This morning when I sat down to paint another picture for my personal 100 paintings challenge I didn’t know where to begin. I had that empty-headed feeling that sometimes comes when I want to create. Since I couldn’t think of anything better, I told myself
Just Begin
Start with a circle…
So I traced around a plate to create a circle. And then I decided to add some tree trunks to the image, then a sky and tree covered horizon and a stream. I thought it might be interesting to see photos of the painting in progress. You can see how it began and how it evolves.
Too often I get caught up in needing to have “a great idea” before I start painting.
“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”
― The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle
You can see that this is a fairly modest start to a less than skillful painting. My point is, I have to be willing to take the risk of allowing myself to create awful stuff if I want to grow my skills.
As I progress on this 100 painting journey I find myself wanting my paintings to look like something, to be more than just an abstract scrawl. But there are hidden traps in this kind of thinking. If I focus more on outcome than the process I know that it is likely that I will lose my sense of joy.
It may seem that simply setting up the “obligation” to myself to create 100 paintings is a joy killer. Fortunately, for me, it’s not, because my commitment is based on an aspiration to paint more often. So long as I feel that this goal is bringing me joy I will continue. A big part of creativity is simply showing up and trying different things.
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
―
A question for me when I make a painting is, “When is it finished?” Sometimes I fear “ruining” a painting if I continue to work on it. Yet this painting doesn’t look finished to me yet. So I guess I’ll take the chance of taking it too far. And so I did—take it too far, though not intentionally.
Sigh. Don’t you wish that you could wave a magic wand to learn a new skill?
Still, the joy is in the journey and I did enjoy all parts of the process of creating this less than perfect watercolor painting.
What will you create today?
May you walk in beauty.
And one more recent painting made with Neocolor watercolor crayons
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