up in the war and lived in a council flat where community spirit was high. Everyone looked out for each other and more importantly cared for each other. They respected their elders and of course the police.

My Dad worked hard all his life. He always told us that he had to put newspaper in his shoes to fill in the holes, that he had to wear shorts in winter as his family couldn't afford long trousers and that he had to help bring up his brothers and sister.

He studied to be an accountant by way of an apprenticeship and even set up and run a loan club where in those days money was hard. He met my mum and they bought our house and had little furniture...he frequently told us that they sat on a plank of wood across two milk crates as they couldn't afford a sofa. And throughout his life he worked for what he had. We were not rich, but comfortable, and now being older I can see how much he did for us.

Mum worked too from being in service, to a printer and then when my brother and I were little, she worked part time in a greengrocers. When her feet couldn't take it any longer and we were in our teens, she went back to college to study book keeping. Both my parents worked hard to provide for us.

They also disciplined us without fail and this was in the days where a smack was acceptable and you didn't back chat your parents.

As a society we are too weak. We worry about being sued. We can't do this or we can't do that and there is too much political correctness. Jim was telling me that when his 4 and half year old daughter Daisy starts school in September he has been told she is not allowed to help a child up if she falls, but instead get a teacher. And he questioned this, as Daisy is a really caring little girl. How on earth are we to bring up our children to be caring and loving, when those in authority who they are supposed to respect, stop them from being able to care and tell them they cant.

Just what sort of a society are we creating. Oh yes that's right....a society that loots and riots and is violent to those people who work hard, pay their taxes and want to invest in their future.

God help us!

What is this world coming to?

I had an early night last night and I woke up this morning to see footage and pictures of London in flames.

I am disgusted and saddened by everything that is happening in my home town. Where I was born and raised to treat people with love and respect. Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

And in the news I see pictures of thugs not brave enough to show their faces but brave enough to throw firebombs, bricks and other items to harm their neighbours and police.

I have never expressed my political views on here but today I feel the urge. In the days of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher they both had wars and strikes and financial crisis's to deal with, but they also had strength, courage and did not give in to pressures. They stood tall and proud. I feel our government could learn a lot from them both.

I hope everyone who is in an area that is affected is safe and lets pray that these riots end as quickly as they have started.

Linda Baker

I have this technique on a list of things to try when I get more time. I love the effect and it looks amazing and such fun.

Hope you had a good weekend. I saw family, spent it with Jim and the kids, cooked, tidied, de-cluttered, altered a dress and lots of other things that I had been putting off for a while.

Healthy Turkey Burgers

Last night I tried a new recipe for turkey burgers and I couldn't believe how delicious they were. I've not tried them before so was a bit dubious. The recipe came from a Weight Watchers book and each burger is worth 4 points. However, the recipe said it makes 4 burgers but I easily got 5 out of them, so that would make each burger 3.5 points (well it's 3.2 but WW works in halfs).

Anyway, as they were so lovely I thought I would share the recipe. And may I say, these are so quick to make that it's perfect for a quick meal with salad.

What you'll need

500g Turkey mince

Small onion - the recipe said grated but I preferred it chopped

Clove garlic crushed - I used a cheats garlic as I had run out of real garlic, so just a little squirt was all I used

Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

Pinch of black pepper

Tablespoon of mild chilli relish

Low fat spray

After I chopped the onions I added them to the mince along with all the other ingredients and gave it a real good stir.

Once it's all combined divide it into 4 or 5 burgers. Heat a pan and spray with the low fat cooking oil.

Add the burgers and flatten each one slightly. Cook over a a steady medium heat for about 5 mins each side. It says if you over cook them they will become dry. I am always worried about undercooking white meat, so I did end up giving them a little longer and they were not dry at all.

As I was having salad with this, I had par boiled some new potatoes, covered them in garlic and a bit of butter (not healthy I know) and then cooked in the oven for about 30 mins on gas 6.

I also added some bacon to the top. Again, not overly healthy but I had bacon I needed to use up and I am glad I did!

So there you have it. There is a burger under that bacon I promise. Jim loved these so much and he is a real red meat eater and as I am not a beef burger fan I wasn't sure if I would, but they were incredibly delicious. I would definitely make these again and also for a BBQ too!

Hope you enjoy these if you decide to make them and I would be interested to know your thoughts on them.

Happy Saturday!

Happy Friday!

I'm relieved it's Friday. It's been a busy week and also really humid here in London. It makes commuting hideous.

I am looking forward to being with my wonderful Jim, the children, family and of course my art supplies.

Hope you have a good weekend too!

Exhibiting

Over the past year I have had a few opportunities to exhibit my art work but they have all fallen through for various reasons. The last time I was geared up to exhibit and promote my artwork the venue decided that they were not going to do this anymore (it was a well known pub in London that exhibited artwork on a monthly basis). So I kind of gave up.

I was contacted this week by the local council inviting the art group (which has sadly disbanded) into exhibiting in the foyer of their local theatre which has a good footflow. It's all in talks at the moment as this is a new initiative for them, but regardless whether they choose to go ahead or not I have decided that I will find somewhere to exhibit my work - art and photography. It's a step I have wanted to take for a while now and it's about time I did.

This does mean that I have to create lots of paintings and take lots of photo's- such a hard life!

Just can't get it right

I am finding this really hard and I don't know why. This scene is completely from my head and if I hadn't painted like this before, then I would think that is the problem.

I started to use a brush on the sky but I wasn't getting the look I was after. So I returned to the palette knife which was how I started off the painting and started laying on paint. Then I had an accident and smudged white paint on the dark part of the sky, so ended up painting over it. But I suddenly started painting really bold and slapped the paint on. I loved doing it. I had fun - which is the main thing - but I am still not happy with it. It feels like I have been painting this forever. I had to stop to let the paint dry as I was just smudging it all over the place.

Close up of the textures in the sky

So I left it for another night. I want to start on another painting but if I do then I know that this one will never be finished.

I'll get there I'm sure!

Wyanne

This is probably one of my favourite paintings that Wyanne has done. I hope you enjoy!

A new week....

I didnt' get much of a chance to be arty this weekend as I wasn't well for most of the time....and then there is always the annoying 'other stuff' to do when I started to feel better. But I plan to do some this week. I bought some new canvases ready for my paint free class and I can't wait to get stuck into the lessons.

I miss painting but I also have so much planning to do with other aspects of my life that time just runs away. If only I wasn't working full time eh!

I hope you all had a good weekend and that you also have a great week ahead too!