The Most Insanely Creative Gifts You Can Give Anyone! And Saves on Therapy Bills Too…

Colour in clothing range

There is a wave of creative stress relief hitting the globe in the form of colour therapy — have you caught the surf yet?

I’ve got 2 of these colour therapy drawings to give YOU now, download them for free HERE (Watery Wonder World) and HERE (Fairy Garden).

So what’s this insane gift idea?

I’m trying to take creativity to new heights with this latest range of colour therapy products. You will never want for lack of ideas of what to give people for presents in the future when I unleash this bombshell.

How about giving someone a gift that they can colour themselves — adding their own brand of uniqueness to their present?

Not only do you solve the ‘what to give’ dilemma but you give the gift of self-expression! Something they’ll treasure forever (and, who knows, get a little ‘relax’/therapy time too)!

Presenting Presents for Present Moment Awareness

Right, now let’s take this concept to its new whimsical heights of boundary pushing…first up is the ‘colour me in’ pencil skirt for that difficult teen girl. Give her this with a set of fabric pens and she’ll be expressing her inner artist for days!

skirts

There’s also the t-shirt to gift that special lady in your life:

www t shirt

What about giving a bag? Imagine flaunting your fabulous colouring-in talents whilst out shopping or at school?

tote bag

Colour in your own home décor! For goodness sakes —now here’s an idea to get that budding decorator a chance to shine:

www cushion

Give a birthday card that needs some colour magic (and why not make the present some crayons or khoki pens?):

www ard

This last one is just pure genius! Ever wondered what to do with the family on those long summer vacations when everyone is yelling that they are bored? Why not get together as a team and colour this poster in then get it framed for a prime spot in your home — the piece de resistance!

www poster

Here are some other fantastic products that are available in the ‘Watery Wonder World’ design:

products www

And here are the products in my ‘Fairy Garden’ design that are available:

products fg

If you enjoyed these ideas, then maybe you’ll like my Mandala Colouring Book, click on the picture below – it’s an instant download/printable – and you can get colouring straight away! Did you know that colour therapy is proven to reduce stress and anxiety? You’ll find everything you need to know about the impacts of colouring and your health in the introduction of this book:

Mandala Adult Coloring Book

Are You Seeing Red?

Lustful, Passionate and Scorching

red poppy lo resBelieve it or not, colour has a huge impact on our lives.

It can greatly affect our emotions and gives us a chance to express ourselves whether we’re aware of it or not.  So, my aim in these ‘colour’ related articles is to open your eyes to this wonderful world of hue awareness.

Playing with colour in art, decor, fashion, etc. can be fun, daring, bold and stimulating. Let’s get cracking then!

The Power of Red

Today I’m going to explore the colour red.  Red is normally associated with:

  • warmth,
  • passion,
  • love (as in the red rose),
  • burning fiery heat,
  • blood,
  • lust,
  • prosperity and joy (in Chinese tradition),
  • conflict or war (as in Mars — the red planet and Roman God or War)

Men and Red 


Elegance by Cherie Roe DirksenWill it surprise you to know that, statistically, red is in the top 3 of men’s favourite colours?

What man doesn’t want that red Ferrari?  Or how about that old Chris de Burg song ‘Lady in Red’ — a man’s fantasy.  The ‘red dress’ is renowned for its sex appeal, as so aptly put in The Matrix movie.  Remember when the geeky programmer ‘Mouse’ wrote a distracting code for a bountiful blonde with bursting cherry red voluptuous lips and a skin-tight red number to distract Neo in training?

Red can also denote danger as in getting burnt or having blood shed, so it’s a hugely provocative colour — extreme pleasure or certain death, what a dichotomy!

Women and Red

God code 3Yeah, okay, you probably know whats coming.  Menstruation.  When I think of red I definitely think of love, lust and passion but I also think of blood.  It is the essence of life and vitality.

Red is the colour representation for our root chakra (at the base of the spine — what I like to call the ‘poop’ chakra and, let’s face it, who doesn’t see red when they haven’t had a decent shit?).

Red symbolizes life at the level of practicality, survival as well as heat and circulation in the body.

How Do I Put Red to Good Use?

Practically, you can use red when you want to:

  • boost your vitality and energy levels,
  • protect yourself from anxiety, fear or nerves (excellent for job interviews),
  • set a sexy, passionate mood (ooh-la-la!),
  • feel sexy, bold or confident.


