February Fun

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun”                        -  Mary Lou Cook

Here in England it is wintery and grey with a frosty February still on the doorstep, but this one is going to be a fun one. Why? It's a month filled with little creative projects to inspire and enthuse!
The course starts on 1 February and is the only Creative Leap course offered in 2017 before it will become a publication later in the year.

Interested? Here's some more information:

Welcome to Creative Leap. 

This alternative art course consists of twenty six mini projects and four bigger art projects designed to kickstart creativity and promote original thinking.

For the month of February, creative projects linked to a wide selection of themes connected to the letters of the alphabet will be shared on the Explore Colour course page daily. Familiar symbols and shapes are the links to promote out of the box thinking and enticing ideas to expand your creative practice.

Key elements in this course are observing and drawing. The course is designed to expand concepts of thinking and observing by means of bite size daily exercises.
Over the weekends Este will also be offering live demonstrations of the bigger art projects explaining different art techniques. These are linked to the precious week's mini projects and are an optional addition to the basic course.
The live demos will happen every Saturday during February for an hour, within a Facebook private group exclusively for Creative Leap participants.

This course is suitable for artists and designers of all levels and experience.
The course is created to promote individual development and experimentation, useful as a daily exercise or to be done in more depth over a longer periods.
PDF documents can be downloaded to do the projects at a later stage.
Creative Leap costs £95 and registration closes on 31 January.
Sign up: http://www.explorecolour.com/course-info
If you have any questions about the course please email me at creativeleap@estemacleod.com

Other February news:

Over the last few months I have been working on new paintings for exhibitions and events coming up. 

In February my work can be seen at the Brussels Affordable Art Fair from 17-20 February where I will be represented by Will's Art  I am also taking part in the Winter exhibition at Iona House Gallery 

Other galleries where my work can be seen at the moment include Red Rag Gallery, Golden Hare Gallery, Gallery Top and The Biscuit Factory.

Prints are regularly added to my Etsy page, and cushions are available from Wraptious. I am doing a year long creative challenge, posting daily drawings on Instagram along with new projects and paintings.

With colourful greetings

Este

Welcome to 2017!

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'  - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Wishing everyone a Healthy and Happy 2017!

(Here's a video of the creating process made from the words 'Love, Peace and Joy')

The Year Ahead

2016 was a very productive year, and 2017 will probably be similar: apart from several gallery exhibitions and fairs in Europe and the UK where I will be represented by Wills Art Warehouse, I am having my annual Open Studio event over the last weekend of April (the Bank Holiday weekend in England). I am very excited about the hand painted needlepoint designs from a selection of my images that now available from Melissa Shirley.

Wraptious will shortly be releasing their new catalogue where six of my paintings will be available as cushions. There are a few more collaborations in the pipeline, including wrapping paper, textiles, kitchenware and a book publication... more on this later. 

Apart from bigger projects I will also be doing daily postings on my Instagram account of little drawing based on random facts, notable dates, people and other things that take my fancy.

Explore Colour Art Courses

Always be open to inspiration. You never know where it may come from. Begin with an open mind, end with an inspired heart. - Sheri Fink

Creative Leap and Explore Colour: The Still Life Course can now be booked with an early bird offer until 3 January 2017. I am also working on a new course to focus on new art techniques and different acrylic mediums using Golden's A-Z paint sets. Dates for this course will be released in coming months. 

Creative Leap is a month long course suitable for anyone regardless of artistic ability. The course can be done in a sketchbook with pencil, pen, watercolour or ink, but it can be done more intensely as well using materials demonstrated in artworks. The course will make you explore alternative ways to observe and create. You will develop your drawing ability and artistic vigour. In addition to the twenty six daily mini projects I will be giving live demonstrations on the weekends within the exclusivity of the Facebook closed group. 

Booking via Explore Colour

Comments from two previous students:
Este, thank you ! Your course is wonderfully balanced and productive, and exactly what I needed right now. I am especially grateful to you for reawakening my joy in drawing, plus so much else. Many ideas to pursue... -  A HThank you Este for creating a wonderful course. I have enjoyed every day. It has certainly given me food for thought, lots of new techniques and inspiration for my stained glass painting. Its also been fun being part of the Creative Leap Facebook community and sharing and seeing all the work. - J L

Prizedraw!

On Christmas day I created a prize draw on my Facebook page - I invited people to comment on the video post of the day and have drawn the two winners. Congratulations to Debbie Carter who said she'd like to do the course with Carolyn McGill. Both win a place on the upcoming Creative Leap course.

I will be giving away another place on my Instagram account. Follow #estemacleod for daily updates.

Colourful greetings,

Este