Going through the motions
It’s the title of this painting….
and sometimes exactly what I need to do! It’s comforting, reassuring, and can border on boring BUT I really think it works.
My focus has always been to keep working. Right or wrong, if in doubt….I paint. I might not feel creative or inspired but I have a choice to make. I can stare at the blank sheet and freeze, leave the studio and eat Cheetos (fill in your blank here…), or I can paint.
I feel like I’ll learn something if I’m working — maybe a new technique will emerge or an unexpected color combination will bump up against each other. Maybe I’ll feel energized by my subject after fifteen minutes — or maybe I’ll get sick enough of what I’m doing to actually DO something different tomorrow.
Whatever happens, I’ll be a step or two down the road. So if going through the motions is the best I can do today, well, there is no reason to leave the studio. I turn the music a little louder, adjust the blinds, and pick up the brush. If I’m lucky, I’ll look at the clock in a couple of hours and wonder where the time went and why my muscles are sore from sitting so long.
And usually that’s exactly what happens. Of course, I do stop for Cheetos - there is a sprinkling of Cheeto dust in almost every painting. Magic dust.
