do-er

I have enough beach glass to sink a very large ship* lately I'm on the look out for pottery shards

Doing what needs to be done 
may not make you happy, 
but it will make you great.

George Bernard Shaw

I am a certified, dyed in the wool (who knew it ? I know I am super surprised) do-er of things.
I do stuff. I get stuff done. I am a do-er.

I get stuff done. I love to plan, I love a to-do list and I love nothing more than to tick off with a check mark - DONE + seal the deal with a stroke through of a to-do item (neatly penned of course in my hot pink, much loved Cavallini day planner) with, for the sake of a lil' overkill -yes girlfriend you did do that ! and I know you are proud of it ! a hot pink high lighter (or lime or orange) high lighter.   

This however has not felt like always been the case, this is a skill I've developed over time and I love it. I love that I've become a do-er of things. Of things that I want to get done. I love cruising through a list. It makes me feel happy, purposeful & accomplished - which ya know can only lead to even better feelings - feelings of self trust, self confidence, pride, purpose, accomplishment ... yadada, yadada ya know ?  I love making a list, considering my day, attempting to be as realistic as possible though at the same time knowing that shit does happen  - it's become a game for me. How close can I come to realizing my goals & to-do's for each day. And lately I'm really trying hard to sprinkle in as much variety (& a few fun things) on that master darn to-do list 'cause hances are if it's not on my to-do list it won't get done. 

*that black & white pattern is a bit of a find. I'll show you one day soon, maybe I'll even have another beach glass give away. I have lived here for 20+ years, walking a beach almost daily, sometimes twice daily my beach glass collection is vast and sorted by colour in large size jars which I have 15 of - that's alot of beach glass. Blue is rare-ish, red & yellow very rare. Brown, green, white common almost & lavender rare to common. 

fierce

tiny 6" x 6" wooden canvases (with deep sides) my favourite current painting/art surface - these layers have been sanded

You will be fierce. You will fearless. 
And you will make work you know in your heart 
is not as good as you want it to be.

Ira Glass

"you will make lots of work you know in your heart is not as good as you want it to be"

Another true fact. I'm not at all sure where these lil' babies might be going - what direction they could be headed in next ?!? that's the fun (the painfully difficult, character building, so what if you don't like it fun, fun) of this kind of no expectation, brave & intuitive painting practice - practice being the key word. Practice, practice ... what if we thought of everything as practice ?

hmmmmmm ... wise words for a Sunday morning ;-) let's listen to Ira on the practice of stick-with-it ness ... creativity

ick & ugly

layer 3 the ick & the ugly of painting (layer 1 & 2), or at least of this kind of bold, brave intuitive painting ... it's so hard.

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs 
and developing our wings on the way down.
Kurt Vonnegut

I'll call this the ick phase, the phase that comes directly after the ugly phase, it's most definitely the phase where you're contemplating getting that big jumbo jar of gesso out pronto & painting the ick away with goopy thick fresh whiteness but ... experience has taught me that ick & ugly can actually become stunning & gaspingly beautiful uh huh !... if you hang in there which is the very hard part. I'm not sayin' it's gonna happen here but I do know many, many, many (that's 3 many's and an often !) paintings or collages that I've been ready to crumple, rip up and/or paint over have eventual morphed into favourites of mine because I did stick with them - blew by the ick & ugly, turned my brain off, shut down my expectations & tried to have fun, to relax - it is the only way that you become better as an artist, I know this for sure. This my friends is a true fact.

I'm currently taking Mati Rose's Daring Adventures in Paint (I got in at the fabulous introductory price of $99. couldn't pass such a deal up) + I'm just about to redo Flora Bowley's amazing e-course (once you do the course live you have an amazingly long time period (weeks & weeks) of course material access - yeh ! Flora & Beth. The painting above, in progress, is a 10"x10" wooden canvas board, a surface I love but I've learned that to really have an easier time being loose, brave, bold & intuitive a much larger surface is best - 30"x30" or larger. That might be the problem with this painting - it's just too darn small.

Have you been thinking you'd love to learn to paint ? Flora's latest course begins May 27th and it's ah-mazing.

You can't use up creativity. 
The more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou