Hello People,

Welcome to 2015. Goodness, I just realised it has been nearly a year since I posted anything to this Blog page. I'm being gentle with myself tho', as this has been an extraordinarily busy year.  

Let 2015 be a year of coming together, focussing intent and energy on the gifts we each bring to the world and sharing those in a supportive and fun way!!

Last year, we bought and had a Granny Flat craned into our backyard ( requiring planning and building permission and site prep, quotes, owner/ builder lic and many other hours of organising tradesman, cleaning and fixing as the two halves came back together. Then our daughter and partner had a baby!! Yes we are grandparents of a beautiful baby boy. I am completely smitten ! In that same month, I was involved in a group art exhibition and then took a couple of months away from painting and seeing clients to support our daughter and finish the last module of a Clinical 

Aromatherapy qualification in Melbourne. Phew!!w
Once I was back home and I implemented a few changes in my work/painting pattern and have been putting energy into building my website again and redesigning the way I do things.
Its been great to be seeing new clients and old with this new understanding, skills and self awareness. Broadening my horizons and service to others thru my artwork and these beautiful essential oils.

Doing my own personal work thru all of this has helped immensely and is not to be undervalued for the stress reducing and insightful re-evaluations that it brings.

What new and creative journeys will 2015 take us all on ??!! I'm looking forward to sharing them with you <3

How a Chalk Mural and other things can bring rain : )

Over a hundred days with no rain and then just a few teasing drops. I decided to do a few things to encourage the Rain Gods/Goddess', to - well - rain! Firstly I washed my car - you would think that was an easy invitation. Nope! No rain. So then I did a load of washing. I thought that would surely bring a downpour. Nope! No rain. Then I awoke at 6am with a brilliant idea in my head. Chalk Mural on the footpath! How could they resist such a beautiful offering. I headed out to the street with my chalk and began. It turned into way more fun than I expected. As I chalked, people walking with dogs or children started stopping by and saying hello and checking out the colourful picture. I got a total dog fix from one soppy pooch, who licked me on all exposed skin areas. I think it was mutual lurve!! Anyway, I detract from the story. So back to work on the mural and Voila! The mural was done and I got to meet some of my extended neighbours and their children and pets in the process - Bonus!! I went inside for breaky and while eating in the front room, I saw people stopping and taking photo's with their phone camera's and others walking by smiling. Then in the evening - you guessed it folks - RAIN GLORIOUS RAIN!! YAY!! Now, I may sound like I'm taking all the credit here and that is mostly true : ) BUT I did hear from a German friend of ours who was visiting Monkey Mia and the dolphins. She text me to say it was raining up there and so she was sending it down to us because she knew how much we needed and wanted it. So thank you Pia <3 !! And of course to all the rest of you who planted seedlings, hung out wash, washed your car or had outdoor wedding plans. It was a group effort and the Rain Gods/ Goddess' were obviously pleased. So now it is celebration time. Woo Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Happiness is ....Re - Purposing clothing into funky stool covers

Amazing how a little cutting, sewing and elastic can bring about a deep sense of satisfaction. Something our mothers and Grannies took for granted and which a growing number of younger women are rediscovering. As I'm usually painting or playing with essential oils, I had forgotten the simple pleasures of re- purposing second hand clothing/materials into other creative uses. I had no idea why I was buying this top at the second hand shop that was 5 sizes too big for me ( other than the wildly,colourful material). It just jumped into my hands and said " take me home with you" and so I did!! The same happened when I drove past two chunky, wooden and very old stools that had been put out for the Bi-annual roadside, recycle, pick up. They called to me too and so I screeched the brakes on and reversed and threw them in the car. These two incidents happened months apart and I didn't know until yesterday that these seemingly unrelated events were going to come together and make the quirky, bright, kitchen, bar stools that they are today!. Hubby had to be enlisted to cut off two very solid and large, curved wooden handles from each side of both stools. I then washed the stools clean and brought them inside. I put some sticky felt on the feet and then had fun with the material from the top. I literally cut the top in half and sewed half of the cut sleeve to the neckline to give added width ( my husband calls me the 'Slash and Burn' dressmaker) and that is a fairly accurate description!! I then sewed elastic around the edges and some discarded ribbon, from my sewing box, onto the for corners, as ties. The elastic pulled the material around the seat and the ribbons tied the 4 corners together underneath the seat. Voila!! In less than 2 hours, I had these funky stools finished and ready to seat my ample bottom on. I even like the 2 little buttons from the front of the top, that can now be seen on the side of the seat. YAYA!! Happy days! I would love to hear about your sewing projects or re-cyling successes - just leave a comment below peeps and lets continue to feed our souls this Yummie kind of creative food!

Celebrating the Journey

I've been blogging since March of 2011 - time fly’s and I can hardly believe I am coming up for the 3rd year anniversary. So many yummie things have happened and blogging has been an enjoyable and creative diary in many ways for me. Documenting, through the written word, photographs and videos some of the events and moments that have , in hindsight, shaped my life today. Blogging for me has been about sharing my personal process and insights and achievements and a celebration of sorts of my journey as it unfolds. After all, it's the journey that matters and we honour this in celebration. I would love to hear what you feel is worth celebrating in your life journey and how you celebrate. Please leave comments on my blog page or in comments below - this is a conversation worth having and sharing.

Video - first few layers of paint on 3 different canvases - click on arrows to view in full screen. The music track is 'Thule' by The Album Leaf and can be seen on youtube by clicking on the pic of clouds on bottom right.

Shona Hutchings Art - The first few layers of paint by Slidely Slideshow

Video showing the first few layers on 3 different canvases

This is a very short and simple video made up of photographs taken every 10 seconds as I worked on 3 different canvases. As I'm new to the video making process, this is less creative than I would have liked, however, it is part of a learning curve and we all need to start somewhere. I believe it's better to just do something, anything, as it can take some or all of the fear out of a process that we may be putting off because we are either techno challenged or imagine other obstacles that need to be overcome. There are various websites out there that offer free video making tools ) this was an easy beginners site) and some that you can pay for with more advanced tools. Having stepped thru this process, I am now inspired to be more adventurous and am about to collaborate with a young woman who likes to create music and video's in a similar way to how I like to paint - intuitive, spontaneous, letting go of outcomes, exploring an evolving process etc - you get the picture :) I'm excited about the possibilities and opening up in a whole new way creatively. Stay tuned to this space!!

NEW heART

Oh how the months are flying by. Paintings anew have been unfolding in the studio and I've done further layers on some paintings that have been leaning up against the walls for some months. Re-inspired recently by nature or watching a moving video of a black leopard communicating with an animal whisperer, or a dream or vision - sleeping or awake. Renaming these resurrected canvases seemed appropriate - Wolf Medicine, Seahorses, Hidden Leopard and one still to come - undecided. It intrigues me that as I change and shift internally it seems like the painting has been waiting for me to catch up and already has the elements of my newness of being there on the canvas, or maybe I was just unable to see that, in my before state. It's like forward engineering - I lay the first few layers down and then when I come back to it and start painting again it's like I'm ready to see what was already there but seemed hidden. Always a delightful suprise, whatever turns up and then I'm a bit like a kid in a candy shop - I want all the colours and shapes and textures and stay awake till all hours as a result. LOL! I've also met some absolutely lovely people over the last few months and attended another wonderful Dawn Meader workshop - The Art of Happiness, as well as being invited to sell my art at a one day art sale and exhibition by Artinvesta.com owners, Deana and Mauro. I think the biggest change for me has been an awareness of my thoughts and how much time I spend pulling in and following thoughts that no longer serve me but have been habitual. Retuning the radio waves, so to speak has been an interesting adventure - up hill and down dale and through some mud and potholes and then turning the mud into warm, natural, hot pools of ideas and the potholes into creative cooking vessels (where I get to choose the ingredients that I want to throw in) Never a dull moment and mostly a LOT of fun!! What a delicious life. I love this new heART existence, experience : )

Studio and Balance Space

It's the middle of July - WOW! faster than the speed of light and all that. So much juicy stuff has happened since my last blog. I journeyed to Melbourne town for the first two modules of a Healing Touch Clinical Aromatherapy course ( powerfully humbling ) a mind, body and soul pot pourri of theory and hands on learning and experiential training that left me, simply, in awe of the beauty, goodness and healing available to us on this human journey. All this and more, as I took a leap of faith into the unknown and had wonderful adventures staying with a Dutch Couchsurfer ( who turned out to be a Dr Who fan, a Foodie - specialising in cheese connoisseurship and a fellow traveller). I then moved on to stay with a lovely woman in the quirky suburb of Brunswick ( where my course was situated) - turns out she has the voice of an angel, sings Irish ballads ( operatic trained ) and is a masseuse and Feldenkrais practitioner by day. We cooked yummy food and wrote a song together while roasting slices of Camembert cheese on freshly picked rosemary skewers, over an open fire. One of my contributing lines was " muscat woman with the flowing hair, playing her basouki in the peacock chair". ( New to me - a Basouki is a roundish looking guitar-like instrument of possibly Greek origin). Needless to say a lot of fun was had by all. No time for painting but everyday the street art and multicultural diversity fed my creative appetite from a visual smorgasbord of colour, architecture, people and nature. I then came home to find my ever loving and supportive husband had transformed my son's old bedroom into a studio/balance space for me, as well as re-plastering and painting our hallway and adding 9 glass blocks into a wall in the smallest room in the house, bringing in a wavy, watery light that brings me immense pleasure every time I look at it." Thank you" seemed like such an inadequate way to express my gratitude and joy - especially when I now walk in to these love filled spaces in our home, so I painted the cupboard in the hallway - an expression of the love I feel amongst this gift I've been given ( and it just happens to be outside the bedroom door, so it is one of the first things my husband sees in the morning when he gets up). Pottering and nesting into this new space has been a delight - using some old wooden drawers, I measured and fitted some of my older paintings, like drawer liners, to be framed by the wood and we mounted them on the walls and I lovingly placed my oils onto the shelves they created (recycling fun). An old set of comfy chairs, a pot plant in the corner, a borrowed screen from my daughter and voilà! the space it is ready : ) So so much to be grateful for - the studio has a peaceful, tranquil feel to it and overlooks our garden and pond. Mango the cat loves to sit in a sunspot at the window looking out. I am now off to bed and dreamland. The heArt centre of our home

Studio space to create and Balance

It's the middle of July - WOW - faster than the speed of light and all that. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo much juicy stuff has happened since I blogged last. I followed my heart to Melbourne town for the first 2 modules of a Clinical Aromatherapy course. I decided to take a leap of faith and instead of booking into a motel, I put out to friends and friends to be and ended up staying with a Dutch Couchsurfer (who it turns out is a Dr Who fan, as well as a foodie, specialising in cheese connoisseurship) for the first two nights.(Gotta lurve Couchsurfing) Then I moved on to a lovely house in the quirky suburb of Brunswick ( where my course was situated) to stay with a lovely woman ( who it turns out is a beautiful singer, who doubles as a masseuse and feldenkreis - Spelling?? practitioner by day). I had lots of wonderful adventures among the backdrop of street art, multicultural, Sunny!!!! Melbourne. The course was a mind, heart and soul pot pourri of theory and hands on learning and experiential training ( intensive and powerfully humbling) which left me, simply, in awe of the beauty, goodness and healing made available to us on this human journey. No time to paint but the art everywhere in Melbourne, both on the buildings and in nature was as balm to my creative passion and fed me daily, like a delicious smorgasbord. I then arrived home to find my forever loving and supportive husband, had transformed our son's old bedroom into a studio/balance room for me, re-plastered and painted the hallway and added a row of glass blocks to a wall in our toilet ( bathroom for USers), bringing in a wavey, watery light to brighten every bathroom visit LOL. I was so full of admiration and love for the enormous amount of work he managed to get done in ten short days - truly a labour of love. 'Thank you' just doesn't seem adequate enough to express my gratitude and joy. The studio has a peaceful tranquillity about it that draws me in, where I can look out onto our garden and pond.

Internal transformation is a wild ride

This painting, called Transformation, is a reflection of the internal changes going on at such a speed right now, within myself. A beautiful, wild ride of wonder and action and simultaneously a point of stillness and place of rest that is present also.

For anyone who would like to order one of my paintings as a print, card or canvas print, You can now go to my Fine Art America gallery and order and pay online. Alternatively you can purchase original paintings and Prayer Flags from me through this Blog page or my Facebook page. Copy and paste facebook.com/ShonaHutchings into your browser's URL line.

City of Light

City of Light is a painting which I started early last year. I left it sitting in the corner for several months and recently brought it out again and added more detail to the buildings and painted the little girl and the pigeons in the piazza.
It feels like a celebration to me and the little girl releasing the balloons almost looks poised to fly off herself.

LandFillHarmonic orchestra - creativity at it's best

This is a must watch video about orchestra instruments being made form recycled trash in a slum in Paraguay. Inspiring stuff.

Landfill Harmonic 

Enjoy!

Swimming in the current

These little fish are swimming in the current and letting it carry them - the prayer on these flags is along this theme.

Heart prayer Flags

These are my Heart prayer flags - the prayer on them is - Let our hearts shine out to the world like little beacons, welcoming love and dissolving fear. Let our hearts join as one, that we may harness this power in unity.

Yummy Prayer Flags

Hand painting Prayer Flags has been my primary activity lately. I painted a parrot holding a string of flags made from material scraps and a little clay love heart that I had made and decided to use this as a logo.Then I have been painting flags, sewing them and painting prayers on them.

Letting Go

Letting Go has been one of the quickest paintings to emerge off the canvas that I have ever done. Mind you the last few weeks leading up to this painting, I have moved through some of the quickest letting go of deep emotional wounds that I have ever experienced, so I am not sure why I am suprised ha ha ha. I am loving working with these Hydrocryl paints - sooo saturated and yummy. The Golden brand liquid paints are also a dream to work with. I painted for about 10 hours yesterday, with a few breaks here and there and then added a few final touches this morning.