Fine morning for a roadtrip with our wee clan 🤩

18 paintings. 18 paintings since October 2023 18 paintings painted in a live setting - sometimes under hot lights, sometimes outside, usually alongside musicians. All from invitations in various parts of Scotland. I hadn't realised there had been as many. All have a story. All have burned an experience in my heart ill never forget. None were easy. All pushed my physically, creatively, spiritually and creatively. All taught me a lesson or 6. (Not least about checking my ego at the door 😅) All I am incredibly grateful for. If you were around for any of these, thank you. If you were one of the lovely folk who invited and encouraged me, thank you. . . . . . . . . . . . . #scottishartist #liveart #liveartist @refuelfestival @streamscreativehouse @cairnmovement @filling_station_buchan @inspire #reflections #creativelyliving #gig #inspiration #thankful

"Now That We've Found Love What Are We Gonna Do With It?" Triptych  50x70cm x 3  Acrylic on stretched canvas Last weekend i was invited to paint at a conference in Dunfermline. These 3 canvas were painted over a friday evening then 2 saturday sessions in response to what was happening in the space. They each have a story to tell and together another. Ive taken a minute to post them as i couldnt decided whether to share those stories... Ive landed on not... im going to leave these here and ask - What do they say to you? Happy Saturday folks!

Hello! It's been a minute so here are some snippets from the past few days/weeks that caught my eye. Nope I've not caught up on all the art goings ons on here yet.. BUT today I just finished the first layer of a shop sign for a friend AND I'm prepping for a road trip with another friend this Friday to go paint at what is bound to be a crackin conference with @streamscreativehouse @cairnmovement & the community of Aiden and Hilda. Most live painting I've done has been with bands and so is usually fairly time limited so looking forward to joining some art pals for a slower painting pace, vibing with whatever is going on over the 2 days. No idea what I'm painting yet but excited to find out! For those of you who have been following our journey, no we still don't have a house.... so I don't have a studio space at the mo so have had to pull back on art ventures... but we're all healthy and happy and are excited for our next/forever home to be ready for us Happy Monday folks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #scottishartist #aberdeenshire #lossiemouth #actionman #signpainting #daisy #astronaut #artlife #foreverhome #artistlife #livepainting

Acrylic on canvas Live painting @refuelfestival July 2024 Part 2 ! On a castle estate in Fochabers a motley crew of individuals united to bring a festival celebrating their faith and generally encouraging others. There was stuff for every age and background and in the middle was a big stage where fantastic musicians and gifted singers brought their A game, facilitating the party atmosphere and powerful moments that ensued. And I got to be a part of that. I wasn't there all week so just popped up on days I was free but here are a couple of paintings done while @alimcfarlanemusic & @craig_mackay_tfs sang their souls out and blasted some beats. These two paintings are what I created in response to what they sang and played. One painting spoke of surrender and praising even when things are hard. The other about being childlike and grabbing/acccepting blessings and gifts like a child would playing with a loved one Was it easy? Nope Was it fun? Absolutely! Funny story - someone from another part of Scotland met someone I knew recently and starting telling them about the cool art they saw at the festival and how much it meant to them.... they didn't know the person they were talking to was my grampa 🤣 And you know, if that's the only person I encouraged that'd have been worth it 😉 Were any of you there? Let me know below! . . . . . . . . #scotland #scottishartist #paintinginthewild #liveart #refuel24 #refuelfestival #intuitivepainting #creativearts #visualart #artforyoursoul @gordoncastleestate

Acrylic on canvas Live painting @refuelfestival July 2024 We've a lot to catch up on on here!! A couple of weeks ago I spent a couple of days painting at Refuel Festival and its taken me a minute to figure out how to explain what I was up to but I've landed on this - this post is specifically about painting with @streamscreativehouse @cairnmovement I love these guys Not just cos they are some of the loveliest, welcoming folk you could meet. Painting in a tent with a mix of contemplative teachers and academics, social justice warriors and strategists, dancers, musicians and dreamers is quite a thing. Sometimes folk were talking, sometimes folk were playing music, exploring spiritual places through sound and movement. Sometimes the wee tent we were in was packed with the sides open to allow for overflow, sometimes it was a quieter more contemplative crew. The first 2 paintings I did (butterfly and tree) were while folk were talking (like a live podcast!) And the last (the sea eagle flying over water) was during a free style music sesh. All were quite tricky in the time scales, fighting against the heat and humidity at times, and some I took big risks . All were an absolute blast. Painting live is terrifying in some ways because all the tricky bits are right there for folk to see you walk through. And sometimes (read all the time) things don't go as planned and you've very little time to pivot and make it work. But it's also one of the most fun things to do and a fab way to chuck your ego out the window 😅 Praying, feeling out the vibe of the tent and responding to what's happening, responding to the speaker or music, problem solving on the fly, pushing yourself out of you comfort zone and giving the painting over to something bigger than yourself. It's all a ride! And one that I'm so grateful to have been invited to take part in. Thanks @streamscreativehouse , yet again, for letting me serve and play with you all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #scotland #scottishartist #paintinginthewild #liveart #refuel24 #refuelfestival #intuitivepainting #creativearts #visualart #artforyoursoul #butterfly #monarchbutterfly #butterflytattoo #seaeagle

Festival time!! Who's heading to @refuelfestival tomorrow....? The sun is shining, the stages are being built - I'm excited!!! If you are ill be hanging out with some canvases and creative folks (in the widest sense of the word) in one of the tents 😉 Will I tell you which one....? Maybe... or maybe you'll have to turn up and have a nosey in them all to see 😆 I was meant to be there last year with some fellow artists but wifely duties took precedent so I am super excited for this year! I'll only be there tomorrow but be sure to say hello if you see me kickin aboot and if you're there all week I hope you have an absolute blast! (And yes I will be jealous of you...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #refuel24 #refuel2024 #refuelfestival #streamscreativehouse #cairn #celticchurch #chrisitianfestival #wholettheartistsout #roadtrip #liveart #dreams #visions #wonders #expectation #paintinginthewild

You are seen. We're in 'the middle' as a dear friend told me recently. Neither here nor there. Not lost. Just not there yet. When you're in the middle it sometimes feels like your lost. It's disconcerting and unnerving. But words of encouragement from folk who know you and love you go a long way. This week I payed it forward. Encouraging someone with this picture. They weren't in the middle but they are seen. It might not have meant the same as my friends words did to me but that's OK! If you think something nice about someone or for someone please don't keep it in! What good is it to you?! But it might just do all the good for them 😉 (Side note the first time I spoke to my now sister in law was when I saw her somewhere and had to tell her (in a non pervy way) how beautiful she was... she still is btw.... and it was even more worth it for the shock in my now husband's face as I jumped out from next to him, not knowing who she was, to go say hi and compliment her and her friend on their general awesomeness 🤣

Today we moved out. We don't have anywhere to move to.. yet. But we have officially left the first house we bought. It was a crackin' house and we have loads of amazing memories. Today we said our goodbyes and thank yous. We didn't do much to the house (other than the garden which left us a fab bounty on our last day!) but we did turn the downstairs loo into a Utoilety Room and because it was cold we painted it warm orange (which genuinely worked!) Oh and painted some flowers on the walls. 😉 When our wee one turned 5 we had a scavenger hunt for tiny wooden ladybirds hidden around the house. The kids found them fairly quickly... it took me WEEKS to find them all... So obviously we left a couple to greet the new family moving in.

Instagram v reality... When someone catches you setting up for live painting 😆 Thanks @abinalongo for the flattering pics and the cracking music! 😉

Sketchbooks Do you 'book'...?  The Middletons are currently decluttering and packing up ready to move to our next home. An old art mentor of mine always said never throw out the art that got you to where you are.  Now in reality if I'd listened to that I'd have a house filled with papers and boards and all manner of nonsense... 90% of which wouldn't have been fit for outside consumption... the experiments, the learnings, the figuring out a compositions.  And then there's the sketchbooks...  As a kid anytime our family went on holiday we kept a diary and thats something I've continued... sometimes in blog form, sometimes in book. A mix of words, thoughts, clippings, doodles, songs, poems, things that remind me of the experience. Those do not get thrown out. New York, Lisbon, Paris, Canada, Kenya, China, Malaysia, New Orleans, Taiwan, Nepal. The magical, the mundane, the everythings that bring me back to those places. Then theres the day to day.  The ones that are deeply personal - songs I wake up with in my head, images, prayers, gratitudes, griefs.  The ones I carry with me everywhere - I rarely leave the house without a sketchbook. Inspirations, ideas, working through compositions, notes to remember. None of these get chucked. Some of it is gold, some is just pants... but it's decades of journeying and a constant reminder to keep moving forward, embracing the flaws and failures, learning from and moving past them to find the nuggets of 'ahhhh' 😉 . . . . . . . . . #Sketchbooks #Scottishartist #aberdeenshire #dailyartpractice #neverstoplearning #China #Nepal #northamerica #taiwan #diary #aberdeen #Scotland #vancouver #Newyork #lisbon #traveldiary