I believe in many things, but today I’m keeping it to ART!

• I believe you must believe in yourself!
• I believe you must live your beliefs!
• I believe you must choose the people carefully to ask for a critique!
• I believe we must keep working at our art, and grow!
• I believe there are no mistakes, only opportunities to be more creative!

Each time I lose steam, and this is one of them, I have trouble getting back into the swing of things.  Usually it’s after the holidays…like now!  Sure there are many things going on in our lives, all our lives, but why is it that some people can shove all things aside, and keep creating, and some of us just can’t seem to get our mojo running?

I sit in front of my computer and... I got nothing!

That’s not like me!  My husband tells me I always have my soapbox dragging behind me, and I’m more than happy to stop, and climb on…  I really hope I’m not all that bad, but given the right prompt, I will, and have…climbed on my soapbox.  Rarely do I drag it out for religion, or politics, those are touchy subjects to many people, and we all have our own opinions!  Isn’t that what makes our country the great country that it is?  So, I try to stay away from those two subjects.

What will you talk about?

I’ll talk of art at the drop of a hat!  It doesn’t have to be a fancy hat, any old hat will do…..  I love hearing other artists talk of technique, better yet, watching them work.  We can learn so much from each other, maybe even creating a spin-off of something we have seen somewhere else.  I still find creating a bit intimidating at times, especially if I’m over saturated with art.  For example, I became fascinated  with Pinetrest many months ago.  I couldn’t believe how much inspiration I got from that site.  It pushed me to create many things  I hadn’t thought of, and I haven’t seen anywhere else.  But somewhere along the line, I felt like I was on overload and had to back off!  It almost zapped  my creative energy.  So I rarely go onto that website prior to painting.  If I have any ideas at all, I stay away!

Here’s what I just finished!

Tuesday morning, I went to the Escondido Municipal Gallery to participate in the “Artful Inches Fundraiser.”   Several artists donate their time to do a little painting on a portion of about 40 feet of watercolor paper that has been hung on the wall.  Over a period of three weeks,  artists come and go, leaving their  painting somewhere on the paper. Eventually the paper is all filled in, and the fundraiser begins!

Next month on February 9th, there will be a reception, the public will be able to purchase a section of the painting with the help of their selected size of matting. The prices vary depending on the size of the mat!   Last year was the First Annual Fundraiser, and it was a huge success!  The money supports the annual Student Art Show in April and participating teachers.

When I went in to paint, I hadn’t any idea what I would do, but I found myself alone to do it!  The room was empty, no one was painting on Tuesday morning except me!   So I was able to spread out and jump in!  This felt oddly freeing, being able to have such a huge space to paint without interruptions.  The picture above is what I created…..It just popped out of me – Journal Style!

• I believe we should never compare ourselves to another artists!
• I believe each of us is unique!
• I also believe artists are incredibly fragile, even if we don’t think so!
• I believe each day we have to work at stomping back our ego!
• I believe I love what I do, and want us all to love what they do also!
• I believe we are all connected and we need to share our creative energy!
• I believe that my small group of close Artsie Fartsie girls are of significant importance in my life!