Magical Monday: My favourite shares from Illustration Friday

Hi Chaps,

Happy Monday!

It's been raining and grey for the past couple of days here. I'm not a huge hater of rain. In fact, listening to heavy rain when I'm in bed or snuggled up in a thick jumper is one of the most relaxing things in life for me.

I stumbled across this song yesterday and can't stop playing it. It's so serene and perfect for playing softly during the rain!

Today's Magical Monday shares are 3 beautiful illustrations I found ages ago and had saved for the right moment to share! Illustration Friday is one of my favourite websites. There's so much inspiration on there and some really stunning artists with a whole plethora of different styles to become immersed in.

Paul Pope

I love the dark edge Paul's comic illustrations have. My favourite one is this black and white drawing - really striking and I love all the contrast on it.

Enrique Alcatena

Another striking black and white comic illustration! With Enrique's art I really like the intricacy and they remind me a little of Aubrey Beardsley's panels. This illustration is so bold and mysterious:

Kate Wilson

I love, love, love (!) these quirky little drawings. Chubby birds and sleek designs, all of her illustrations are beautiful - but Howard is definitely my fave:

And those are my 3 Magical Monday shares! I hope you like them as much as I do, and I'd really recommend some time browsing Illustration Friday - there's so much to see!

Have a wonderful week, 

Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

Magical Monday: Unicorn Party!

Hi Chaps,

Hope you've had a lovely week and are looking forward to the week ahead!

I had a very magical weekend in the form of a unicorn party for my birthday! Even though my birthday was a month ago, I was too jet lagged from my business trip to NYC so I decided to postpone it till I had a bit more time to prepare and get a costume together.

Since I was a little girl, I've been a little bit obsessed with unicorns...! I remember I used to trawl through my Granny's copy of the Radio Times *every* week to see if the film Legend would be on TV... And the flipping excitement when it was! I used to have a pretty large collection of unicorn soft toys and I've been drawing unicorns for a long as I can remember. This mythical beauty is what got me excited about making art... Losing yourself in a moment of magic ; -)

So really, there was no better way to spend my birthday than having a few (ahem) glasses of unicorn juice (!) and donning a magical costume along with my buddies.

I actually managed to rock 2 costumes, as my friend had made an awesome unicorn horn and ears, so I kept stealing them haha!

Here was my first unicorn costume (I love this wig):

And this was my 2nd unicorn look! (Horn and ears made by my friend, Monika):

I had an absolute blast, and really enjoyed pretending to be a kid again with some good old fashioned party games... Pin the horn on the unicorn and a unicorn pinata!

We also tucked into a special unicorn cake I made; vanilla with white chocolate with strawberry jam... Mmmm! And I'm pretty pleased with my (totally amateur!) cake decorating:

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek of my unicorn party and get inspired to be a kid again; be a bit silly and have a lot of fun!

Happy Magical Monday : -)

- Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

How to art journal when you have very little time

I love art journalling. It's bloody brilliant and I think everyone should give it a go. Spending some quality time purging your busy brain through writing, painting, collaging; whatever medium you like. I always get a wonderfully wholesome and nourished feeling after a long, cathartic art journalling session.

But.

(There's always a but!)

I don't have a lot of time! And for me, art journalling takes a lot of time!

Recently I found myself more and more strapped for time (being out the house 12-13 hours a day can do that to you!) I want to spend quality time with my art journal, as well as painting on paper/ canvas as well as writing my blog as well as marketing my business as well as seeing friends as well as keeping the house from looking like a post apocalyptic ruin... You get the picture!

With art journalling - and even more so since I went back to working full time - I have to make time and sacrifice something else to do so. Don't get me wrong, for me, art journalling and all those other things stealing away my precious time ranks pretty damn highly on my list of priorities. And although it might seem like it, this isn't actually meant to be a long rant about how I never have spare time!

I actually want to share with you how I am overcoming the "I never have time to do art journalling" feeling. And how I'm also applying it pretty much everywhere else in my life.

Just like my life and business goals; I don't worry anymore about getting everything done in one go. I break it down into bite-sized pieces.

I used to be terrible with starting a piece of art and if I didn't finish it in that session... Buh bye! Deserted and abandoned on a pile of other "took too long"s. Nowadays, I just don't have that luxury!

If I abandoned every artwork - canvas or journal - I'd never actually get any artwork done at all! So I had to work to change my attitude towards my work. Now, before I start a painting I go into the painting already accepting that it will not be finished in this session.

It seems like even just having that mentality of "this is a work in progress and that's okay" kind if wins half the battle. I also leave my painting/ journal on my desk with the supplies I was using; not tidied away. I'm lucky enough to have my own space for creating so leaving things a little messy isn't really an issue. Lastly, I remind myself through looking at photos, having recently finished art around me and looking back through my journal. I've realised through looking at these past entries that when you spend time on things, be it a long session or several over the course of a fortnight; your art has so much depth to it.

Who cares that an art journal entry based one evening on letting go of fear the next evening morphs into embracing change? As a person, you or your feelings do not just stop each night and reset. You're an ever growing, ever changing and complicated human. Every day you finish just adds more layers to who you are.

I really enjoy the lack of pressure this realisation gave me and the new depth it is bringing to my art. I now feel quite comfortable breaking art sessions down into smaller time frames.

Blogging is the same. This post was actually created in 3 sessions: last night on the train home from work, this morning on the train to work and editing in my lunch break. I also read my book in 20 minute bursts twice a day when I am on the tube.

Even though it is in shorter sessions, I actually am finding myself more productive! I'm keeping up to date on the blog, I've read 5 books this month and I've used my art journal consistently.

