***Flygirl Fridays***

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to take a course called "Flying Lessons" given by a very talented artist - Kelly Rae Roberts. It was an excellent course that covered such topics as letting go of yours fears, going after your true passion, and many other things. One of the best things about the course was, I got meet and learn about a lot of talented artists, all in on different paths, but all working towards making their dreams come true and learning to take flight. Flygirl Fridays is all about these wonderfully talented people and a little bit about them, so you can get to know them as well!

Please join me in welcoming
Helen A. Naylor!

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
Hello I am Helen A. Naylor. I am British and very proud of that. We moved to Australia in 1982 where I now live. I am an Artist. An artist of many mixtures.

My first Hat is Traditional Animator. My Dad introduced me to this art form. We used to go off to a lovely night school in Britain called Bidic Art Farm. After moving to Australia I went to uni to do a degree in Traditional Animation. Yes there is such a thing. I worked for Channel 9 TV in Australia making TV ads
and "id in's and id out's" for American MTV. I went back to uni in 2000 to do another degree this time in MultiMedia. It had a small section of computer animation in it. Enough to get me started. As I had
moved, my old uni is now over an hour’s drive and 100kph away this uni is 4km away.

Another hat is my Pottery Hat.
I have been playing with clay since about 1996. I started this to have a balance from the very controlled art form of my Animation. I am still controlling the clay! Raku is my fav. It is really a three person job to fire a Raku. I have trouble getting friends to help me due to they see their life is at risk. So I don't get to fire very often. I do have quite a back-log of my idea of, totem poles awaiting for brave friends and the right weather to come along. Soon I hope. I make alsorts of things in clay. From necklaces to plates. I found my strength to stop at a lovely shop St Barts ( http://www.st-barts.com.au/ ), which I shop at far too much myself and show them my plates which resulted in an order for 61. Be careful what you wish for ladies ! I now have my necklaces up on my new Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtConglomeration ). Up until now I had been selling my pottery through word of mouth and art shows.



My other Hat is Glass Bead Making. I would love to do glass blowing. This is the closest I could come to it. Yes you guessed it I like to play with fire. Controlled fire that is ! I had been watching a great American show called Crafters Coast To Coast. They kept showing bead making. I thought one day when the laptop was on, "I am going to do this, I don't care how much it will cost to get the equipment from the USA" Well that was a Tuesday. I discovered an underground sociality of Aussie bead makers. On Saturday morning the boys were sent off to the "out back". By lunch time we were on the patio making beads. Hence the name Patio Beads. I sell them in a shop from time to time, thanks to a visit from my cousin Gillian and her strength. Mainly it is word of mouth and art shows. They are heading to a gallery shop real soon.

Another Hat is P-Arts.
I recycle parts out of aircraft. Usually their navigation systems and radios. I do this with a soldering iron and grinder. I then arrange them in a shadow box. The whole idea of these pieces not going into land fill excites me. Yes I am a greenie ! But the fact that some of them have flown all over this planet of ours and talked to so many people in so many far off lands that most of us will never go. And here they are on your wall. The surprise I get when I open up the really old radios ! They are art in themselves. I am sure I can feel the conversations they have holding secret in their components.

There are more Hats but I am worried you will get bored and leave lovely Violet’s blog so I shall stop there.

What is something that you really love, and why?
Oooooo I love so much.
I love the internet. I got my first email address back in the early 90's. It was all numbers 100035.3442 yes that was it.
I love being arty.
I love my chickens they calm me.
I love recycling. I love that the world has finely got on board.
I love Louie and Simon. They love me back.

What would your dream project be?
Gosh I have a few. The main one is happening right now. My studio, at the bottom of my garden, where else, was flooded 2 years ago. I lost so much in the way of supplies and art work. You know how you collect things for a rainy day! Sad but maybe i should have cashed in a few rainy day cheques. There is a lesson to be learnt there I am sure. I have been living out of containers ever since. My farther in-law has flown 1000 kilometres to come and level the floor and lay down reclaimed wide, hardwood, floor boards. A new door way and door too. So that is a major project. When it is done I plan to move back into it and start turning my skills as a Traditional Animator with my limited skill of computer animation into one that will be my own. A combination of old, new and me. To be animating again is my real number one project. I have been working artistically to for the last year with e-courses and books to ready myself and fill my artistic well.

My dream, dream project would be to have a modern warehouse set up for iron works sculpturing, glass blowing and glass bead making. It would have resident artists in their fields from around this lovely planet of ours working on their own projects and giving lessons.

What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?
I have thought about this, I would love to tell you some-thing amazing that changed my life from a wise old rely but I can’t find one. It really would be what I myself was telling my friend from another course (
http://www.stephanielevy.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/announcing-new-creative-courage-spring.html
).

"Simple, just "BE" an artist. No more discussion. This is what you do and it makes your heart sing. The rest of the worlds inhabitants can either agree with you or get on with their lives. You make art in all shapes and thats it."

It had been bubbling in me for a few weeks since I had made the big step to buy myself a kiln. (http://findingmycreativewings.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/i-have-been-making-plates-for-long-time.html) There has been a sense of freedom in me which has had such an effect on my life. It was talking to Yvonne (http://muddleonthrough.blogspot.com/ ) that brought it out into words. So I think that is my best piece of advice to date. It was my own.

Where does your inspiration come from?
Usually from my collection of supplies.

What do you think is the biggest thing holding you back?
Had you asked me a year ago I would have said a community to belong to of like-minded arty people for inspiration, encouragement and support. Today the answer is to "Trust" myself and to follow the "Flow". Get my work out there.

What change do you think would most help your business grow?
If you had asked me a few weeks ago, the answer would have been some-thing on the lines of, for me to get out of my own way.

What's the biggest thing that you took with you from Flying Lessons?
That would have to be the reasons to have a blog, twitter, etc. I opened a Twitter a long time ago. https://twitter.com/#!/HelenANaylor I really didn't see the point of it. To tell you the truth and to have you see me as a sheep, it was Martha Stewart who encouraged me to get one. https://twitter.com/#!/MarthaStewart I too started a blog in 2000 at Uni while doing a degree in Multi Media. Again, I didn't see the point.
Yes, I like to keep a diary, Whoops haven't for a while, hmm, actually I do a visual diary of my day. No words or symbols. Try it, it is hard work. Just do very easy scribble type line drawing to show your day or it will become some-thing else. Oh yes, date it too. But I didn't see the sense in writing it online. It is out there some-where, waiting for me to return! But after reading how KRR's was found due to her blogging the birth of her creative life, I totally got it. I saw the importance of being seen to have a presence in the world. So I opened one. The importance of it hit home when I picked up the courage to go into a shop to show them my plates. I had to run home and ask you all to follow my blog and like my FB Biz page real fast to make it look like I did have a presence. It all worked. You were all brilliant, thank-you again.
There is another thing that I took with me but having said that I don't know if it is the right way to put it. This community we have, all of us, this immense friendship we now have through our Fly Girls FB page, this is what I what I loved most about the course. But we built this. It is all of us that created it. Without the personalities, the love, the joy, the caring, the knowledge and willing to share all of them with each other without all of that it would just be some people who took a course. This is what I love most. I love all of you. You are the gift I received from the Flying Lessons.

-------------------

Thank-you Violet for having me as your guest on your fabulous blog. It has been an honor to chat with you. Keep up all the great work you are doing here and in your life.

If any of your readers would like more information on me I would love to hear from them. Please like me and follow me. I am spasmodic in my posts but I am told they are always interesting.

Here is the never ending list of places you can find me at any given time.
Helen A. Naylor
www.HelenANaylor.com
www.facebook.com/ArtConglomerationByHelenANaylor
www.etsy.com/people/ArtConglomeration
https://twitter.com/#!/HelenANaylor
www.flickr.com/photos/artconglomerationbyhelenanaylor/
http://findingmycreativewings.blogspot.com/ (You will see me as H.A.N. or HAN )
www.goldcoastpotters.com/Potters_pages/NaylorH.htm
Email Helen@HelenANaylor.com
Email HAN09@optusnet.com.au