Colouring within the lines

As a kid, I loved to colour. Art was my game, and colouring was my name. I still remember my big cousin teaching me how to colour within the lines, and that was a real gulp shock horror moment, for me. ‘You want me to stay within the lines?’ How boring!

In retrospect, I guess it paid off a few years later when I was one of the few who scraped through Advanced Higher Art back in 2002 – much to EVERYONE’s surprise (including my own). There were some real talented artists in the room too. As it turns out that that was the first year of our new curriculum, and we later discovered that every teacher in the area had misinterpreted the course wrong! If the teacher doesn’t understand it, how on earth will the student? Okay I digress. The point that I am trying to make is that sometimes it’s good to experiment outside the ridged lines of other people’s perceptions and ideas, and express ourselves by painting something new. Something original.

What if the idea you have works? What if moving location turns out to be the best move for you and the company you go on to work for? Can you imagine being Walt Disney and told that you were a rubbish illustrator, and then years later laughed out of the bank for his proposal to build Disney World.

I have never been much of a colour within the lines kind of gal, creatively speaking of course, and to be truthful, I’m glad. Going against the grain is never easy, when you are a creative in an industrial society. However, as Henry Ford one said, ‘if you always do, what you’ve always done, you’ll always get, what you’ve always got.’

Someone, somewhere has to be willing to step out and take a calculated risk.

I have always felt that more companies should appreciate, and treasure the entrepreneurial spirit within their team, rather than squash it. Thankfully this is beginning to change. I believe that instead of being threatened by people who are better than we are in a particular area, we must learn to collaborate and make way so that collectively we can achieve success. However, if you find yourself torn between the voices that tell us to stay sit down, stay in line, then I challenge you to be true to your art and have ago.

Happy bank holiday weekend folks! Thank you to all who subscribe to this blog. I consider it an honour.

This was my final piece for advanced higher art. I’ve framed this and placed it on my desk to remind myself that sometimes we just have to take a risk, and paint.

The oyster and the pearl

I stumbled across a website called How Stuff Works, which explains how pearls are formed in the Oyster to produce the beautiful pearl that is etched onto our chains, earrings and bracelets. I have mentioned the story before, in brief, but being the curious kitten that I am I have delved a little deeper in my research, whilst going through some changes and circumstances in life. First, let me paint the background picture to this post.

“The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritates the mantle. It’s kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster’s natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The mantle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl. So a pearl is a foreign substance covered with layers of nacre. Most pearls that we see in jewelry stores are nicely rounded objects, which are the most valuable ones. Not all pearls turn out so well. Some pearls form in an uneven shape — these are called baroque pearls. Pearls, as you’ve probably noticed, come in a variety of various colors, including white, black, gray, red, blue and green. Most pearls can be found all over the world, but black pearls are indigenous to the South Pacific.”

Whilst growth takes place within, notice that it requires an external substance to influence and irritate the organ that produces change. 1. Growth is dependent on our environment 2. Growth is never comfortable Being the reflective soul that I am, and in the process of packing for London, I would like to share a few thoughts today about pearls, growth and change. It’s a bit of a deep topic today, but if you are growing a team, a business, or your own life, then hopefully you will find this useful. If not, come back again soon and I’ll muster you up something a little less meaty.

My good friend pointed out in a conversation that we  are a generation that when something doesn’t work, we throw it out, or trade it in and buy new. Where as the previous generation, baby boomers and above, grew up in a culture that when things didn’t work, they fixed them; she got me thinking…It’s easy to dismiss situations in life when things don’t go our way, or it turns out to look different from our preconceived idea. For example, a business venture that didn’t work, or a relationship that required work, or project that turned out different than what you anticipated.

It’s inevitable that in life we will experience change, and lots of it. When I think back to what it was like growing up through childhood in a rush to experience adulthood, celebrating every inch of growth with a competition between friends. The irony is that when we finally reach adulthood we often find that we don’t like the responsibilities that come with it. If we don’t allow our businesses, or our teams to adapt to the change in the market, or make room for our digital and tech savvy culture, then we limit our effect as a business.  If we wrap ourselves up in cotton wool, and never take a chance in life after listening the bad news reports all day, filling us with fear, then we would miss out on the beauty that life has to offer. Change is readily avoided and resisted by many human beings, and as a result they become stagnant and malnourished, when in fact change is an opportunity for growth.  

Imperfect Mondays

Here’s one I wrote this morning:

I woke up feeling a little groggy this morning, with grey sky and little, but a 65% rating on my sleep capacity – thanks to my new friendly app, Sleep Cycle. If you haven’t downloaded this already, then do it now! It has a funky alarm, and some disturbing sleep aids.

In spite of all of the fore mentioned challenges,  I am readily excited and expectant for a great week ahead – I refuse to accept anything different! …And you know I mean business when I wake up before my alarm; currently fighting the urge to stand up, in public, and shout; ‘BABY YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET’ at the top of my voice. Not that I would EVER do that…

Hey, it’s Monday; and all I’m suggesting is let’s take this bad boy week, by storm!

