Simply Draw & Paint it
Hi !
Here I share my thoughts about living a creative life, about how I found more and more fun and joy in making art and looking for creativity by getting rid of my demons like fear, perfectionism, what-might-other-people-think, ugliness (what’s that anyway?), Art with a big A, dogma’s …. Everybody is an artist and everybody is creative!
Please feel free to share your story in the comments in my posts! I read all the comments and I would love to hear from you!
Tell me your story here: info @ barbaraluel.com
Draw. Write. Think. Survive. Aleppo.
On creating a meaning of life... The year is stumbling across the finishing line, which is always a great time to reflect on how things are going, and planning for the year ahead. How was your year 2016? Mine was great: just came home from a holiday in Japan... You...
Know your enemy
Hello my dear! I'm packing my bags to go on a sketching holiday in Japan. Packing my bags and leaving home always brings up tons of questions as well as fear and a feeling of guilt. My inner critic cries out loud that I should stay at home, work a bit more. Did I work...
Drawing changes lives. Why do I draw?
"Drawing Changes Lives" This month of October is the Big Draw International festival ! So I HAVE TO create a blogpost about drawing... (by the way, does someone know who has drawn this great cartoon? I found it on the internet and would like to credit the great...
How about some joy in the caring of people with dementia?
Today, 21st September, is International day of Peace, but also World Alzheimer's Day ! My grandmother on my mother's side suffered from dementia. (Alzheimer is a form of dementia) As you read probably on my website, I volunteer in an art workshop for people with...
A fresh new start! What are you up to for the “new year”?
Hello my dear! What have you been up to lately? And how are you? I hope all is for the best! I haven’t written for a while, being busy with summer time. Summer time’s a welcome break in the busy working year. Days are long, weather is (supposed to be) good, we have a...
First things first, make important difference
What is your "Urgent", and what is your "Important" stuff? And do you take mindful time for it? It's not always easy to make the difference between important and urgent things. Usually the urgent matters relate to what other people expect from you, and they do have to...
Preparing art supplies to go Urban Sketching
Half of the fun of a holiday or of a happy event is the time before: the joy of imagining the journey, the joy of the preparation and the planning part. I find it actually often more fun than the trip or holiday in itself. My imagination is often more powerful than...
How about some vulnerability? What do you REALLY want?
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
― Brené Brown
The ideal urban sketching tool
Hello my lovely sketchers! Ready to go urban sketching at the international Urban Sketchers symposium in Manchester this July 2016? Do you also find your handbag always too heavy? Walking around all day with sketching material can become quite a hassle, the...
You’re an artist ! *
Hello my dear! You're an artist!* *But perhaps you don't know it yet. You just need to be curious about something, and that "something" can be anything, according to art critic Will Gompertz in his last book "Think like an artist". Creativity isn't a privilege of the...
How to watercolor a baby elephant
Hello there! Thank you for popping by to read! I just made my second tutorial video : a watercolor painting of a baby elephant 🙂 This fantastic animal, Kai-Mook was born in Antwerp zoo in 2009. This painting I make is a remake of a painting I made at that time....
5 mistakes to avoid to improve your painting
Hi everybody! I read an interesting article in an art magazine about how to learn to paint. This inspired me for this blog post and I want to share some insights with you. But most important tip of all that wasn't mentioned in the article: for the sake of your...
Finding Your Perfect drawing Line
"Which road do I take?" asked Alice. "Where do you want to go?" asked the Cheshire Cat. "I don't know" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter", said the cat. [Lewis Caroll] Today I'm 44 and still full of doubts, not knowing where I want to go... Looking for my Perfect...
“How to” or my way to paint a watercolor Landscape
Hello my dear ! I made my very first "how to" video! 🙂 I hope you like it! It surely could be better, especially the explanation, as my husband told me he doesn't get how to paint it with my explanations....... 😉 Good test! I also had trouble to find a good...
5 ways to screw up your creativity
When we are a child, we are creative without fear of being judged, without fear of making mistakes, not tortured yet by perfectionism... just painting and being creative! We are vulnerable in our authenticity, not pretending to be anybody else. What happens next when...
Let’s live our creative life
We are getting up every day, doing what is expected from us, and then we go back to sleep again, and this we call life. We sabotage our creativity without noticing it, because we imitate what others have done before us, what we were educated to do, and we think it has...
How about some urban sketching?
Did you already try urban sketching? If not: check out the blog urbansketchers.org I haven't always been so confident with sketching in public.... Some urban sketching meetings helped me to get over the fear of people watching me sketching. If you haven't tried urban...
