July-August blog post

July is when roses, to me, really shine.

I am current working on a painting of roses, a rose called the pilgrim. A David Austin breed which is a beautiful yellow to pale white bloom with an abundance of petals and glossy green leaves. A rambling rose which climbs a trellis and I have had growing for numerous years. The photo references I work from are my own, which I prefer. I love choosing my own photo references from my own photography. It has helped to gain knowledge learning from other photographers including my sister who has great skill when capturing natural and urban scenes. Emily Bradshaw has always taught and inspired me. Her creativity and bravery encourages me.

The painting I am working on has been very enjoyable so far. I appreciate the time I have around work, now I am not able to spend as much time doing so. I still feel I have a good balanced life with my creative needs pursued enough.

I have been working a lot outside of my creative pursuits, but my creative need and efforts are still a priority. I paint on my breaks to enjoy colour and meet my emotional needs, finding peace in what to me is a mindfulness activity. Small abstract paintings where I can enjoy colour or the ink drawings I have done are times when I focus on capturing and creating beauty, to enjoy life.

I have also been enjoying learning guitar still, and going to and listening to music I like. I live a life enriched by and supported by creativity, joy is found, healing and peace from creative expressions.

Even if someone is not great at creating art, I feel it is a great tool for mental health and can be great help for everyone. I have found it can be useful in balancing my emotions, understanding them, expressing them or even creating feelings of enjoyment and positivity.

Folkestone has a great number of creative activity taking place for OpenArtFolke again this year. Even viewing art is said to benefit people, there is so much to see and do during this festival and I am happy to be a part of the 225 artists involved in this lovely community based project. Thankful to all involved.

This year I have painted the Old hight street in Folkestone. I had 4 hours to capture as much as I could. Everytime I paint I learn and develop my skills as an artist and doing this is my truest love.

I love sharing my love for art and seeing more of what art can do during another festival this year in my local town. Folkestone’s open art 2024 was a beautiful and inspiring festival, this year is bigger and better and growing in numbers. With a fantastic community of fabulous creatives, I think we all hope to see Folkestone further reach and enrich the lives of people in the places around us.

The project is built from voluntry work, funded by sponsorship and the invested time and effort from people who want to share and give to the community.

My painting process can be seen on my social media as a timelapse video, there are also many events taking place and great work shown with all sorts of things to see and do. Support small businesses, shop small, shop local, collect some artwork from the many great artists with open studios or independent stores. Enjoy the love and effort put into the town of Folkestone!

Visit www.openartfolke.com

See the many wonderful happenings going on now until 19th October.

Happy August, let art brighten, support and heal where darkness lies. From viewing or creating, there is tranformative power all around to be had by all.

Thanks for reading and visiting my website with monthly blog posts. New artworks will be framed and added soon.

Gemma Bradshaw