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Filed underCreative Independence

With so much information, inspiration and influence, how do you find your own creative path?​

Dark Flowers

Living Small, Slow and Quietly

July is approaching. This means silencing the information overload and ceasing to participate for the next two months.I wrote about this in this post. I need it for…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 Comments 0 2 min read
What will we learn

Today

I’ve been avoiding reading about covid-19. I receive the Quartz newsletter and that’s about all I was able to handle. But today, March 25, 2020. I’m reading about…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda March 25, 2020March 25, 2020 3 min read
Sketchbook and pencil on a desk

How I Manage my Time Online

Raise your hand if you’ve tried to reduce your time online or at least your phone. I know I have. For the longest time.  I hated that I…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda March 3, 2020March 16, 2020 4 min read
Is Etsy Worth It?

Is Etsy Worth it?

I have been crunching numbers. It’s my least favorite thing to do and as a creator it’s twice as painful because through the corner of my eye I…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda July 7, 2019August 8, 2019 5 min read
WorkSpace October

Advice for New Creatives

I find it realistic to say that you will only get good at your craft after a minimum of two years of hard practice. Quantity does not mean…
Creative Independence, Latest Luisa Fernanda October 1, 2018September 12, 2019 2 min read
Social Media Detox

A Summer Without Instagram (and most Social Media)

By the middle of June I was done. I looked around my studio and felt such overwhelm despite having fulfilled a lifelong dream: a room of my own.…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda June 29, 2018June 25, 2020 5 min read

Five Things Friday

   The begining of my reconciliation with Yoga. A 30 day journey. For years I said I didn’t like Yoga. I first tried it almost three decades ago…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda April 7, 2018February 28, 2020 2 min read
Thumbnail studies

One Month in France, week four

I’m writing this from Montreal. The month in France came to its conclusion. We are home. It feels strange to look out the window and see the same…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda April 2, 2018August 7, 2019 3 min read

One month in France, week three

  I am in a city that does not have the stereotypical French glamour. It’s not Paris and it’s not the charming little wine village. Some days I…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda March 22, 2018August 7, 2019 2 min read
Watercolor cow by flowarte

One month in France, week two

The first thing I noticed in Lyon was the sky. The trace of airplanes that flew by a few moments before. We arrived early after a short train…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda March 16, 2018August 27, 2019 2 min read

One month in France, week one.

As I walked down the stairs of our Airbnb I told my husband (again) that I was in turmoil because I couldn’t decide where to focus my energy,…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda March 6, 2018August 7, 2019 2 min read
FlowArte Watercolor Trees

Five Things Friday

A belated Five Things Friday post. Getting ready. We´re going to France for a month. My feelings: I hate the airplane, I love France. Life is surprising. Time…
Creative Independence Luisa Fernanda February 25, 2018August 7, 2019 2 min read

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The Backdoor

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Let’s meet on Instagram!

