"Fear" is just a four letter word yet it can paralyze you dead in your tracks. Last September, I had gone in search for my creative spirit as if it was something lost, and what I found was that I paralyze myself whenever I start a new project. As in this blog. As in an art business. As in doing what I love most.....making art.
For the past few months, I immersed myself in a several creative books, took a trip or two to the museum, started a new sketchbook, and spent countless hours of visiting many creative blogs and websites. I started a habit of writing a daily
10 item list (today's list)
"10 creative experiences I would like to try this year".....1. make a handmade book-2. write and illustrate a short graphic story-3. lino-cut printing-4. hand built small ceramic pieces-5. paint a mural in my home-6. screen printing-7. create a website-8. sew a large modern quilt for my bed-9. knit a vest-10. make a
Louise Nevelson like garden gate.
A hard thing to accept is the fact that I do this to myself.
I began to think about a task I do every year with abandoned fear.
I garden. I have marginal success and yet I get so excited every spring. I read and reread my garden books and magazines. I browse through catalogs. I watch landscaping shows. I sketch and plan the plants I would love to add to my small, garden space. I buy new plants, I water and browse my garden almost on a daily basis, I am hopeful. I look for new growth and I am excited for small signs of success. I envision a garden that is lush and somewhat overgrown where plants mix and mingle. I look at my garden through rose-colored glasses. I am patient. I am content. I have no fear and no inhibitions, so why can't I apply this philosophy to the thing I love the most? Why am I so fearful of failing or not finishing something I haven't even started? So here it is, a proclamation, "I am acknowledging you FEAR and I am telling you to go away because you are no longer welcome here, you need to go feed on someone else for I am no longer your tasty morsel!" (sound of door slamming).
Straight from the cute forest. First graders loved drawing this owl together adding their own touches of character to their owls. We used pastels and watercolors to add a splashes of color. Big Heads, little bodies, and enormous eyes are just a part of their artistic expression at this age, I just simply love them, oh so charming!
