There are times when life takes over a bit, nothing sinister, just lifey wifey general stuff, and I find myself saying ‘uhh I don’t have time to do any painting’ or ‘by the time I get everything out, it’ll be time to pack up again’, which after a while, get’s a bit frustrating. Because art requires practise and play and time to let your mind wander and explore ideas and try things out to see where it’ll take you.
It’s really true that the more you do, the more you want to do – you stay connected all the time.
When you stop for too long, all that energy disappears and you have to get yourself motivated again, which can end up keeping you in your comfort zone because it’s easier there – no time needed for pushing boundaries, trying something new or making mistakes. You know what you’re doing and can make something in no time. You might even like it, but it probably won’t set your world on fire, because it’s only when you edge out of that comfy space that you find the magic.
All those new experiences, energy, excitement and fun are all hiding there waiting to be discovered. Sounds good doesn’t it? A bit scary, but good.
Anyway, this got me thinking about a couple of things. One was something I heard on a podcast this week, about how we need to remove stumbling blocks to make it easier for ourselves to do what we want to do. So in my case, if I leave something on my desk that’s ready to work on, I can just get going straight away even if I only have a quick half an hour or even 10 mins.
The second thing was when I made a little sketchbook painting earlier this week. It was alright, but I wanted to go a bit further with it, so I made two more at the same time. Each one becoming looser, using different objects to make marks and patterns.
Once they were dry, I kept the original one and ripped up the middle one to use as a collage on the third one, adding more paint and crayon to link it all together and the result is in the photo above. Even though it’s not perfect – there’s far too much going on for one thing – I had a lot of fun making it and to me it looks more alive than the original.
My newly 19 year old said it looks like you’re looking at the original one through a cracked mirror and I’m happy with that!