OK, no more cheesy rock songs after this…

You’ve got talent; use it.

If you haven’t witnessed Jack Carroll yet, let me introduce you…

I love when he said; “In comedy, a lot of the time, you’re weaknesses are your strengths.” I believe this is true for many areas in life; that every hardship, difficulty, and disappointment in life can be turned to work itself back together for our good.

This got me thinking on how knowing your strengths as an individual, as a business, or even as a brand is crucial to achieving good success. Whilst good success is great, and many people subscribe to the dream of obtaining good success; very few are aware, or go after great success. There is a difference:

To obtain good success you must have some awareness of the value you hold, but to achieve great success you must understand how to use it, and use it effectively. …Just like Jack.

 

 

The tell tale signs of a girls diary

Being the writer that I am, I have many notepads, books, pens and a whole cupboard filled with diaries through-out my life. I am forever being mocked, and continue to this day being known for my stationery filled handbag – you never know when or where my next idea will strike, and I like to be prepared for all eventualities. The only discrediting thing here is that whilst I have a vivid and long record of my life up until this point. Through the countless number of pages about heartache, disappointments, dreams, and a lot of other exciting events. I am troubled that I rarely go back and revisit them, which probably tells me that I write to process my thoughts; but still, I am fully aware of gems that I will hold in these very pages. There must be at least five stories about boys that I’ve had crushes on, and the drama that followed when the boy didn’t like me back, or I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.

Come on, we’ve all had them!My point in sharing such a cringing fact is that I know there are lessons to be learnt from these pages, and I know that I have made similar mistakes before, which at the time seemed like a great idea… I just don’t understand why I don’t go back and read them.

Anyway, I digress. The reason for tonight’s post is to beg the question that whilst I seem to have an exceptional memory that doesn’t need reminding of past events, or lessons. There is the odd moment in time when I flick back through the overflowing pages of my pink papered diary – nearing the end of this month’s book – to notice only the change of pen colour, and sporadic re-occurrence of a certain someone who appears to have found his way into my diary? Huh? I’m shocked, and intrigued… and a little horrified! What does this mean? How on earth could he have slipped my security tight radar, and made it into this treasured book? Alarm bells ring, as I look up in shock. This… This must be monitored!

My chocolate affair

After weeks of forming a relationship with chocolate. White chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate; I have decided that it’s time to part ways. I know it may be hard. Especially with my newly found heavenly combination of white chocolate with peanut butter, and 70% dark chocolate – which I am told is good for the brain. However, it’s for the good of my health, and I’m sticking too it.

I’m just letting you all know that this chick is no longer a slave to Marks and Spencers white chocolate wheels. This love affair is OVER!!

…She says after one more chocolate wheel.

 

 

My Ferrero Rocher Easter egg

Post Happy Easter to you all! I hope you had a fantastic weekend whatever you did with it. After my brief trip to the city of love, last week – no, not Paris. I am referring to London. My weekend consisted of writing, catching up with friends for a natter and a coffee, church on Sunday, and a super happy and relaxing Easter Monday.

Normally, I don’t do Easter eggs unless it involves boiling hard eggs and decorating them; but not rolling them down a hill. I could never understand why anyone would want to spend hours decorating an egg just to watch it crack open, and then be forced to put it in the bin. Or take part in the biggest, coolest Easter egg treasure hunt ever! …Sadly I haven’t participated in any of the above events in years. I don’t really eat Easter eggs. Well, that was until I discovered the Ferrero Rocher Easter egg! It’s amazing!! Finally, I discovered an Easter egg that rocked my world from the boring plain old hollow chocolate shells that they mass produce and throw in a fancy package, with a well-known brand of chocolate, and con everyone into believing that it’s extra special chocolate. I’m not fooled easily. Anyway that’s just my opinion. Of course, I’m always open to discussion about these things, so feel free to chip in and defend your favourite Easter egg, should you so desire.

Back to my point. This extra special Easter egg, which as you can see from the picture is one big giant Ferrero Rocher – minus the chocolate and hazelnut center, tastes and smells just as you would expect. How cool is that? When I think back to the days where kids would compare their collection of Easter eggs off one another. Entering into a competition of how many Easter eggs one could muster, what kind they were – rubbish ones, or good ones – whoever defined where each egg fell I’ve yet to discover. Still, I remember at one point collecting nine Easter eggs and sitting them in a row on top of my wardrobe; and like a trophy treasure cabinet I would watch them melt into mould. At the very most I may have eaten a chocolate bar, or two if I thought one of them was decent enough. I guess I wasn’t much of a chocolate fan when I was a kid. Still, this one Easter egg that has found its way onto my lap this evening is almost half eaten; and THAT says a whole lot of something … I’ve changed.

Meet the egg that rocked my Easter: