flora bowley | Leah Quinn Art and Design

Im Starting Module 3 from Do What You Love Design Class and I am STOKED!

There is an amazing website, Do What You Love For Life which continues to inspire me on a weekly basis. Though from over the pond in England, this surface design course (click here to learn more about these most amazing classes) …I have now taken twice since I have been almost too busy working at The Beacon Art Emporium and in operating The Lucky Zen Dog line of 100% certified organic goods.

But alas, one must always keep creative if you are an artist even when you are not creating in ‘your medium’ – whether that be cooking a dinner for your family, to writing a new blog post, to simply taking an artist walk around streets you have never traveled on to be inspired for new works of art you might like to create.

This is what the Do What You Love For Life courses have done for me – re-awaken my spirit, forcing me to create in ways I have not done so prior. It amazes me, and even though I may not like a current design I have drawn up, I do not give up – I am bound to learn something new and exciting if not a new skill.

What is also nice is that even after the course ends, you still have access for some time to review perhaps a week or two that you might have inadvertently missed. This has been life-saver for me, since I felt I missed out a lot, and revisiting the courses have helped me re-ground and to instill a better sense of what the lessons were about.

I have also taken the True Bloom by Flora Bowley online course also available through the Do What You Love For Life website. Flora Bowley runs her own website called Brave Intuitive You where the True Bloom course is also available with sessions starting by January 28th!

This course has completely transformed the way I paint – happily so! In fact just this past holiday season I sold several of my paintings in ‘the new style’ I learned by completing this course, along with a number of my limited edition and signed prints. As a direct result from taking this amazing course I continue to grow as an artist in every medium I create in! Not only that – the people I met throughout the course were extremely supportive of one another and highly encouraging of each others’ artwork – it really helped spur us all on to continue long after the course was completed.

I took the photos of these two pieces while the paint was still wet, and was especially concentrating on not concentrating nor worrying about their outcome as I started the painting process. I started these paintings as part of fun exercises with Flora Bowley’s latest e-course, Bloom True – I am sure there is still space for her next e-course starting this Spring at http://braveintuitiveyou.com/. I learned of Flora’s e-course through an Art of Surface Design Course by Rachael Taylor and Beth.

For those of you new to e-courses, they are not without effort in making time to get the most out of the classes. And if you are in the position to really work, and your heart is in the right place to learn, you will gain much more than ever anticipated. I greatly recommend all the people I have mentioned in this particular post.

I learned about Rachael Taylor through Tara Gentile and Scoutiegirl.com - two sites that as an artist of any medium, I highly suggest one follow to learn more and to encourage more of yourself in creating more art and a more successful version of yourself – and better yet, a more authentic version of yourself. Period.

Feel free to click on any image to see it larger…

This first painting is titled, ‘Healing Heart’

Healing Heart - Painting by Leah Quinn

While this Second one is called ‘Golden Steps’

Golden Steps Painting by Leah Quinn, Hudson Valley New York Artist

This one below is titled ‘Magical Forest’

Magical Forest by Leah Quinn

And lastly here’s one I did using a photograph I took the night after the large 2011 Storm Irena… the sunset was gorgeous as was the night – how often does that happen after a hard storm: It’s titled ‘Starless Night Over Newburgh on the Hudson River’ – my adage to Van Gough – I experimented by using string circled up and thrown into the paint to make the ‘swirls’ in the sky. With the left over paint, which I do often enough, I made another painting – the one you see above titled, ‘Magical Forest’. I also used the end of my painting brush and fingers to create ‘Magical Forest’ – it was a lot of fun going ‘out’ on a limb quite literally and allowing one to simply paint for painting’s sake.

Starless Night Over Newburgh on the Hudson River by Leah Quinn, Hudson Valley Artist

So how have you’ve been ‘arting’ – now don’t say that three times fast – else it’s going to be funnier sounding than expected – but at the very least- you will let out some air, and release what you have been holding onto for far too long – let me know, I would love to hear about it!

Namaste,

Leah Quinn