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Inspiration from Belinda

How to make a painting in 3 easy steps: start painting

Belinda Fireman

Colourful, Inspiring Art, Paintings & Events

Belinda Fireman Calgary

Art is therapeutic and colour heals - bringing home an original painting by Belinda will light up your living space with a daily explosion of life & happiness. Belinda Fireman's colourful, inspiring art is guaranteed to lift the spirits, generate positive reflection and make you smile.

People who have bought Belinda's paintings say they can't stop looking at them, that they derive joy from them each day. Her paintings make wonderful, enduring and meaningful gifts.

Testimonials:

I was looking for whimsical, freedom, colour, play and inspiration in art. My experience with Belinda's art is incredible. You are very talented, there is such raw emotion, play and beauty in your art, and you are an incredible free spirit and beautiful soul.
Lee Horbachewski
SimpLeeSerene.com
I absolutely do recommend your art to everyone I meet. I'd say to someone interested in buying a painting that "It'll make you happy every day to have a piece or 10 of your art." I love that I can come to your home and buy. That you are warm, friendly and involved with the community. 
Ashley Farris
I am thrilled to see the pieces I got from you today on my own wall. Thank you for sharing your amazing talent so generously. Who knew that painting as a way of healing could result in such an explosion of life and happiness... I wish you strength and success. (And I have fantasies of you painting every single wall in my house.)
Heide Tieleman
Felt Artist / Viva Felt
Your art just speaks to me. Its like a song sung straight to my heart. Do I have enough wall space for everything I want?!! May need to take up a second job for my art addiction.  I give people art tours when they come to my home. I just love you!!!
Ashley Farris
My daughter LOVES your art, she is inspired by it and it makes her smile when she sees it - as do I. Organizing our drops offs without Aubrey seeing is always fun. I would say to someone considering buying Belinda's art: Do something right now that makes your heart smile.
Lee Horbachewski
SimpLeeSerene.com
I was looking for art that would make me smile when I looked at it. I love the style of your painting. I love the abstract designs and the depth and the layers. I love that I could spend months looking at it and discover new things in it that I never saw before. But most of all I LOVE how vibrant your paintings are.
Keri
Purchasing online was really easy and your communication with me regarding the status of my purchase including shipping was really good. As soon as I opened the box, I was extremely pleased that I had decided to take a chance and buy it. Both of the paintings I have purchased hang in my office. Almost everyone has something to say or notices something different about them -- the folks from our fine arts division especially.
Elizabeth Scherer
I had some concerns about buying from you because I have known you for so long and we see each other almost everyday.  If something would have gone wrong, would it have made things uncomfortable between us?  My experience was great.  You really took the time to figure out what I was looking for and I think that the painting suits my family perfectly. I would absolutely recommend you to a friend. Your work is beautiful and your prices are reasonable.
Keri
After seeing your posts as you worked on various pieces, I started thinking about the possibility of purchasing one. Although I was worried that I would end up with buyer's remorse, I finally came to the conclusion that, if your art was that compelling on-line, it would only be more so in person. I decided that I'd combine mom's day/bday/anniversary and give myself something special. My experience was phenomenal! Ultimately, I think your art just makes people happy, which is no small thing.
Elizabeth Scherer
I look at your work and escape to another world! Your art is amazing. I want to look at it daily.
Debbie
Shipping for all paintings and artware in this online store is available to customers in the USA and Canada.  For international customers outside of USA and Canada, please email Belinda directly for orders instead of using this online store.

Kaboom! Comix

By Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

My kids are all taking part in the Sketchbook Project: Limited Edition, and my daughter Z has decided to do hers all in comics. She calls her book, “Kaboom Comics”. I adore the drawings and the edgy humour. As a kid, I always wanted to be able to draw comics, but I didn’t feel like it came naturally, and all the comedic talent went to my brother, James (his is a baseball site – not devoted to being funny, but still funny at times).  These comics come easy to her, though. I watched her as she whipped them off, page after page. Where are these ideas coming from?! These are a few of my favourites.

Unrelated ideas: teach, sketch, act.

By Filed Under: Blog, Painting, Teaching, The Sketchbook Project 2012 Tagged With: , , , , ,

First page of the Sketchbook Project 2012

I just finished the third of five painting classes that I am teaching in my home. I want to remember the comments I received, to remind me why I enjoy doing this!

“You really know what you’re doing.”

“I’ve been meditating for ten years, and never really felt connected to the earth until you said to feel like a tree and spread my roots into the ground.” (I got this from Core Connexion)

“This was a really loving class.”

Well.

I have been thinking about teaching and wondering if I should continue, but this is really making me want to continue! Not to mention, when I am painting during class, I really lose track of time!

In other news, my Sketchbook Project 2012 is almost half completed (I am a bit behind on scanning). My son has been inspiring me to draw, because everyday when he comes home from school, he wants to work in his sketchbook. He has been copying some of my techniques, like drawing with color and then surrounding it with black. He is including a lot of rings and spirals, like in my work. I don’t want to discourage him from doing this, but I also want him to be drawing what is coming from inside him, rather than just what he thinks I want. He saw a drawing I did of the exterior of the school and he was surprised by this “new” idea of drawing what you see!

The theme for my sketchbook is “Nothing New,” but I am noticing that it is starting to morph into “Things that ARE New.” That’s OK, I am not chained to the theme. If you are working on your sketchbook, how is it going? Will you share some photos of your work? There is now a blog to follow where you can get ideas and inspiration for your sketchbook! I am really adoring this project. I’ve been telling so many people about it – I should be their official spokesperson! Ha!

And also (because I don’t know how to segue into this topic), I want to take an acting class.

The Real-Life Sketchbook Project

By Filed Under: Blog, Painting, The Sketchbook Project: 2011 Tagged With: , , ,

What I did on my Thanksgiving holiday: went to the Brooklyn Art Library! This is the home of Art House Co-op  and the Sketchbook Project! I participated in the project last year (and I am doing it again this year), and wanted to see how my book is doing. I was worried about the pages sticking together! While we were there, we had a chance to check out some other cool books, too.

The Brooklyn Art Library is a pretty small little shop, smaller than I expected, I guess, considering how many books they have to add after this year’s project is over! I think they’re gonna need a lot more bookshelves!! It was really inspiring to see the wall of books. Some of the covers are so ornately decorated!

You can take out books to look at based on the artist’s name, the theme, the city it comes from, or just whatever book looks interesting! I took out about 5 sketchbooks from Calgary, and then a few more for the kids to look at that had the theme, “Raining Cats and Dogs.”

We really liked this book by Barbara Wanhill of Calgary. She stuck to the cats and dogs theme, with a few chairs and other things falling from the sky. Great illustrations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another cool Calgary book included great line drawings of the Beatles. This one is by Tyler Lemermyer. We didn’t even come close to seeing a good chunk of sketchbooks. Didn’t even come close to hardly scratching the surface of what was there. I would love to go back another time, maybe without a 5 year old who gets bored quickly, so that I can spend a few hours poring over these amazing creations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s me with my book! To see my fancy-digitized sketchbook from last year, click here!

Some closure.

By Filed Under: Blog, The Sketchbook Project: 2011 Tagged With: , ,

The Sketchbook Project is old news now, but I need to bring closure to that topic! Instead of including all the pages that are missing on my blog (which I was about to do, but it’s way too much work), I will direct you to my flickr site to view the entire sketchbook! Here’s the cover! I hope the sketchbook holds up – some of the pages at the back of the book are perforated and were beginning to tear as I painted. Yikes! That presents quite a challenge for the paper conservator (my old job!) who gets to look after them!

The Sketchbook Project: Cover

 

 

These are a few of my Favorite Things

By Filed Under: Blog, Painting, The Sketchbook Project: 2011 Tagged With: , , ,

The Sketchbook Project p. 37-38

In the latest In the Fish Bowl class, Marisa asked us to think of words that represent us and our work. These are what I came up with, words that I would LIKE to represent me and my work!

colorful
honest and direct
bright and vivid
lively
fun
funny (aiming to be, anyway)
intelligent (at times)
positive (ditto)
inspiring

My favorite thing about this lesson was that our blogs should be like our living room, where people come to visit! That totally changes the way I look at my blog! I’m not sure I’m totally happy and comfortable in it. How do you feel when you visit my blog? Does it feel like you got a coffee and sat on a comfy couch, or like you have to sit on a milk crate with nobody offering you a drink? Do you feel like you are getting to know me? Is it a nice place to visit? How could it be improved?

The Sketchbook Project p. 39-40

Marisa also asked us to list our favorite things. This list is going to give me lots of singing material for my son since we have been singing “My Favorite Things” but putting in our own words:

all colors, rainbows, complementary colors
spirals
dancing my butt off
mindful parenting
blissful babies
my yarn stash
hand knit items I receive as gifts
painting time with my kids
quiet time
beach resorts and holidays
solo vacations
sushi
fondue
Ontario corn and peaches (I’m in Alberta now, so better appreciation!!)
buttered popcorn & peanut M&Ms (at the same time)
salted milk chocolate
mango lassies
annual trip to Banff with my daughters
snuggles
80’s music (Duran Duran, a-Ha, Depeche Mode etc)
dance/electronica for my workouts
men who can hit the high notes (think Justin Timberlake, a-Ha, E.L.O. etc)
anthropologie
Xanadu

The Sketchbook Project p. 41-42

Sick Comparisons

By Filed Under: Blog, Painting, The Sketchbook Project: 2011 Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Sketchbook Project p. 31-34.

In the first session of the e-course I am taking, Marisa mentions that we should be aware of comparing ourselves to others. (I think it’s kind of cool how that matches up with this sketchbook page that I am posting.) It’s something that I do a lot, as much as I don’t want to. I have a nasty little gremlin in my head that likes to point out how I just don’t measure up, can’t be successful where I live, that I paint the wrong things – everything is wrong. Jeez! Sometimes I want to tell my gremlin to shut it, but it’s a part of me and doesn’t take well to being treated so poorly. Meditation is helpful for sure. I can see it for what it is – just a voice in my head that wants to keep me safe.  I’m thinking it might be time for another look at “Taming Your Gremlin” by Rick Carson. What does your gremlin say to you? How do you treat it? What do you do to tame it?

I sent my sketchbook in for the Sketchbook Project today! Yay!! It’s going to take a while to get all the images up on flickr and to this blog. I might end up putting a whole bunch at once to get it over with, but for now I am spacing them out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unsure Mazes

By Filed Under: Blog, The Sketchbook Project: 2011 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Sketchbook Project, p. 29-30.

I’m like one of those lab rats running around a maze, always coming back to the same spot. I’ve been keeping track of my back issues, and I’m on a (about) 2 month cycle of feeling good and treating myself well, and then letting all slide (which mean sitting more than I should). I have that tightness in my lower back again. It always scares me when it starts, and I am very much aware of how I focus on the negative and want it to go away. This doesn’t help at all.

I recently started meditating again (there have been lots of fresh starts for meditating!!) and I can really see the benefit now, especially with the back trouble. My “witness” part of me is easier to spot. The witness doesn’t feel the pain, but rather, notices that I (my body) am feeling pain, and that I (my mind) is stuck in the pain. This awareness lets me deal with it better, and allows me to remember that it won’t last forever.

I just finished reading “Room” by Emma Donoghue – it’s a touching, frightening, wonderful story, told from the point of view of Jack, a 5-year old boy. Jack likes to do “word sandwiches”, where he combines two words to make a new one.  My favourite in the book, one that is appropriate for me right now is “scave”. I am scared and brave at the same time.

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