About Me

About Amanda Trought.......

Welcome
Thank you for visiting my blog.  Do stay a while take a look around and more importantly I hope you are inspired to try something new and share what you are doing.

Who am I
I am a Mixed Media Artist and involved with many different creative endeavours - including - painting, writing, blogging, drawing, photography, crochet, crafting, encouraging, planning, organising, dancing - like no ones watching and laughing out loud! My journey started with me at 11 convinced I wanted to be a singer.  I would stand on my parents balcony hoping a record producer would hear me singing at the top of my lungs and sign me up with the hit song 'I'm only 11 trying to get into showbiz', our neighbours were gracious and never complained, though my little brother at the time use to make fun of me.

The Journey Began
Flash forward a few years I got involved in Theatre, did a degree in Complimentary Therapies, whilst doing a 'proper job' and worked as a Secretary, rising in the ranks to be a PA and then an Executive PA, I won't knock it as it has made me realise that alongside my creative side I can be very organised and that's alright.  Anyway, I worked in a variety of organisations - education, design and health and picked up nuggets of information and ways of working that are still serving me today.  It's alright to have unity in the left and the right brain.

Knowing what I wanted to do...
Throughout my journey I have always continued to paint and draw and it wasn't until around 2007 that I was given the opportunity to pursue my art, and found mixed media.  I started doing a lot of online courses and connecting with other creatives.  I realised that this was what I had always wanted to do and it incorporated all of my passions, using a variety of materials, creating a wide range of art and tapping into all those creative parts that wanted to be expressed.  This blog represents part of this expression, you have to make time for your art, that shows that it is ok to have more than one passion and areas of interest.

I think that it has made my art richer by taking 

the journey and picking up insights along the way.

Arts and Healing

I started working with Arts and Health after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  I needed a way to express what I was facing, to understand and give a voice to the many emotions that showed up and having a family of my own.  This not only helped me, but gave me the opportunity for several years to collaborate with a specialist day care centre in dementia care and other neurological conditions. The Art and creative workshops have proved invaluable as it has demonstrated the impact that creativity, colour and massage therapy all have on these conditions.  Subsequently the work produced has been featured in a conference on arts and health within the Health service - looking at the impact of art on health care. I have been able to use my experience as a carer while combining the creative work and have also been delivering talks to NHS trainee social workers on the impact of the caring role.  I show ways in which art and creativity has enabled me to deal with the role, and generally how creativity is a tool that everyone can use to work through and engage with a variety of situations.

Continuing to Learn
Having recently completing a series of courses including Creative Reminiscence and Art activities for recently diagnosed dementia patients I have including my experience of moderate and severe dementia have an all round view of how creativity can impact on health and well-being. I am in the process of developing a range of materials for those who are carers, artists or who work in a health care setting and want to provide creative resources for those who they care for or their staff.  For updated information on my work or to buy go to - http://www.realityarts.co.uk/

Exhibition 
I have exhibited around London and you can see information on current exhibitions in the Exhibition news page.  My work principally looks at the use of colour and texture and creative writing and how when combined they can impact on an individual either as a viewer or a participant. I have delivered a presentation on 'Dementia Care - connecting through arts' at the National Patient Environment and the Arts Conference in London and I have been running a range of workshops and seminars on creativity and health that allow the participant to develop at their own pace and examine their own creativity.

I would love for you to stay in touch, connect, leave a comment, let me know what inspires you, share your creative space with me and see your growth and join me on a creative adventure.  

There are a variety of ways in which you can do so:-
Leave your email address, and subscribe to this blog and Realityarts-Creativity Blog

• Follow me on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter
• If you want to find out about events, news, good practice and collaborations within the NHS and Healthcare setting, then join my free Arts in Heath Network
• For creative writing, reviews, poetry, Interviews, quotes and more, check out my Wordpress Creative Writing blog
• For videos then go to my Realityart Youtube channel
• For Art and Craft, Creativity, Inspiration, newsletters, Free gifts, Great offers, Reviews, and general news sign up at my website Realityarts