Lifting my Spirits & Boosting my Mood with gratitude journaling, self-care, & looser style paintings

[Music] my desk is on [Music] rest with [Music] reach out for me take my hand [Music] and it's okay [Music] but who cares this week i've been doing fun things to help me stay loose in my art practice so i'll share those with you and also some ways i have been lifting my spirits and shifting a mood from a sad bad or grumpy one to feeling much happier and more positive if i'm really honest i've had a funny week where i'm not totally settled a big part of my brain power has been thinking about loved ones who are going through a particularly bumpy time all i wish for is that things soften and brighten up soon i'm also sending this wish for you too if you need it [Music] painting has been such a blessing and a joy this week even though tuesday was a write-off i'll explain later about that but i'm so pleased i made lots of time for creating i feel like i'm starting to push through some of the barriers now and explore some new directions to my art that still feel like me though if you know what i mean i'll make a whole other video one day about art styles and finding your own style because it's such a huge topic and it's something i definitely have had some really confusing parts in my own journey i mean it's really really wonderful to get inspired by other artists online and there's so much beautiful artwork out there to fill our inspiration cups isn't there but then you do that thing that you shouldn't be doing you end up scrolling on instagram for too long and you lose confidence yes you know you compare yourself to others actually i found an easy cure for that keep it simple and don't scroll or what i like to do is scroll with intention so by that i mean if it's one of your go-to inspiration places like for me instagram then yes by all means do scroll but if you're feeling insecure anyway then we just tend to judge ourselves even more harshly don't we i just switch off the wi-fi i'm not saying don't scroll don't scroll at all because it's wonderful to become inspired by things that are out there and i do love to have a scroll myself but i only do it when i'm relaxing or wish to be inspired over the years any artist that has really influenced my work at certain stages i temporarily unfollow now that may sound a bit weird but i can always come back to them when i'm over it if you like it's a bit like a food addiction when you can't stop eating a certain thing and then you get to a point where you're ready to move on when i made the video of the story of me becoming a full-time artist i mentioned something really relevant to this and that was go within listen to your inner soul truly touch base with your heart because when you do it definitely has all the answers i do my really important soul searching with the trees on a beach or up a mountain nature helps a lot because you're in the best company of mother nature and she's always with you in some form anyway whether a little weed pushing through the concrete somewhere or a plant in your room that you love and nurture she's there i've written very few poems over the years but it reminds me of a part of one that i wrote in 2017. i ground in trees and bury deep my tiny little fairy feet in sacred mother earth and she never leaves my side she never leaves my side and because of this i am unstoppable for all of time complete i wrote that when we were house sitting on the great arm in north wales and i think it was about 3 a.m big love to all humans in these crazy times and sometimes when i don't feel like doing any of the things i've shared in this video i just know that i need to peace out with a silly movie and a glass of wine and that's okay too so let's have some tea shall we yeah cheers to you welcome back to my studio if you've been around before and welcome special welcome if you're new as well here thanks for coming over to the unexpected studio and i'm having a really good morning so far it took me a little while to get going this morning because i had a has a hesitancy to say that right i was hesitant hesitant anyway i was a little bit slow starting out with my artwork this morning and i haven't been in the studio for four days now so i think that's probably why and so i started big and loosened up i was going through all my um my old degree work and my foundation course and in those days we had classes where we did a lot of larger looser type things as exercises and we were doing that regularly so it really did keep you creating and also keep you loose and free so i thought um i think i'll do something like that so i got my big brush um and my black ink and my white paint and i just had a little play in a really abstract way and i'm really enjoying working on the floor again now i've got this plastic tablecloth thing down kind of makes me feel like quite childlike being on the floor and playing yeah cause i used to do a lot of that as a little girl with all my toys out and that kind of thing or when i used to sit on the floor with my own little girl and play with her toys with her yeah makes me feel kind of yeah reminiscent of those days really and this area