Wishing you a restful summer, as much as it’s po Wishing you a restful summer, as much as it’s possible. Plunge into creative mode without expectations. Enjoy what comes out of your hands and minds. Let’s continue our awareness, our learning but also let’s take care of our own mental health. I will use these two months away from social media, to work with my mentor, to be more intentional with my work. To learn to trust myself with my art through the practice. I don’t think anyone can teach us how to trust ourselves. When we look outside for help in this department, we’re already NOT trusting ourselves. I also need to reclaim some space. With a part-time job, occasional web contracts, my website and all the projects that I wish I could do, plus the madness of the world, I’ve felt tired, very sleepy most days. Grumpiness and sadness assault me in the middle of the night and I spend several nights, from 1:30 to 3:30 awake, feeling tense and weird. During this time, you can find me on my blog: flowarte.com or on Patreon: patreon.com/flowarte for weekly drawing exercises, sketchbook tours, works in progress, and all that good stuff. . . See you in September, hopefully. . . . . . . . . . #visualpoetry #visualpoetryart #howtobehuman #reclaimingvulnerability #visualcrush⁣ #seekinspirecreate⁣ #creating_boldly⁣ #emergingartist⁣ #processdrivenartist⁣ #lets_be_vulnerable #poetryofsimplethings⁣ #momentsofmine⁣ #ourstudiotime⁣ #beautyundermynose⁣ #nestandflourish⁣ #loveforanalogue⁣ #oilpastelart #patreon #drawingtips
I had a little idea…during the month of July and I had a little idea…during the month of July and August, away from Social Media, I’ll be proposing weekly drawing exercises for my ‘Morisots” on Patreon. I will write out the exercise and demo it. The idea is to practice one thing during the week in addition to our normal practices. It’s an experiment and if this goes we’ll keep it up! These days I have focused more on practicing my drawing which is what I’m most interested in. I realized I’m not so much of a painter, but I live in between illustration and fine art drawing. It’s my happy place. I will be using some books of my personal library. One of the books is L’atelier de poche, 52 semaines à dessiner. I got this book a long time ago but I never actually did it. Now I thought why not dust it and give it some use? Want to practice with me? with me, come on over. I will start on Monday July 6. Of course you can join later if you want. For more info subscribe to the bi-monthly dispatch. It goes out tomorrow! Just a HEADS UP: Patreon charges on the 1st of each month so to avoid two charges too close together you might want to join after July 1st. Link in bio . . . . . . . . . . #womenwhopaint #ladieswhodraw #womenwhodraw #womenillustrators #weloveillustration #friendsofillustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenofcreation #heartartists #illustragram #ourstudiotime #sketchbookpractice #womeninspiringwomen #drawart #dailyartchallenge #drawing_pencile #stepintosummer #atribeofwomen #virginiawoolf #tovejansson #colette #bertemorisot #flowarte #penguinbooks
In research mode... Oil pastels. Lasalle, Qc. . . In research mode... Oil pastels. Lasalle, Qc. . . . . . . . #walktosee
Plans for the weekend? It’s going to be rainy he Plans for the weekend? It’s going to be rainy here in Montreal. I am currently in the middle of The Silent Patient, a thriller, but I’m terribly disappointed. I can’t seem to find a good book. For once, I’m extremely picky. I don’t like books written in the first person and there are so many of them. I always find a recommendation, I read the description, a couple of reviews. I wind up getting it and bam! first person narrator. I usually drag along until I can’t take it anymore. This one in particular is such a flat narrative, lazy writing and uninteresting characters. Next up, I’ll be reading Ending Up by Kingsley Amis where the introduction claims that “irritation, which is consider a minor emotion, is raised to the level of art”. I share this trait. As soon as I step foot outside my house and the first thing I see is a discarded mask tangled in the branch of a bush I feel my gut go into a bow. I continue exploring oil pastels. I thought landscapes bored me, but since I have been drawing them with oil pastels, I found a beautiful outlet for my need of solitude. Since we can’t go anywhere (or rather, don’t want to go anywhere and risk irritation) I have been drawing paths, open fields. Smudging, smudging, smudging until there is only an idea of where I would like to be. This week a very long chapter in my life ended. And after the initial shock, I looked for the Loving Kindness meditation by Sharon Salzberg and focused on sincerely wishing well to this person. I wrote her lifestory in my head and for each moment I hoped the best for her and then let her go. It’s no wonder I’m drawn to paths these days. Anything to keep going. . . . . . . . . . . #womenwhopaint #ladieswhodraw #womenwhodraw #womenillustrators #weloveillustration #friendsofillustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenofcreation #heartartists #illustragram #ourstudiotime #sketchbookpractice #womeninspiringwomen #drawart #dailyartchallenge #drawing_pencile #stepintosummer #atribeofwomen #virginiawoolf #tovejansson #colette #flowarte #penguinbooks
This is the first drawing I made with my new #neoc This is the first drawing I made with my new #neocolorII wax pastels by @carandache Here I just used them very lightly and trying out the opacity. I loooooved it. Then I went and did a few more drawings pressing a lot harder and oh my… the colours are quite vibrant. A bit too much for my neutral soul but I think I will find a nice middle ground. Experiments continue on Patreon where I feel less self-conscious about all the messes I make. . I realize I love to draw historical portraits. Those mysterious women with hats, high collars and a melancholic gaze. The rich inner lives they must have led! . But I am also becoming quite fond of landscapes devoid of humans. Today we went for a long, early walk and I took several pictures of the Lachine rapids and the river. I hope I can complete at least a series of four. Why is it so hard to work on a series? I lose the thread every single time. . . . . . . . . . #womenwhopaint #ladieswhodraw #womenwhodraw #womenillustrators #weloveillustration #friendsofillustration #socfeature #illustratorsofinstagram #womenofcreation #heartartists #illustragram #ourstudiotime #slowlived #aslowmoment #todaysgoodthing #calmversation #stepintosummer #atribeofwomen #virginiawoolf #tovejansson #colette #flowarte
Find the Blackwing! I spent a good many hours with Find the Blackwing! I spent a good many hours with these babies. I didn’t force myself to avoid subjects or to do specific things. Surprises followed. If you are experimenting with a new medium getting some cheap paper is a must. That’s the door to the playground. I am using newsprint. The dilemma was always: if I don’t use good paper, wonderful things happen but then my work will fade and get ruined, but if I use good paper I am intimidated and can’t draw. I finally decided that the freedom is more important than good paper. Freedom, that word. We aren’t really free are we? Except in moments of creativity. That’s when you can grab it completely. Where do you find true, unabashed freedom in your day? . . . . . . . . . #womenwhopaint #ladieswhodraw #womenwhodraw #womenillustrators #weloveillustration #friendsofillustration #socfeature #illustratorsofinstagram #womenofcreation #heartartists #illustragram #ourstudiotime #slowlived #aslowmoment #todaysgoodthing #calmversation #stepintosummer #atribeofwomen #virginiawoolf #tovejansson #colette #flowarte #lets_be_vulnerable #theviraldeload #howtobehuman #reclaimingvulnerability

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