Are you cut out for institutions, or otherwise? Where to otherwise?

Are you cut out for institutions, or otherwise? Where to otherwise?

I was recently given a survey to answer about one of my old schools, when asked about the experience I wrote it was “By far the least painful school I had attended”. That is nothing less than the truth. I have met plenty of people who loved school, but it was not for me. I felt stupid because I only excelled at all the skills they did not measure. I was articulate, social, a good leader, creative, confident among adults and older kids, fair mind, determined and hard working, organised and entrepreneurial, I was pretty poor at English, French, Maths, Sport, History, Geography and Science!!! I am also one of these people who goes grey and pukes if made to sit tests and exams. Friends at uni (which was an institution I loved) used to ask me “Why do you nearly faint in the line to go into an exam when you always get an “A” and are better prepared than any of us?” Well getting “A”s in design related subjects was something I could do at last, but I still felt like I was back at school!

My daughter started out ok with school but gradually turned the colour of her grey school skirt and I realized we would have to change something.

So here we go off to Spain and Portugal in a ford van. We have been half living in the van and half in my mum's house and it's worked ok. I took it to Birmingham and we had to live in it fully, it worked ok. Everyone asks: How will you live in such a small space? But hopefully we will live in big forests, open meadows, wide beaches, and sleep in the van. When we drive up to the Ashdown Forest everyone piles of of the van and disappears into the trees. I have to round up me happy, rosy, good-tired kids to get them to get in the van and sleep. If you think about it quite a lot of your house used to store your stuff. Anyway I will let you know how it works long term in practice. Wish us luck.

How will we live in that small space when it rains all day? No idea!! Wish me luck with that!! Spain has the lowest rainfall in Europe but it still rains, mostly on the mountains. My kids and I used to go crazy in a five bedroom house when it rained all day! I cannot imagine what it will be like in a van. Art, games, stories, reading, then murder daddy with the camping  potty I guess!!?

I've driven my van around all Summer, not to mention Birmingham and back and I'm getting pretty good at parking and reversing the big vehicle. It broke a couple of times, oil leak and the turbo pipe came off, but being a ford transit we could get normal parts and a normal mechanic to fix it. My time with classic vans is so over!!!

Then the electrics started playing up, headlights not working on full beam, radio going off at random, I began to fear that the headlights would go off all together when driving at night! I got the mechanic to look and apparently I had set the bar on what to worry about way to low! I should have been worrying that it might catch fire at any moment!!! I assure you that it is fixed and safe now!!

I have worked out what it is that is good for us about our change in lifestyle, it continuously stretches our compliance. Get the van and you have to learn to drive it, then you have to learn how to convert it to a campervan, then you have to learn to live in it. Even the kids, Jasmine has to learn to live in a bedroom approximately the size of the hutch we used to have guinea pigs in! My husband describes middle class life as find a rut and volunteer to get in it! Well we are out and some of it is a bit crazy but some of it is good.

My kids are growing up such individuals, who knows what they will be, but I am sure it will be something of their own, not an institution's creation.

We leave end of September, boat to Spain then around the coast of Spain and Portugal to Malaga or something, an adventure is by definition not set in stone.

Picture from the front page of the still empty travel sketchbook I made myself. Yes I will share every page of you like?

Hugs, Kirsteen

Enchanted Textile Design - Kirsteen Lyons BA (Hons)

I am Kirsteen Lyons BA (Hons) and my textile design company is called Enchanted Textile Design.

I am a freelance textile designer for a design studio in Europe. I create original furnishing fabric and wallpaper design which my design house then sells to prestigious clients throughout Europe and further afield.

I have been creating art and design my whole life as a designer, writer, photographer and fine artist. I studied textile design at Heriot-Watt University and have worked both in-house and freelance as a designer for studios in Kent, London, New York and now Europe.

More textile design and design related content can be seen here:
enchantedtextiledesign.blogspot.com

enchantedtextiledesign.blogspot.com

Two years of drawing complete!

Two years of drawing. What has it done for me?

Ok, so I've cheated a bit here and there, getting behind and then doing several drawings to catch up but there is more than a drawing for every day. 731 days (one was a leap year) more than 731 drawings.

What has it done for me? Well, when I started out my son was very little. I was still in the early days - milky blur! It put some me time there. Some minutes out of each day of nappies, feeding, feeding, feeding, nappies, in which I was me, not just the baby's mum! It has made me happy, it has made me friends, I've received wonderful comments and messages from people who felt that it inspired them or helped them, this has made me feel worthwhile.

As an artist the practice has paid and paid and paid. It's been like a process where I shed all my demons. To begin with I was a quite pragmatic artist, also a designer, and not too prone to over self criticise, but I still started out editing drawings, not good enough? Don't share it, do another. Later I started sharing them with excuses, or explanations, later still I got involved in what people think, do they like it? How many likes can I get? What will people respond to? I went through that into a serene place where I literally DO NOT GIVE A FLYING SQUIRREL what anyone says or thinks of my art! If I like it, or even if I don't, and I know they are right, it's not my best work, I still don't feel diminished or introspective! So what? More art is on the way, it's not rare or precious, I don't need to be in a special mood to make it! I can bang it out every day and I've practised so much I know a good proportion of it is quality work. So all can hate it if they like, I'm impervious. It's a very safe place for an artist to work from.

But you haven't hated it, you have been amazing, many of you have complemented and encouraged me, helped me when I felt it was pointless and celebrated my good days with me. Many people have also joined in, drawing with me and playing the drawing a day game. #drawingadayclub. Thank you all you are wonderful.

With so much time, so many days to fill I've tried everything I fancied. It's not a commission, or a design I need to get paid for so I've just played! Doing things in new media, things I don't normally draw, things in odd colours... Played. I used to have this long reasoned speech I gave about why I couldn't draw people, "Portraiture is a specialised skill, those artists practice just that... On it went, guess what? I can draw people, I can draw anything! Obviously I still have things I like to do and things I'm best at, but no subject or media or style is impossible. I'm unafraid of drawing, there is no working up courage, and  picking my way, trying not to ruin it, heart in mouth. Drawing is an effort free zone! Easy, ok not always perfect  but easy and unconcerned.

It's been so nice to share. My design work is so secret. They make my design house sign a form that says it has not been shown around... I've worked so hard on building up all this design work and I can't show anyone. It was so liberating to show art to all my friends and be in a two way conversation with the viewer!

Ideas, beget ideas, there is no scarcely! I have found the more ideas I "use up" on my drawing a day, the more new ideas I have to make designs, or more drawing a days, use up your best ideas, they are the tip of your idea iceberg! Try it, it's true!

Discipline, oh! Discipline! It's been good discipline to draw everyday, sunstroke or sick kids, grief, happiness, period pains and boredom all transcended by art. Discipline is THE NUT TO CRACK if you want to get anywhere with art, I'm still working on that.  

The collection; I am not collecting any wealth, or power, nor am I about to cure cancer, so I'm not leaving the world or my kids anything very much in the way of a legacy, but I don't want my tomb stone to read "She kept up with the dishes and Netflix." Drawing every day has given me the feeling that I'm not entirely wasting my time. Here is all this work I did and some have enjoyed it.

The future; As I mentioned I have worked very hard to get signed with a great design house. I am going to set some targets on how much design I send them - so I won't be drawing every day next year.

I'm sure I won't be able to resist a bit of non work related art and when that happens, I will share it!

Thank you 731 times for all the support and feedback.

Love, Kirsteen

I've included a few I like from the last two years here: