'True Colours' - portrait painting retreat at Hawkwood College

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Hawkwood College is a residential centre for holistic adult education and personal development.           An integral part of the Hawkwood mission is to bring people together from many streams of social, artistic and spiritual learning and to honour its founding anthroposophical impulse. www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

If you live in the UK, then you are probably aware of popular TV series like 'How to look good nacked', or 'Faking it'. Today's society seems to be obsessed with self-improvement entertainment programmes, and better still, people are actually willing to expose themselves & come forward to make positive changes in their lives infront of a national audience. This is very impressive to say the least.

 It is my understanding that we are here on this planet to evolve and to release blocked energy - meaning that we have to face our own dark, ugly, inner shadow which plays out physically in the outer world as confusion, resentment, disease, doubt, hypnosis and pain. We have chosen that in order to help us end the 'Duality Integration Game'  to come out of separation and return to Oneness as divine creator beings! This is not normally known and we need to accept first that they are an aspect of us... then look at it objectively for for what it is, before finally releasing the situation and taking control over our lives. For that to happen we need to give up all victim hood, forgive everyone who has ever hurt us and trust ourselves intuitively in order to start loving ourselves & others unconditionally again.

A lot of new age teachings nowadays talk about the importance of using guiding imagery and repetitive affirmations to bring about such a personal transformation. You might have heard of various principles such as creating a 'Vision Board' and writing down an 'Ideal Life Letter' in the 1st person to yourself to help define your goals and visualize positive outcomes that will help manifesting your idea of an empowered life. Painting is one way of achieving that & also an amazing tool to attain a maximum of self-awareness through which you can increase your reality

Day 1
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17:00 - 17:30    Introduction
17:30 - 18:00    Life coaching questionnaire
18:00 - 19:00    dinner
19:00 - 20:00    create a collage/ vision board, using affirmations
20:00 – 21:00   write your ideal life letter "What do you really want?"


Day 2
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9:30  -  11:00 am   photo session in pairs
11:00 – 11:30 am  break
11:30 – 1:00 pm    selection of images/ identifying your colours
1:00   -  2:00pm    lunch
2:00  -  3:30pm     warm up sketches / painting techniques
3:30  -  4:00pm     break
4:00  -  5:00pm     developing composition


Day 3
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9:30  - 11:00 am  start on final portrait
11:00 - 11:30am  break
12:00 - 1:00pm    painting
1:00   - 2:30pm    lunch
2:00  -  3:30pm    finishing touches
3:30  -  4:00pm    exhibition

Beforehand:
- complete an astrology report (astrodienst) and Pamala Oslie's aura colour test @ www.russellrowe.com to evaluate your dominant emotional, physical and mental colour personalities.

- bring magazines, old photographs etc. for vision board collage
and digital camera, props and clothing for photo shot;
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You are a powerful being, beautiful and extraordinary!

It's time we set clear goals for ourselves and our world. We need to establish balance and harmony with our bodies, our lives, with each other & our surroundings in order to build the beauty of our true selves. It begins with improving our world and for that we must learn to improve our conditions, our character, our deeds and to be honest with oneself. Ask for strength, courage, faith, guidance, healing—whatever you need. How much of your will are you going to put behind your request? Just a little or your entire being? You are here to be happy, to learn, to grow, to evolve, to love, to laugh, to serve—and to experience the joy of your limitless Being! ...simply put, when we learn to build our goals and intentions on the positive emotions - we are healing our world!
Here are a few things you can do ...

• Be love 
• Quieten Your Mind     
• Detox your body & mind with lots of time in nature         
• Use steam, sauna, charcoal, clay, raw food, herbs, bark, wheatgrass          
• Create a low stress lifestyle
• Have lots of lush plants to absorb electromagnetic radiation      
• Eat spiritually-blessed clean healthy food/ pH balanced diet          
• Drink lots of springwater    
• Release Emotions     
• Overcome Fear
• stop watching TV
• Heal past trauma
• Eliminate limiting beliefs
• Lead a healthy physical, mental, emotional & spiritual lifestyle

Furthermore, beautiful art is having a big influence on the flowering of human consciousness. Remember, by introducing bright, vibrant, energetic feng shui colours to your home, you'll stimulate creativity and add lot's of positive 'chi' to your life! Additionally, in order to overcome any issues about yourself that are bothering you, you need to show the Universe exactly what you want. You must write it down and bring this statement to life with an inspiring image that illustrates your wish,
before releasing it ...

We need a new vision of an empowered female. We need more vibrant, stimulating, exciting art in this world that makes us feel good - art that celebrates our vital life-force and lights up our lives! Such art should combine power with gentleness and strenght with feminine beauty, as it will remind us of our original fluid, pliant state that is capable of easy sensual movement, expansion & interconnectedness.

Things we will be dealing with in the retreat:

1. how to conquer your internal war
2. learn to make peace with your body
3. create a vision of dynamic wellbeing
4. Receive guidance on artistic compositions
5. an exhibition of work to review your success

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Essentially, this weekend will be an introduction to the power of harmonious colours and forms, reflecting on spiritual awakening and the return of the divine feminine energies. Created in a fresh & fun way, this course will teach you how to balance your life through looking at your aura colours and astrological portrait. From that you will learn how to create an empowering self-portrait that reflects on your true self... guiding you towards self-love, self-acceptance and authentic being.
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Does it work...?
My own artwork is essentially a response to a life time of suffering and personal trauma and has helped me tremendously to see the light inside. My paintings gave me the incentive to re-sculpt my body, which I hated so much until then. I realized upon seeing an actual example of how I wanted to look like, that I can indeed attract this as a definite reality into my life! I now want to inspire others to achieve the same.

To be part of the next 3-day course, get in touch under info@annett-bank.co.uk. You can also check out: www.annett-bank.co.uk

Art for the Bedroom

Feng Shui is the art of creating a home environment that supports the life you wish to live. In feng shui they say: 'You are what you see', so if the images on the wall are lonely single and solitary - that's what you'll attract into your life.

Try changing your artwork so the images you hang are more romantic, paired, coupled & sensual - by your description & feelings - they should reflect what you want your love life to be like, so when you lie in bed and look at those scenes, that's what you'll attract.
Also, contrary to the common believe, it is Golden-Green Yellow, not pink as mostly assumed that is the colour of love. Yellow is the color of the sun and signifies longevity. This is immediatly followed by red, which is the colour of joy - joy transmutes into love. Remember the last person you fell in love with? They did so, because you had so much joy with them...















So here is what you can do to re-create this. Place powerful “energy enhancers" such as uplifting artwork around your home and before you know it, you'll feel better and start exuding the characteristics of a joyous, happy person...

Rounded shapes and the colour orange symbolize yin, the passive female principle and are implied in the curves of the female human body. Orange, is the vibrant blend of red & yellow and lends passion and understanding to you and your partner. Yang is the masculine part and represented as the light, active principle and the colour azure. Yin and Yang evolved from a belief of mutually dependant opposites that cannot live without the other. Whereas the Western perspective assumes separation and unrelatedness, the Chinese see it as evolving and cycling. There is neither right or wrong, but rather there is balance, transformation, interaction, and dependent opposition. Established Figurative Artist Annett E. Bank beautifully illustrates these ideas in affectionate artworks that reflect on this inter-connectedness of two already complete individuals; providing a holistic vision of harmony, unity and oneness between both energies.


It's always a good idea to clear your clutter, sort out your life and become silent and still through meditation and round, leafy plants & flowers in your living area. As a result, your home will be fun and pleasurable to be in- and your vitality enhanced!

• have pictures of love,
• tasteful nudes
• couples in an embrace
• or images of affection

The ideal colour for your bedroom is anything from ivory to mahagony, like blushy skin coulour. Green symbolizes life & love and is considered to be a color of freshness, growth and peace, which makes it ideal for bedrooms. Blue is the colour for wisdom, clarity and knowledge. And finally pink. Pink flowers enhance relationships and create a positive energy for both singles and couples alike.

In this way art helps you to achieve a harmonious flow of nourishing, sensual energy that invites you, lures you in, excites you -
yet calms you down at the same time....

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