Getting back into it for the right reasons

To my new followers, welcome aboard! Thank you for joining me here.

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted. Reasons are this, that, and other things but mainly because I started to feel overwhelmed with the prospect of keeping this train going every week. It started to feel like Instagram all over for me, where I was ultimately putting the cart before the horse (i.e. worrying about posting something, anything instead of using my time wisely to focus on doing art). I contemplated deleting this account altogether.

****Then, an interesting, serendipitous thing occured.****

Last weekend I commented on

Tom Cox

’s Note (it always feels good when others are feeling some of the same things [although Tom is an author and is coming at hs feelings on Substack Notes from a different angle than me]) and he subsequently restacked it to his Substack. What I wasn’t expecting was the outpouring of support I received from his community - it was quite amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like it - not on Instagram, not on Facebook. These were strangers, yet their words felt like those coming from your most intimate friend who truly get you. I’m still overwhelmed by it, but it made me realize Substack IS different than your typical social media sites. The Notes feed can feel “Twitterish” if you set it to “Explore”, but the community here is nothing like the Twitterverse or over on Instagram. Even in Facebook, where friends and family may like or love my posts, only a couple of people will extend the type of support that you really want to have as a growing artist. So to all those from Tom’s community who extended their kind encouragement and words of wisdom, THANK YOU!

I realized afterwards I really don’t have to follow the format that everyone else does here, with long essays and frequent Notes. The vast majority here are writers/authors who love to write. While I don’t mind writing, it’s not why I’m here, and I don’t love writing extensively every week on a new topic. My intent with creating this space was to showcase my art, to share it with people who might resonate with it. I realized I don’t even have to write a deep dive into my motives for creating my paintings (to be honest, there isn’t any deep motive for most of them - I find a place or an image interesting and I have the urge to recreate it as a painting). I can simply just share my paintings. So that is what I will be doing from this point forward.

With that said, I haven’t been productive with my art these past several weeks. But, this week I’m getting back into it for the right reasons: for my love of it and for sharing it with others here. Also, two weeks ago, I started The Artist’s Way again with a group of others online. I read through it may years ago, but never fully executed Julia’s exercises and recommendations, so with this group, I’m feeling more accountable for completion. And what a difference it makes by adhering to the three pages a day of journaling every day, completing the weekly artist date, AND by doing the exercises! I feel renewed, renergized, reawakened, and unstoppable! I can’t recommend the process enough to any artist out there who feels stuck (at any age, but particularly those 40 and older). I’m looking forward to completing the full 12-weeks of the program and hoping to come out on the other end a different person (well, the old me, my highly artistic younger self whom I had stored away many moons ago).

This past week’s artist date was a trail ride. This is Duncan and me afterwards - it was SO HOT! Poor guy just wanted me off his back so he could go back to the barn, lol…

By next weekend, I will have new art to share, but in the meantime I will share a two of my favorite older paintings and one graphite drawing. Have a great week!

“Old Barn Window” (watercolor). I completed this during a Terracotta course with Angus McEwan.

“Rust on Beach” (watercolor). Another painting from Angus McEwan’s Terracotta course.

Eggshell in graphite.