After staring at my original painting, "Cotton Candy Clouds" for a very long time I decided I wanted to play with it more. What could I do? How could I make this painting even more fun? I have considered doing a whole series of song paintings for over a year now, but as you know, I have a lot of ideas for series! In my phone I have multiple lists with tons of notes, all ideas of things to paint, outlining every detail of the project. But how do I choose which series to do first? The abundance of my creativity sometimes stifles me. After all, I have a family to consider, a full time teaching job, dogs that need walking. How can I possibly get all of these ideas onto canvas?
My anxiety and mom guilt can get the best of me sometimes. I know you understand. I recently started a new practice in an attempt to calm my mind. Each day as soon as I wake up I start listing all of the things I am grateful for. While I wash my hair and brush my teeth I say to myself, "I'm so lucky because...I'm so thankful for..." and do you know what? The list is endless! There are little things and big things and every day there are new things. My gratitude is endless and I remember that it doesn't matter if I don't impress anyone with my art today. My art is my outlet and not something to worry about. I have my whole life to paint all of these paintings. Thank goodness for sketchbooks, I can store my ideas for another day.
Saturday morning the kids were jumping on the couch. My husband was working. I was half watching tv. I knew I had print orders to fill and I was wasting time with a screen. Ugh. So I got up and started wrapping and boxing the prints. When I got to a "Cotton Candy Cloud" print, the idea came back. "Give it a song", said my inner voice. I was afraid to paint directly onto the original painting. I love that painting. So instead of packing up that print for my customer, I painted on it! Surely she didn't need it right away. The song choice was easy, I just knew What a Wonderful World was the one. My gratitude practice had been reminding me daily of all of the magic I see every day.
I gave the kids some legos and sat at the table with them and made art. And that art fit into one of my series ideas. Maybe I don't have to do all of the series of artworks together as a whole. Who says I need to create anything in any organized way? I have a new series of work launching in March. Go away guilt! I can take a few moments to do what makes me happy. And guess what...The embellished print does make me happy! I absolutely love how it turned out.
Do you ever get overwhelmed by your creativity or your hobbies? How do you overcome your anxiety or guilt? Maybe give my morning gratitude practice a try. I'd love to know what works for you.
Love your art and your blog ❤️
love this idea, you are amazing