here when i feng shui'd my studio you've seen that video i worked out all the different corners of the room if you like and this turned out to be creativity in children so i've got career and life paths here and then what's in that corner that's helpful people and then there is children and creativity so i am surrounded by good energy for my creativity it's great isn't it and if you're not into feng shui then just ignore that but i am and it's uh yeah it's really helped me out just mapping out my studio so i know where to put things where fixes are needed and i thought there'd be more fixes needed in this room because it's got it's got a big beam above my head up there and also it's a kind of triangular shaped room so it's kind of missing areas but when i feng shuied the room i saw those two big windows as portals into the area that it corresponded to if you like so yeah anyway the reason i'm talking to you now is because i was waiting for my art journal page to dry i used some acrylics on it today and i have been doing some watercolors but today i fancied a different color combination so i thought i'd go in go in a bit folder with my um acrylics and yes i just need to wait for that to dry which is dry now so i can do the next layers on it probably put on some of my most favorite thing at the moment which is gold yeah i think i'll do that and i'm going to write on here as well so yeah but i will come back and talk to you in a little while and maybe have another little tea break with you so i've come in this morning i've had to do all the things to help me out of a grumpy mood so i've done everything i could to feel better basically when i was feeling rubbish and i couldn't come in the studio yesterday because i think i've had a trap nerve in my hip so i could barely walk yesterday but i'm feeling much better today and um yeah so it's all good and i thought this morning i would continue with my trying to make myself feel better when i'm not feeling good so let's think then what things have i done this morning because i know you're going to ask me um i've kind of just done the basics really and the most important thing i think was to just try and stay calm because i wasn't feeling very calm i was feeling quite anxious and a little bit like a mild panic attack coming on if you like um i'm not sure why i know i haven't slept much in the last couple of nights and that's mainly to do with my hip so that doesn't help does it i think when we don't sleep it's such a negative impact on our day mostly but it is rather common at the moment isn't it amongst a lot of people so what things did i do then to feel better let me think i made myself some calming tea so that always helps i think it had lavender and something else in it and i also used some lavender oil which i put on me and it was delicious because i've got this lovely new organic one i had an extra long shower and did lots of self-care things within that extra long hair brushing for some reason i just think that's really really helpful to brush your hair and massage your scalp and things like that and i put some hair oiling and things like that yeah i just made sure to do all the things you know what i mean all the basics and just spent extra time doing them so that i felt truly loved by me it sounds a bit silly doesn't it when you say it out loud sometimes or when i say it out loud i sometimes think oh that sounds a bit funny but it really makes a difference one of the things that truly makes a difference for me is water i don't know if it's because i'm a fire sign but whether i have a shower or a bath or a salt bath or swim it's a really quick way for me to turn my day around and shift my mood i think for me this week has been apart from having a poorly hip and being in quite a lot of pain yesterday which i think in itself is tiring isn't it i think this week has been loosening up with my artwork so trying a few few new things not new things but things that i haven't done for a long time and then dipping back into my art journaling as well because i haven't really worked in my art journal for quite some time which yeah it's kind of usual for me to dip in and out of things so that's okay but it's nice to be back in there and i'm thinking within my my journal play i might actually discover some new designs for postcards or mini prints or something like that so i'm quite excited and i think the other thing that this week is about for me is shifting my mindset and keeping myself as positive as possible and i think that lovely weather is helping as well so i haven't done any more mods to the studio to show you we did we did think about coming in at the weekend to do them but yeah in the end we just stayed at home and pottered and went for walks and things like that so sometimes you just need that time off don't you just to switch off a little bit from work and even though it's not technically work it's um it still was nice to to stay home so i haven't tidied the oval office as you can see it's still a mess and um let's see if i can turn you around over here the um straighten you up a bit sorry yeah the art area with the chair the art area is working really really well