Give it a go! Take something your used to spending hours on and break it up or use your commute to work for something other than staring at your social media!

You never know; you might just find you have more time.

- Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

#meettheartist

So any of you instagram lovers will know that recently there was a tag going around, #meettheartist, where artists draw themselves in their own style and list their likes/ dislikes and some other details etc. about themselves. I love stuff like this as you get a real snapshot into someone's life, so thought I would do one too, and share it on here.

If any of you guys have your own #meettheartist picture, please share in the comments below!

p.s. I didn't paint my glasses because... Not sure I can! Haha! Also, I did this before I turned 26... So, I'm now 26 Y/O!

- Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

Developing my artistic style and taking risks

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would catch you up with an arty post today and chat with you about how my artistic style is developing and what new risks I've been taking with it.

Although I've been practising art all of my life, it is only within the past year and a bit that I have been consciously exploring and developing my signature style. And it is only within the past couple of months I have actually felt brave enough to talk about it!

When asked to describe my art, I am quite comfortable now with saying "I paint mixed media fantasy art, y'know, fairies and angels and mermaids." But I never really describe my style, just the subject matter. I'm not sure why, as I feel fairly comfortable with my style and if specifically asked I would say "large eyes, angular features and lots of colour with loose flowing hair".

Maybe it is something I will grow into describing. I feel it is still part of my self preservation from rejection strategy. Sometimes I feel I have to justify why my portraits aren't hyper realistic - "I like painting eyes so I make my eyes the focus by enlarging them". Or "I wish I had long flowing blue hair so that's why she does."

What I have noticed more recently is that I am a lot more comfortable and confident with describing my art. I actively bring it up in conversations and I enjoy talking about it and showing it to people.

I think part of that has come from practice, from embracing feeling self concious and letting that feeling sit wih me and then pass through; acknowledged but not pandered to. I also think I've been more able to talk about my art and what I paint from just taking that risk of rejection and riding with it!

 Forcing myself into the uncomfortable depths of conversation where you bare a little bit of your soul and show a stranger your latest painting. And so far I actually haven't been rejected or laughed at or pitied (oh, you think you are an artist?) I've only ever had enjoyable and thought provoking conversations!

I know of course there are some people out there who won't feel comfortable enough within themselves or have perhaps suffered emotional rejection in the past that will cause them to judge or scorn but I hope that as I work on my own courage and confidence; if that happens I will choose the best path of reaction.

It's a deeply scary thing for me, putting my art out there. Especially my recent (past 6 months) collective as it has gone up a level of meaning and concept and style. But for every fear I have, deep down I know I have triple, quadruple that of loving people gently supporting me and cheering me on from the wings.

So I shall keep at it! Keep sharing, keep developing and keep taking risks.

I super recommend it - the yield is far greater than living in fear of rejection and the path, though long and scary, is a wonderful one to walk down.

Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

Magical Monday: NYC Special!

You made it to Monday! The start of a brand spanking new week where the possibilities are endless. The week is fresh faced and you can go on to do wonderful things!

As you know, last month I went to NYC on a business trip. It was flipping fantabulous! The whole week I had a huge grin plastered all over my face and it's a trip that will always hold a dear place in my heart.

So, load this up, crank up your headphones and enjoy this Monday's NYC Special! ; -)

Although I was there for work, I flew out at the weekend so I had a bit of time to explore the city and visit a couple of art galleries. I thought I would share with you some of my highlights.

The first gallery I went to was the iconic Guggenheim. What a space! I remember taking a big gasp when I looked up and saw it. I spent a good 2 hours slowly wandering up the spiral gallery and immersing myself in all the super cool modern art it had on show. One particular highlight was seeing props and photos from Matthew Barney's The Cremester Cycle, of which I was pretty obsessed with when I was at university. It brought back great memories and I had a great little chat with the man "guarding" the art about it.

These sculptures were my favourite pieces, by Pawel Althamer:

They were just fantastic! So eerie and post-apocalyptic, there was a really haunting quality to these other worldly beings. I liked that there was a long, detailed blurb about them too. Normally I read every blurb when in galleries but as I was keen to get to another gallery I photographed the longer ones for a later date.

After the Guggenheim I made my way along museum avenue (how cool?!) Towards the American Natural History museum. I love natural history and had heard great things things about this one... I managed to get myself lost en route but a policeman gave me directions and actually, I was right by the Met and I should go there! As it was insanely hot out I took his advice and visited the Metropolitan Museum of art instead... And wow, was I pleased I did!

The Met was so big and grand and beautiful, I spent the rest of the day there and even then didn't manage to see everything as my feet literally couldn't take another step more!

Here's a little preview of my favourite paintings/ exhibits from the Met - it was so huge and so inspiring I want to save up the memories and do a little series on all the wonderful things I saw there... So watch this space!

Hope you've enjoyed this NYC Magical Monday Special - have a great day!

Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

Instagram Monthly Round-Up: June 2015

Hi chaps and Happy Friday!

Wow, another month has passed! And we are now more than half way through the year... Where does that time go?!

Today's bloggy offering is my monthly round up of Instagram. Less art than last month on account of going back to work full-time but the portraits featured took many hours to finish. I definately feel this month I have broken through something and turned a corner. Very excited for things to come!

 You'll also notice a colour theme to this montage... I am a bit obsessed with white hair and gold at the moment! I blame watching too much Game of Thrones ;-) Daenerys is my fave!

If you're on Instagram give me a wave and a follow! www.instagram.com/lovelittlelyra

Have a great day!

Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx