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).

This image is an example of one of those drawings; I called them Energy Essence Portraits. They were personal mandalas that “spoke” to me as I drew. I kept a notebook at my side & recorded words that popped into my head while I drew.

In the beginning, I needed total silence to do these drawings; even music distracted me. This work required my total focus. That is why I would get up at four AM to ensure peace and quiet in the house.

After a year of silent drawing in the wee hours of the morning, my circumstances shifted and necessity conspired with reality to create times when the presence of others while I drew was unavoidable.

Fortunately I had honed my focus by that time and could draw without being distracted by others.

By the time I’d moved to Honolulu in 2000, I realized that my focus had become so strong that I could paint in public. Nowadays I paint at galleries and fairs so people can watch the painting unfold along with me.

Over the years I’ve realized that the more intensely I focus on my painting, the less time I paint at any one time. As a result of focusing so singularly, I am able to accomplish quite a lot in a short amount of time. This allows me to schedule short blocks of time in which to work on a wide variety of projects.

Focus is focus. It doesn’t matter what you focus upon, as long as your attention is aligned with your intention, your focus will be strong and pure.

You can start to hone your focus by setting aside 5–10 minutes at a time, 2–3 times a week, to devote to one task. Choose something you have wanted to do, but haven’t been able to make time for doing. Ideally this task will be one very close to your heart.

Do this task for 5–10 min at a time, 2–3 times a week, for three weeks. I promise you will be amazed at how much you accomplish in those 30–90 minutes of time. Your new-found ability to focus with intention on almost anything will sneak up on you.

The really good news is that focus, once honed, follows you from task to task. Your ability to focus on almost anything is a skill worth learning.

You can read more about focus here: http://dreamheartsmartart.blogspot.ch/

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.

Yes, I'm primarily a painter, but drawing forms the bones of most of my paintings. Drawing live models ensures I maintain fast eye-hand coordination.

Each class begins with ten two-minute poses. These warm-up exercises loosen up the hands and eyes, and train us to get the basic form drawn quickly.

Once we've gone through those poses (and taken a ten minute coffee/tea break) we draw ten-minute poses. The sketch shown here is from a ten-minute pose. The model, seen on the left side of the photo, is resting between poses.

Often my best drawings are done quickly, before I've gotten too involved with the outcome or concerned with how well I'm doing. Maybe the Ten-Minute Revolution is more pervasive than I'd thought. We really can get a lot done ten minutes at a time.

Baking is another of my favorite art forms, especially when I try new recipes. I just popped a pie in the oven, you can see the unbaked image of it below. The recipe came from the October issue of O Magazine. Here it is with a few minor creative adjustments:

1 unbaked piecrust

4 unpeeled baking apples sliced                 

1 C fresh or frozen cranberries

1 tsp orange zest

2/3 C sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 C sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 stick butter

1.5 C flour (we used 1 C ww flour and .5 C raw oats)

1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans (opt)

Preheat the oven to 450 and line a pie pan with the crust.

In one bowl, add the next five ingredients. Pile the mixture into the crust.  In a separate bowl or food processor, combine the next four ingredients. Working with a handful at a time, squeeze the mixture together and crumble on top of the pie filling. Place the pie on a baking sheet to catch drips and bake until the topping begins to brown, 15–20 min. Then reduce heat to 350 and bake 50–60 minutes. Set the pie aside to cool. Pie can be baked a day ahead & kept in a cool place until ready to serve.

This is cranberry season, one of my favorite seasons of the year. While I still have cranberries in my freezer from last year, I will buy more to fill my reserves.

My mom sent this recipe to me, and I think you'll agree, they are really yummy!

½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temp.                        ½ tsp salt

1 1/3 cups  sugar                                                 1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs                                                                 2 cups whole fresh cranberries

1 tsp vanilla                                                         ¾ cup chopped pecans

1 ½ cups flour, use some of the flour to coat the cranberries

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch cake pan

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar,  beat in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, cranberries and nuts. Using your hands, Pat the batter into the pan, the batter is very thick. Bake @ 350 degrees 35 to 40 minutes. Do not bake too long or you will have very dry bars.

Frosting (optional, but seriously, cream cheese frosting makes everthing taste better, doesn't it?)

3 oz. cream cheese,  and scant ¼ cup butter room temp;  1 tsp vanilla extract, approx 2 tsp milk,  1 ½  to 2 cups powdered sugar for spreading consistency.

Beat all ingredients and frost the bars when cool.

I tried a bar before frosting them and liked them plain too, so if you want to cut calories, do so there. I also used unbleached white flour the first time I made them, and will try other whole grain blends next time. I'll keep you posted on my results, and look forward to hearing about yours.