um and i've just got more room for all my stuff just to keep it out the bits and bobs i'm using and stuff like that and it just feels really inspiring so it really invites me into the space much more than it than it had been so that's working really well so what am i going to do first then um i think i might cut my hair like cut my hair and then i might cut james's hair as well because he really wants a haircut and it's full moon at midday today so i want to do that before the full moon we always try and cut our hair around the full moon or the new moon i think if you cut your hair just before the full moon i think that helps it grow long and then just before the new moon that helps it go thick or is it the other way round i can't remember it's one or the other you have to look it up do [Music] so hairdressing now complete so we can get them with some work [Music] i watch you as you drive [Music] do you know how much i love you you put my favorite song on i put my feet up and we just sing along and i can't help but feeling just loving this moment can we stay here [Music] forever [Music] can only stay here forever i watch you as you sleep you don't know i'm looking with you everything is complete do you know how much i love you i put your favorite song on just to wake you up when i dance around i can't help but feeling i'm just loving this moment [Music] cause i'm just loving this moment can we stay here forever so i've got some painting in today which i'm really pleased about because it's another thing that really does lift my spirits and obviously i couldn't come in yesterday so i didn't have my little painting session i usually have monday tuesday wednesday and sometimes friday and then thursday is my creative free day if you like and i do a lot of admin and a lot of editing and things like that so i mean editing is really creative i find but at the same time it's not the same as actually painting and creating art so i did something a little bit different than i was expecting i thought i was going to do a more written out gratitude page which i think i'll do in my writing journal to go alongside this little page and i quite like how it's turned out it's really loose and again if you've watched any of my other videos you'll perhaps remember that i've been saying for quite a few months now that i'm trying to get really loose and stay loose yeah it's harder when you're working small like this to stay loose but i think i've managed to stay quite loose hopefully anyway on that one and then this one as well at the back and i don't know if you can see very well but yeah i've tried to stay loose on that one as well and um yeah so i've changed up my colour palette a little bit done them kind of both quite similar really although i did add a little bit of blue on this one which i haven't done on that one and i don't think i'm going to actually although i do like it and it's nice to have the contrast of work with the with the dark background ones and then the pieces which are more summery colors i think for the flower power it works really well i think and these could just be flowers in the moonlight couldn't they i think they are actually so i also did this one which is just a background layer to start me off and i'm wondering whether to do some flowers on here as well this is my watercolor block and i was basically just using up any paint that was on my palette and mixing up the different colors and things like that i could i could make with my with my colors that were left i don't like wasting paint so yeah quite like that one as well so thanks so much for keeping me company while i've been painting today i've really enjoyed your company as i always do so you can let me know in the comments what you do to lift your spirits if you're feeling tired or sad or down or grumpy grumpy like me this morning and then we can all share ideas and then maybe perchance if there's somebody watching who is feeling down and tired and low spirits they can look for ideas in there [Music] me [Music] anyway i always enjoy reading your comments and i think i'm going to go home now and have some late lunch because i'm getting hungry so i'll leave you in peace try to get your likes shining bright and i will see you in the next one bye for now bye i watch you as you drive do you know i'm looking and i can't help but smile do you know how much i love you you put my favorite song on i put my feet up and we just sing along and i can't help but feeling just loving this moment can we stay here [Music] that i forever

Channel: The Unexpected Gypsy

Views: 13,960

Rating: 4.9656787 out of 5

Keywords: art for mental health, art for self care, how to art journal, mixedmediapainting, art journaling, art rituals, patreon, artist studio, artist vlogs, journaling, grey hair, grey hair transition, natural grey hair, art journals, selfcare, fulltime artist, minimalism, gratitude, mood boosters, flip a bad mood, positive mindset, increase happiness, loose painting style, watercolour, watercolour painting, cut my own hair, slow li, slow living, gratitude journal, flower painting

Id: 2jaw_PSVGfE

Length: 23min 9sec (1389 seconds)

Published: Fri May 28 2021