Leyla Folwell Blog – My WordPress Blog

Full Steam Ahead

In my world this is the end of the year! Just had a wonderful Open Studios Event and I am about to head of on a well earned holiday visiting my brother in Korea : )

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It went like a dream! 6 of us, three ceramics, two painters and a glass artist. We had a constant stream of visitors and lots of nice cake : )

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/galleries/2016/leyla-folwell

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/galleries/2016/rhian-malin

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/galleries/2016/peter-watson

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/galleries/2016/katharine-barker

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/galleries/2016/viv-hunt

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/galleries/2016/mila-rosinska

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Much of my work was made at dawn & dusk because the teaching has been so busy recently …

Pottery Classes and Workshops

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A massive advantage to the studio is having everything at your fingertips. A last minute Raku firing to get the work finished!

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My little sanity check has been heading out with lovely friend Tim Collard for drawing days in the country

https://www.facebook.com/TimCollardArtist/

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http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/baddesley-clinton

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Me looking tired : (

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Another little treat was a day out in Oxford, I discovered this guy: https://www.artsy.net/artist/ibrahim-el-salahi

KALEIDOSCOPE: Mystics and Rationalists

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I loved this instalation by Amy Sillman and also wall drawings by Sol Lewitt. Inspiring!

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Ok, gotta go…….. back soon xx

Spring in to ACTION!

It has been a while, I grant you, … so much has passed. Glad to see the back of winter, I am a serious hibernator!

Spring always jettisons me in to action. I love waking early with the light and getting on with the things I have been dreaming about for an age. Like this blog!

I have managed a bit of the all important Play Time : ) Drawing and messing just for the sake of it …. a nice contrast to all the ‘grown-up’ stuff I have to face in a week. All artists face some form of balance issue it would seem. Where ever you are in the pecking order of life there you will find obligation and duty in some form. Very frustrating at times but the art is to find a way to do it anyway ……

'Artists Way Everyday' — ‘Artists Way Everyday’

Luckily I have recently stumbled upon a support circle, a collection of ladies studying The Artist Way http://juliacameronlive.com/

With the velocity of other artists, including https://twitter.com/lindseyaarcher I am jogging along now.

The beginning of two 'dinosaurs' — The beginning of two ‘dinosaurs’

Coiling up and up.... — Coiling up and up….

https://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org has come around again so I am busy making creations with the working title ‘Dinosaurs’. References to chakras and emotions but forms inspired by bones and musical instruments.

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Tim Collard, http://timcollard.wix.com/fineartist and I have been out drawing again. We were lucky with the weather : )

13112793_10154181669689429_8174598320463030019_o — Whitley Court – picture by Tim

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/witley-court-and-gardens/ A beautiful but eerie place …

2016-05-06 09.09.19 — The fountain at Whitley Court

Inspiration everywhere!

Currently reading ‘Sticky Wisdom’, recommended by a good friend.

Aimed at innovation in business, there are so many cross overs with The Artists Way. I can feel it influencing my day job at http://theceramicsstudio.co.uk/ so life is good. To be Continued …

What is it all about?

Welcome! My website, my art, my life.

I am a lot of things. A teacher, a potter, an entrepreneur, a wife, a dog-mum, a friend, an enemy, a daughter, a sister, on a good day a genius and on a bad one a flake.

The one word that I feel truly explains where my heart & soul live, is Artist.

Taking photos for this site — Lucy Barriball taking photos for this site

So I made this site, that is what you do right? Tell someone you are an artist and they want to see your stuff on the screen?

I do things. I draw, I collage, I paint and I play.

I love working with clay. It has become my life, I share it weekly with others and when it come to making art, I ‘think’ in it.

Bruno, my husband and I are united in the love of ceramics. We collect it we use it and we make it…. http://wigwamceramics.com/

I started teaching after university, in exchange for a studio space. It hadn’t occurred to me as an option before then but it has become a way to meet and connect with people.

It is a simple business, but I make people happy which gives me a deep sense of worth & purpose.

http://theceramicsstudio.co.uk/

I love being my own boss, it suits me. However, it can be very demanding and takes me away from my art work ….

I find committing to drawing trips with my friend Tim so helpful.

He is a great inspiration for me because he never stops working!

http://timcollard.wix.com/fineartist

The truth is I just don’t find it so easy to make, I wish I did but accepting it is a good starting point. I am never short of ideas and thoughts but the action of sitting down and doing is a battle. Knowing what I need helps, lots of space and time to think and be ….

Being creative is easy for me on holiday, when I feel like I have permission to play and forget everything else. But a few weeks a year is not enough!

So, I have decide that this is what this blog will be, a truthful account of my struggle to work. My work itself, is often about rawness, truth and exposure so this seems appropriate.

I choose to be an honest genius rather than a fake flake. Hopefully my vulnerability will inspire you to connect………..

To be continued : )

One Step at a Time : )

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