Foraging with the BBC

 

Good news!

My love for nature and foraging brought me on TV!

 This evening (Friday 14th October 2022)

 at 7 pm Uk 

on the BBC ONE SHOW

there is a short film about foraging on the 

Isle of Wight

where I will appear too...

hope you will enjoy, it will be visible for at least a week 

on the programme website!

Art and Mindfulness in Nature

 

A lovely opportunity to connect with nature

with mindfulness techniques, forest bathing,

nature journaling and listening to nature

to express our true inner colours.

I will bring along my sketchbook to share

the silent dialogue I have with nature

on paper,

which is made of discoveries and colours.

Come along, 

all info 

here

A colourful Autumn begins!

I always felt September 

was a month of new beginnings.

In Italy, this month is filled with new scents and a

welcome freshness in the air.

In the little Island where I live, mostly filled with the seasonal rains

that come from the Atlantic. But in both cases, 

it has always felt a month of beginnings...

I already started a new season with children 5 to 10 years old

at Ventnor Botanic Gardens with Grow & Learn .

Every Thursday we spend a day in this magical place doing fun things, all arty and nature related.

On Sunday 2 October I will lead a very rare workshop for adults,

where I will share for the first time my sketchbook secrets in a

quirky woodland together with Forever Wild at Heart

which will bring her mindfulness and forest bathing techniques, for an afternoon 

of pure nature connection! 

You can book here , for more info I leave my email at the end of this post.

I also joined Independent Arts , a local charity that offers creative workshop to the community,

and had already 2 fantastic workshop with children.

But the thing that makes me most happy is that a big dream a come true!

I am officially working on my first book, funded by the National Literary Trust 

and published in March 2023.

 It is a story trail based in Sandown Bay, and it will be officially presented ( by me!) 

at the local festival Hullabaloo on Saturday 15th October.

I will lead a walk (11 to 12.30, starting from Browns Golf course, info here ), 

give a talk (3.30 pm) about the book process and... read you the story.

I will also be back at Quay Arts with children workshops,

starting on Sunday 23 October.

Many of you have been asking about  a 2023 calendar and, unfortunately, 

I haven't released one this year.

I was so busy with University, and also last year

I had a lot of problems with postage delays and unespected

taxes for European customers,

so I decided to make...

a colouring book instead!

I am still working on it, and 

I will post any updates on that hopefully soon!

Well, it was quite a lot of news, so I hope you enjoyed reading and

for any information regarding events/book/other

please reach our here

hello(dot)luciapara(at)gmail.com

Thank you!

Bright summer days

 

Hello friends,

a little update about summer in this little corner of the world...

As I am writing this, I just graduated as an Early Years Teacher

with a Level 6 degree in the Uk.

The best part of this journey was going tinto schools, meeting children from 0 to 7 years old,

and experience what life is for them. 

I learnt so much that I think I don't mistake by saying

that they were my main teachers!

Alongside that, the hardest part was to follow the university online system, 

 it was a true nightmare!

But I loved all the articles and books I could read.

I went to University by ferry and it was so special, and I always came back with a pile of books! 

I think learning is my favourite part of life, and this is what got me through the most difficult times.

I still vividly remember the first day, when I couldn't even understand what the teachers was talking about as they used so many acronyms and being a foreigner, it was like another language to learn!

But I didn't give up, after a day in tears, I buckled my shoes again and I got

 super high grades at the end.

To celebrate this big achievement, I went camping in Cornwall with a friend, and it was really a special time. 

We discovered the most amazing, friendly and laid back campsite, with sea view, botanical plants, cute private spaces for tents and music in the evening. 

Children were running free and barefoot and so did the ducks that carefully cleaned the pitches after visitors !

I also took part in the Rhythm Tree Festival

with a workshop for children all about trees,

sharing Emma Carlisle new book

and making a little book with them.It was a real highlight, they had so much fun!

It was a nice dry summer and this was great for outdoor markets...

In took part at two dates of the Art in The Garden market in Ryde, and it was nice 

to meet new and old faces, and there was a great atmosphere and  sense of community,

that I truly missed during the pandemic. For this events,

I created a special nature inspire stall who matched perfectly my art!

And lastly, I updated my online shop with all the lovely work 

created during the year and that I hadn't had time to print cause of studying.

I was afraid University would take away art the, but I jumped in my studio every week end

and that was so good. 

The art that came out of this year feels new, and it's heading in 

the direction I feel mostly me. 

Keep going little artists(that's what I say to my students, and I said it to me also!)

For now, I leave you with some inspiration I Found in these summer days

Current readings:

Stolen Focus , The continuum concept , Untangled life

Favourite picnic recipe :

Apple oat bars

Favourite current exhibition:

Beatrix Potter at the V&A

Inspiring artists:

Catherine Hide

Ema Malyauka

Rea (Solaveyi)

If you work with children, check out Cassie Stephens,

she's full of zest and inspiration !

 

 

A new Adventure...

 Long time has passed since my last post.

 I have been very busy and "new" is the word  

that could resume at best my last 6 months.

The Uk government has awarded 

the innovation and educational value of my workshops/videos for children 

with a Level 6 degree, which I am about to finish, 

to qualify "officially" as an Early Years Teacher.

I was an educator in Italy, 

before moving to England, and as

I come from the Reggio Emilia approach environment (as I talk about here), 

 I go all in with Arts and Drama (as you will be able to notice from my videos)

Also, I have been part of a pilot project, 

an officially approved childhood enrichment service

 mainly for home educated children, on the Island where I live.

The thing I love the most there is that I can be what I truly am,

mixing art with storytelling and cooking and drama, 

and learning from the children so much!

I can't even start on the wonderful crazy things we have done together!

I have been doing also public workshops, 

and this was a fantastic way to connect more with my local community.

Life is not easy, studies are uphill, but

I am so happy to have accepted to step into the unknown.

It took me a while to be able to write about this, as it is a lot and it happened

 in little steps.

And as a big cherry on the cake, 

my art is flourishing even with the little time I currently have for it.

I already plan to be a teacher only part time, 

as my dream to illustrate stories is on  top of the list, 

as always have been in the last million years 😊

I have been having some important wins in the artistic world, 

grew confidence in my practice

and I feel so ready to tackle human characters, 

after it felt too intimidating for years.

 I come from fine art and the last thing I wanted is to draw a realistic figure, 

so I just avoided it (great tactic!).

But switching to animals helped,

 while I learnt other important things about building images.

I have finally updated my Etsy shop

with new cards and more will come!

For now, 

I leave you with some cloud biscuits

they come from a workshop I did recently with children,

 and I loved it so much 

now I can't even watch a cloud without... thinking of eating it !!

2022 Calendar

 Hello!

For the so many times I have been wanting to write on my blog in the last few months, 

always I had to do it only in my mind, as life was far too busy!

But I have wonderful news,

my 2022 Calendar is out in the world!

This project came from my drawings in the woods,

on the Isle of Wight, where I live.

I spent so many hours in the woods, during these crazy time of lockdown,

and I loved the calm and energy that Nature brings.

There is a sense of magic in there,

every corner is filled with nurturing beauty.

If I sat in the same spot for a while,

 I started to notice sounds, and scents, and to look at things differently.

At a different scale, a different pace.

I also wanted to give to each month, a little tiny story to keep company and inspiration,

 together with lots of fun days to celebrate.

Some days where too hot, some too stormy, but always I will have 

great memories of these times spent "alone".

Also, when it happens that I visit those places again, is like going to see an old friend.

I see them changed, and it is always magic.

All images were done in my Royal Talens sketchbook,

with a variety of medium.

Then I edited them digitally.

I love to print locally, as I want to supervise the process and make sure the colours are true to life.

My packaging are also done with special care

 (look at my homemade stamp, woodland deliveries ready!)

When possible, I ship plastic free.

This product, made ALL by the efforts of one mind and one heart, 

now are ready to travel the world, and meet all the lovely people

who love nature, and handmade things.

Thank you always for your support, you can find my

woodland shop here

For breakfast... Me? I'm having pencils

 I am not the only creative person

that at the start of the year

felt not creative, burnt out and tired as ever...

So, following the suggestion of some arty friends,

I joined a breakfast drawing club.

Yes, we meet at breakfast time

(actually we are in different time zone,

so some of us might have late breakfast, or even dinner!)

and we draw.

We use photos as references, our ones, or from a variety of 

Free Stock websites (see here, here and here )

and we time our drawings, starting with quick warm ups, then longer "poses" .

The goal is to move our hand on paper, stop feeling precious 

in our work and with materials, and keep practising, together.

Right now, that the word "together" has the most muted meaning of history.

I found this habit started to shift my way of working..

I am not willing to spend ages to perfect a drawing anymore, and I love mark making more than ever.

I think a lot about texture and constantly try new colour palettes.

As a freelance artist, I spend lots of time on my own,

and I have felt very isolated in the last years.

Well, this experience gave me a community, lots of laughs and...

many filled sketchbooks!

I even set up my own group,

that I called Earth Drawing Club (as we are all nature lovers!)

I love the arty chats and encouragement we give to each other,

not only about the drawings, but for ongoing projects and personal life too!

Thanks to these chat, I also found an interesting book

about inner critic, which seems to be always on the look for turning a nice drawing experience 

into a tough art critique... I leave you the link here if you are interested, 

I got the audio version and loved listening in my walks...

I encourage everyone to give this a try, even if it sounds silly at first.

You might discover a new love!

Speak soon,

happy drawing!

Lucia