TEDxExeter – inspiration and the power of ideas

http://www.tedxexeter.com/

A day of inspirational talks from people who turned their dreams into ideas and made a difference.

Having followed TED on the net for a few years, I was lucky enough to attend this event in Exeter.

 Accompanied by my son and his girlfriend, we listening to a day of inspirational talks from people who had turned their dreams into ideas they put into practice.  TED is a place of “Ideas which are worth spreading” and the conferences put the power of those ideas out to their audience.  What made this event so special was that the curator and force behind TED who made it free to view, Chris Anderson was on the list of speakers.

I have spent the last two days wondering how I can condense a whole day of ideas and what I want to say into a blog post.  From my ramblings to my husband the following morning , as I tried to share everything I had heard over tea in bed  I quickly realized that it just wasn’t going to happen.  So you will all have to wait until I link the videos when they are released.  Until then.  Check out TED online.

The theme was Sustainability and the interconnected World.  The day started off well with the most amazing double rainbow before the heavens opened and we did the right thing by taking an ECO taxi to the Campus

Here are just a few thoughts I took away from the day.  There was so much more to each of these but these statements were some of the most memorable. More can be found on this page

http://www.tedxexeter.com/blog/?currentPage=3

Satish Kumar started off the day reminding us that we are a human community and we should all be the change we want to see.

There is a dangerous misconception that we have a choice between ecology and economic development. It comes from the White House, from No.10, from business – that nature and regulations to protect nature are a drag on business. But 100% of our services comes originally from nature – soil, biodiversity, water, resources.  Tony Juniper reminded us that we are not outside nature, but in the centre of it and have a responsibility

Peter Cox – We need to reduce methane to even start tackling co2 emissions. ( he could do a great Angelos impression)

Nic Marks with his index of happiness stated that ” I have a dream – the future will not be a nightmare”

Volunteer, learn from the Rob Hopkins the force behind Totnes Transition.  Covet less, spend less, give more. Create a world of you and me, not you or me.

Engage collective genius

Anthony Turner used pictures to show emissions.  ”We live in reality not on solid earth but at the bottom of an ocean of air”

The singing voice can free the human spirit and an open hearted approach will stop violence in its tracks.

We need fair trade in the Congo for the minerals they have which power all our mobile technology and more.

Trust your dreams and carry on.

Lily lapenna got everyone dancing to Jesse J. That young lady oozed so much self belief and confidence,she was truly beautiful.

Chris Anderson, curator of TED ended the day with a look through seven lenses of TED lectures and made his own conclusions.  http://www.tedxexeter.com/blog/

I even managed a very quick chat with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall who was new to TED and the “celebrity” speaker of the day.

Thanks Tom and Stephie for a day I will always remember and hoping it’s repeated next year!!

 

How to inspire a 7yr old to create their own seascape?

An email from a teacher sparked some thought from me on how to inspire a 7 year old to create their own seascape . Teacher and pupil  have been looking at several cornish artists for ideas and inspiration.  These might provide a starting point, but I wanted to provide them with words of encouragement to guide them through the creative process.  Because often it is all about the process.  Often the end result is very different from the first imagined idea.  For a painting to be magical, individual and feel worthy, you have to be focused and give something of yourself to it.  So…..

There are no rules.  Don’t confine yourself to convention or what you think it should be like.  Have no expectation of what it will be like.

Choose colour and make marks instinctively.

You can make no mistakes.  Don’t judge your painting or let others criticise it.  Keep going with it even when you feel like giving up.  If you feel stuck and don’t know where to go next, step back and feel excited about the next move.  Make it instinctively .   I can promise you won’t regret it.

Happy painting peeps!!

 

 

 

Roll on Port Eliot 2012

We have been back from the Port Eliot Festival for four days and are already looking forward to next year.   There is so much I could write about and so many photos I could post.  Someone said of Port Eliot that “if you asked 1000 people for a story of their experience of Port Eliot, you would get 1000 different stories”, and hereby lies the problem.  I can only say you need to go and experience this festival of ideas yourself.

Me and Don enjoying a Bloody Mary Elevensees

.  What sets it out from others is I suppose the mix of literary talks with the mix of music, cinema, food, fashion, comedy, cabaret and of course the beautiful setting, which allows all the different aspects to be laid on without really being aware of the any of the  rest of it.

