Moving from Fear, Dread, Inertia, and Angst, to Momentum and Beyond!

From S.T.E.M. to S.T.E.A.M! Yippee! The Arts are beginning to be added back into school Curriculum! What those of us in the fields of art have known all along, the rest of the country is beginning to realize. Hooray!

ART encourages imagination and imagination leads to increased creativity and increased creativity leads to innovation and innovation leads to new worlds previously unexplored!

I paint the negative spaces to enhance the positive. Even when I'm focused on the positive imagery, I'm aware of the impact the negative spaces have on the positive.

I took just one painting class in college — oil painting. I loved it, but had more fun working in clay, and spent many semesters up to my elbows in “mud.” 

Years after graduating, when I decided to paint again, I dug out my old oils. They still held magic.

Let’s continue the analogy of planting a garden and growing a watercolor practice. In the last post we ended with you imagining yourself painting, even just for five minutes a day. Now, back to our garden …

If you planted the seeds too close together, you will have to pluck some of them out of the ground to give the others room to grow. If you don’t, all of your plants will be weak and their lives short and stunted.

Cultivating your confidence is like cultivating a garden. 

First prepare the soil. Dig it up and turn it over to get it ready for the seeds. The soil needs air to make room for growth.

Do you want to learn to paint? Are you open to the idea of learning something new, something that’s outside your comfort zone? 

Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself. It’s so easy to make a decision after a cup of coffee in the morning when I’m feeling energized and excited about the day ahead. Do I want to start a new painting this afternoon? You bet I do! The error is in thinking that one decision is going to make magic happen. That’s not how it works. If we only had to decide something once for it to be so, we would all be fit as a fiddle, be our “ideal” weight, have our dream career, and live happily ever after.

If you have trouble finding time to paint, you are in good company!

Last week I participated in the monthly meeting of the Hawaii Watercolor Society. Nine fabulous painters and all-around, great people surrounded me — these are some of my favorite people on the island. As we discussed the organization’s events and the year ahead, I kept hearing the same refrain:

“When will I find time to paint?”

Keep Your Eye on the PrizeWhen I began to return to my artistic roots, I started with drawing. I used colored pencils to describe my inner world, and that of others (with their permission).

The New Year has begun and so have weekly sessions of life drawing. Drawing a live model is one of the most energizing ways to invigorate a drawing practice.