Encroaching

 

I found that everything I put on this page ended up at the edges. There was no focal point. It felt like everything was encroaching on the centre of the page. 

Sometimes life can feel like that – like everything is encroaching on our time or even on our personal space. When that happens it's important to take a moment to focus on your breathing, to find five minutes to do something you love that energises you. When you can do that you find a bit of ease, a bit of wiggle room that just allows you to carry on without screaming 😊

The first 'no'

Don't stop at the first "no". 

Of course, "no' means "no". I'm not talking about any type of consent here. 

I'm talking about the first rejection of your art, your book, whatever your project might be. Creatives of all types have to grow thick skins in terms of being told "no" as they will hear it a lot. If we give up at the first "no" we miss out on growth. We have to have faith in our art, in our skills. We have to push through the discomfort of rejection, reminding ourselves that it is just one person/one small group that have decided that our art is not for them/doesn't fit with what they are putting together. It is not a rejection of me as a person!

So let's not be too sensitive when it comes to rejection of our art.

More than one go

We don't always get it right first time. 

Or even the second, third, or fourth.

Some things take a bit of work, a bit of time, a bit of effort. 

This face took me a couple of goes. The first one I did was hopelessly unbalanced, and for a couple of minutes I lamented that it was 'ruined'. The features were painted on in bold black and I couldn't see a way forward. For a couple of minutes. Then I figured that I would try to cover the bits I didn't like and have another go. 

It's not a perfect face, but I'm pleased with it, and that's what matters. 

What you have

You have to work with what you have. 

It's no good wishing for skills that you haven't worked  for, or materials you can't afford. Work with what you have and you might find that the limits actually make you more creative. Limited palettes force us to explore the full tonal range and mix of the colours we've chosen. Less expensive materials can allow us to care less about 'ruining' our good paper or 'wasting' paint, and thus we make more art and learn more. 

 

Increments

"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee." 

                                                                                                                            Marian Wright Edelman

The incremental approach is so important in so many areas of life. Too often we try to do too much in one go, or expect to be perfect all the time, and when we're not, we give up. But small changes add up, just as drops of water, added to a glass over time, eventually fill it. The trick is to be patient, and to celebrate the small wins. Look at what has been achieved, not what is left to be done. This more positive mind-set encourages us to keep going.

Inner landscape

Pay attention to your interior landscape.

I'm reading The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk. It is a fascinating book about how trauma affects the body and the brain. Paying attention to your interior landscape - you might think of it as mindfulness - is essential. 

Being able to tune in to what is going on in your body helps you to not respond to minor occurrences as if they are threats. It helps us to know that, although our heart has suddenly started racing in response to a squirt of adrenalin, it was a sudden startle, not a life-threatening situation. When we realise that, our body quickly reverts back to normal. If we notice that we feel uneasy, we can look for a reason. Our body is alerting us to a possibly dangerous situation. If we lose that ability to notice what our body is doing, we may not react in a suitable way.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book and discovering more.

Accidental landscape

 

This page ended up being a landscape, so I put some birds on it :) I had no result in mind when I started, it just went in this direction. I love being able to let go of expectations, and an art journal is the perfect place to do that. So go have fun!

Waiting for new shoots

What does the next season hold? Waiting for the new shoots.

Both of these pages are about winter waiting for spring. I'm obviously thinking about what comes next. The exhibition is on. Whatever doesn't sell, I can repurpose the canvases and start a new series. But what will it be about? 

I'm in a transition period in my life. There's before. There's after. And there's the messy middle where I am at the moment. So I'm going to see what that brings forth in my art, and have fun having no particular goal than to play.