Hope For Creativity 2014

Founded by Moira Landry, Hope for Creativity is a non- profit charity organisation aimed at providing art supplies to children in homeless shelters. Since 2009 she has personally delivered thousands of art packs to homeless shelters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and at 17 was named as a Distinguished Finalist by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. She fully supports her charity and raises the awareness of homelessness and the affect on children in particular.

"I believed, that if I could give a child experiencing homelessness something new that was meant just for them, at a time when they were used to having to give up things, it might change their lives."   

This year 34 artists from 12 states and 5 different countries, submitted their respective talents, to produce amazing designs, for an online action. Following on from last years theme; "Engage in Boundless Expression",  2014 welcomes the theme "Dream"

Last year I started on the back foot having only just heard about the charity from Karen Hallion's Facebook page. That's all it took for me, the Doctor Who / Disney Princess artist was designing a palette for a charity auction. Well being a braggart and slightly big headed I believed I might be able to contribute something to the artistic world, whilst helping a dedicated teen realise her goals.
Last years palette felt rushed,due to my own poor planning, but still managed to raise $50 for the charity. If you're lucky enough to have it gracing your walls (or lying in a drawer!), send me a picture of its new home.
This year I was determined to start earlier and do better.


See! This year I did sketches and everything (so very proud of my self!).


I aimed to encompass typical dreams, and having two young girls these were obviously going to be little girls dreams.


My initial board sketch, turned out looking like an older woman, and that's when everything fell into place for me. Dreams are not age dependant and neither is believing in fairy tales. In fact I think the difference in assumed age made it more poignant.

Adding the colour flowed nicely and perching a fairy on the pillow seemed like a fun addition. It did turn out looking like a creepy hippy stalker. and I just couldn't replicate my initial sketch.




Bypassing both the fairy and the pillow allowed me to add more colour and shading.

I believe its key to know your limits when being artistic, and a horse is beyond me. Even with the simplistic style of horse I was attempting, it still looked like a magic eye picture for the blind.



My simple fairies worked out a lot better though, and after darkening the skin shading I was nearly done; Just a final coat and the wings.

Then this happened! Despite storing it on the tallest cupboard in the kitchen; my enterprising children had performed an early morning reconnaissance mission to find sweets. Than apparently explains how it fell into the frying pan, and returned itself to the shelf.


I'll be the first to admit that I lost my mojo at that point and even shed a tear. While trying to remedy the awful mess, I discovered that not only do watercolours and oil not mix very well: oil ruins unvarnished wood for future work. So I made an executive decision and scrubbed it all off with washing up liquid! Starting again was harder than I imagined, but you'll have to wait for the next post to see how that went!

Check out the links below and do your bit to support a great charity and an inspirational teenager.
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