It’s up to you how you want to express yourself i.e. through wearing it (clothes or jewellery/accessories), decorating your home/office through art/paint/upholstery,  using candles or crystals, using accents of it with make-up — use your imagination and flare!

Go on you Red Hot Chili Pepper!  Fire up your life with a bit of red…

Don’t forget that all the pictures in this blog can be bought as prints, canvas prints, framed prints, greeting cards and so forth (just click on the relevant picture to take you to the store) — there’s something to suit every pocket.

For more red art, see my Pinterest board devoted to all things red HERE

Other articles you may enjoy:

Can Using Yellow in Art Enhance Your Mood?

How to Get Your Creative Space Working For You

3 Sound Reasons to Dispel the Myth that You Can’t Afford Art

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Can Using Yellow in Art Enhance Your Mood?

Lemon Twist

dripping yellow paint

I’m going to start bringing out some art blogs with colour themes.  I know I’ve done this in the past but this time I’m going to have a twist.

The catch with this is looking at art from a zesty new perspective with regard to colour and emotion.

A Spiritually Colourful Palette

As most of you probably know, different colours have different significant meanings.  Not only are they used as metaphors — i.e. I’m feeling blue or he was green with envy — but we can also glean meaning from colours with respect to our auric system.

For more about aura’s, please visit this extremely useful site:  reiki-for-holistic-health.com 

They Call me Mellow Yellow

Here is an extract from the above-mentioned site on the meaning for yellow:

YELLOW AURA COLOR MEANING: Relates to the spleen and life energy. It is the color of awakening, inspiration, intelligence and action shared, creative, playful, optimistic, easy-going.

Light or pale yellow: Emerging psychic and spiritual awareness; optimism and hopefulness; positive excitement about new ideas.

Bright lemon-yellow: Struggling to maintain power and control in a personal or business relationship; fear of losing control, prestige, respect, and/or power.

Clear gold metallic, shiny and bright: Spiritual energy and power activated and awakened; an inspired person.

Very interesting.  Now with that in mind, I’ve scrubbed through some of my art with a predominantly yellow theme.  Let’s take a fresh new look with those eyes that bare a greater insight now:

Yellow Skies, Lonely Tree

White Poppies

Golden Sunset Sailing

Path in the Forest

Yellow Sunset Triptych

Sunset in the Bushveld

Did any of these paintings make you feel any of the emotions from the above definitions for yellow? Or did it leave you cold?  Do you believe that colours can evoke certain feelings?

Please feel free to share your experiences and insights.

Other art blogs you may enjoy:

What Nature Can Teach Us About Art

Confessions of a Tree-Hugger

Painting a Zebra From Scratch

Something Blue…

Going Green in the Art Studio

No Soapbox Today…

Now before you think this is a blog about eco-friendly tips for artists, let me assure you now — this is actually about diving into the delicious green hues of the paint-pot.

Green is an unusual colour for monotone painting but I have fished out some of my art that has at least 60% green coverage (see below).

Gotta Love the Green

I love the colour green, I find it so wholesome, energetic, alive and vibrant — also somewhat comforting.

 ” One of my friend’s son once walked in the front door, paused to look around and then boldly stated that my house looked like a jungle.”

If you were to see my home, you would notice that I have a forest green sofa and plants popping out all around my house.  One of my friend’s son once walked in the front door, paused to look around and then boldly stated that my house looked like a jungle.  I loved that!  🙂

What is your favourite colour to paint in?  Or, if you don’t paint, what hue are you more partial to, especially when viewing a monotone piece of art?

Interesting note:  Did you know that green is the colour of your heart chakra?

Don’t forget you can kit your home or office space out in green and purchase any of the above pictures as prints, just click on the photo to take you to the store.

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Something Red…

In keeping with a festive colour scheme, I will be posting some red-themed art today.

I have decided to choose one artwork from each of my main categories of landscape, form, seascape, floral and wildlife (well, if you consider a dragon to be wildlife).

I hope you enjoy…

You can view my full portfolio here where you can purchase prints, posters, greeting cards and more…

For my blog on Something Blue CLICK HERE

Thanks for looking!

Something Blue…

Today is going to be a visual blog.  I have taken some of my favourite paintings/artworks with a boisterously, blissful blue hue/theme.

Come take a journey with me, let’s waltz through the world in blue…

I hope you enjoyed this trip with me.

What colour do you like to see in monotone art?  What is your favourite general colour?  Is there any colour you tend to wear more or have the inclination to paint your walls with? Spill those colourful beans!

And I’ll end it off with a blue t-shirt design…