Taking in the magnificence of the Round Room

One thing for sure is that it could be summed up as “London meets the Cornish”, where you see the “Beautiful people” strutting their stuff, the families whose children are called Tabitha, Henry, Hector and Aerial trying to organise themselves miserably alongside the often badly dressed cornish who always appear stouter and rounder and just love beer tent hopping. This of course is finding the extremes at both ends of the scale and in between there are the most lovely people who are genuinely there to soak up as much culture,and music as possible.  One of our favourite parts is “Caught by the River”, the inspiration of three music producers who also have a love of nature, their ethos summed up by the words “An antidote to indifference”  www.caughtbytheriver.net

Chris Yates, Jon Berry, John Andrews and Charles Rangley-Wilson talking Words on Water

My festival diary is written, full of memories of everything we saw, the chance meetings with new people, the inspiring talks we hear and the great music from Ahab, to banghra band RSVP, blues from Hat Fitz and Cara, theatre from Bellowhead, dance your heart out to Trance from The Egg and the mellow sound of Louis Eliot and many other great acoustic acts.  It really is a smorgasbord of creativity and inspiring thought, washed down with some good ale and great cocktails.

Suggs (Madness) at the Boogie Round , 2 a.m all singing "Lets go fly a kite"

Another post on my new heroine to follow very shortly!!

 

Creative Mojo

Where’s my mojo??  A bad back – my own fault, too much dancing.  Winter in June – can you believe this weather!!  and Wimbledon, all mean I have had a very uneventful week.  However, it was brightened today by having coffee with two artist friends at the gallery where I am part of the “Eye to Cornwall” exhibition at the moment (see previous posts for details).  It is very refreshing to get a different viewpoint from other artists and Gabrielle, by name and by  nature is a real Angel.  She has such charisma, intelligence and love, she lights up your day whenever you meet her.  Encouraged by her comments, I came home, researched how to make my own canvases instead of buying ready made and started playing around with a newly discovered paint programme online.  It is called ArtRage.  http://www.artrage.com/artrage-demos.html . This link will take you to a download which gives you a whole month to play around with it for free. After working hard to get the exhibition pieces together, I realise the importance of play, new experiences with art, and taking time to try new things which are all working to bring back my “creative mojo”

 

Brilliance of cornish gorse painting revealed

As promised from my Brilliance of Cornish Gorse post, here is the finished painting.  It was actually finished two weeks ago, but as always I like to put my paintings away and then review them to look at it with fresh eyes. This revealed a need for more colour in the foreground to give more depth to the underside of the gorse bush.

THE BRILLIANCE OF CORNISH GORSE - CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE TO SEE DETAIL

My inspiration was taken from a day in March when there was low light through a light cornish fog which made the yellow of the gorse really jump out at you.  To get this effect, my underpainting was purply pink overlaid with a opaque pale cobalt blue . It became a real exploration and adventure in colour with pinks and yellows being laid over dull greens and burnt siennas. Hope you like it. It will one of my paintings for the exhibition in June.

 

The brilliance of Cornish Gorse

March brings warmer skies and the mid sun icy blues on the sea.  This is the perfect foil for the magnificent gorse we have at this time of the year.  As brilliant as any yellow in a wild flower you will ever see. At this time of year there is little other colour in the coastal hedges after a winters pelting of rain and driving winds, so the prickly grey-greened stem gorse gives us uplifting yellows at a perfect time.

Gorse flower, Morwenstow

Inspired by this, I am able to paint with cadmium yellow. A deep strong warm yellow, exactly the colour of the gorse when combined with highlights of lemon yellow.  Two paintings are underway, allowing me to experiment with different techniques and colours, as one is painted in oil on a deep crimson canvas and the other using acrylics on paper.  Works in progress, I will post the finished work here in the near future.

 

Need to tap into my genius

Elizabeth Gilberts talk on nurturing creativity.

I watch this video from time to time to remind me that I can create whatever I want, however big and that it will always be ok, because I have my inner genius. Elizabeth Gilbert is very inspiring, and I love the idea of grasping and trying to hold onto ideas as they are passing through your psyche.  I am constantly doing this. What this talk has taught me is to relax with my genius, and just let it happen. Not making much sense? Watch the following. It will stay with you forever. If you are not familiar with TED, take time to explore it. The talks are all short and incredibly insightful.