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? 

What if …
What if everything is unfolding just the way it’s supposed to unfold?
What if you took an hour, or just five minutes, to simply sit instead of rushing around?
What if the birds got it right and we really can sing for joy at first light?

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.

A few weeks ago I taught a really fun class at the Honolulu Museum of Art Spalding House Campus: Pored Paintings. Students love this class because it gives them a chance to completely lose control of the painting process right from the start. Pat San Souci taught me the process about ten years ago. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to learn the process because I wasn’t interested in losing control (I can be a bit of a “control freak”). Then I found out just how much fun being out of control can be!

Making art changes your brain. Changing your brain changes your life. Painting, like meditation, can relax your mind. When your mind rests, new ideas and insights arise, and you become more aware of your inner and outer world. With this awareness, you can cut through the bombardment of imagery we face daily, and truly SEE the world more clearly.

When my car was ready, I took the Likelike Hwy to Sunshine Arts Gallery. About halfway over the mountains, I saw a two-foot tall animal on the shoulder of the road with its back to me. It was light brown, had two small pointy ears, and was standing up straight (erect). I didn’t know what it was. Imagine my surprise when, as I passed it (at 50 mph), I looked into the rear view mirror to see a small “kangaroo”!

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?”

Watercolor works best when applied in swift, bold strokes (most of the time). But it’s important to slow down in between the brush strokes! Wow, this might be the first time I have said that in this way. Some of us have a natural tendency to stop and ponder our work between our strokes. Others might misinterpret my sense of urgency in applying the paint to include the entire painting process.

The paintings and giclées hanging in my studio tell the story of my painting life. Their lineage feels especially important because I just finished a new coconut painting.

Without fail, my paintings help me to know what to focus on in my life, or what is going on in the world around me. They act as a messenger from my inner self to my conscious self. I can understand if that sounds a little weird to you. Once upon a time it would have sounded odd to me, too. Experience has proven it to me.

Telescopic painting is a painting technique I caught myself doing the other day. To paint telescopically means that instead of watching the paint brush, your eye is watching the part of the painting where you wanted your brush to go. I was painting the horizon line on my Star Struck Mermaid and instead of watching myself paint the line; I was watching the line an inch or so ahead of my brush.

Two professional oil painters recently told me that they are afraid of painting with watercolor. They said that it is too unpredictable and unforgiving. I have heard this before.

In fact, I used to believe that too.