frustration

It’s hard to believe but just a few short months ago, I was so frustrated with my art work that I was ready to give up on it all together. I kept trying to paint on canvas the way I paint on paper and would make a terrible mess. Then I had to clean up the whole mess

For a few short days, I felt the freedom that I would have if I wasn’t always trying to make art. I thought of all the things that I would then have time for. More people, more garden walks, more reading and relaxing.

I sighed with relief. I could let it go and just do other things with the rest of my life. That was a new feeling for me because i have never really thought of giving up on art. I wondered if a big part of my identity was shifting and that I really would let it go.

And then, for the first time in months, I had an intuitive flash of how to work with fabric in a way that would capture my vision. I started using a combination of acrylic paint and dye on canvas and it worked. I was in-love again.

Someone, I wish I could remember who, said that we should see more of the work of renowned artists that isn’t so good. They all have pieces like that. Even Renoir had a period that was lackluster. Dr. Barnes didn’t buy any of those paintings.

It might give all of us a bit more confidence and persistence to know that that is a necessary part of the process.