Blog 1, January 9,
2015
Happy New Year! I
hope you made it safely into the year 2015. II wish you all the best
for the year ahead, especially good health, the achievement of your
goals, and good times with family and friends.
Last year, I was
very fortunate to teach a lot which I truly enjoyed as I continuously
learn something new when I prepare the lessons, and feel blessed that
I am able to share my passion with others to make their lives more
creative. However, my own work suffered in the process. With the
additional work of writing my blogs and newsletters, doing the
marketing for events and courses, I did not paint as much as I would
have liked. Most of my new paintings were done during my two great
painting trips.
To get to a better
start, this year, I have decided to start the year off with a
challenge for myself. For the month of January, I want to create an
artwork every day. This will probably not mean that I end up in my
studio every day working away for hours but I want to make sure that
I create something new every day, whether it is a small drawing, a
doodle, a mixed media piece, or a small painting.
I might even use the
opportunity to incorporate some materials I have had in my studio for
years without ever touching them. To be clear, I will not
concentrate on creating a fantastic artwork but on experimenting and
enjoying the process - something I always remind my students to do.
Maybe, I get lucky and create something amazing but it is not the
purpose of this exercise. I just want to get back into the habit of
regular painting.
I will let you take
part in the journey by documenting my experiences. So here is the
look at the first seven days:
To tell right at the
beginning, I did not end up creating something every day. Having made
use of everyone being at home, we went on two long walks on the first
two days of the year which were beautiful and tiring, and left me in
the mood to curl up on the sofa and just watch a movie.
However, we saw
beautiful colours at dusk during our walk on January 2, which
inspired me to a small sketch with watercolour pencils. I intend to
use this sketch to create a painting.
Day 3 and 4 of my
challenge, we were visiting relatives in Montreal. While we were
watching a Star Wars movie, I started doodling a sci-fi inspired
creature. On Sunday, we were visiting the “From van Gogh to
Kandinsky” exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. This exhibition
alone gave me lots of inspiration, not only for my own projects but
also for my “Painting Like a Famous Artist” classes.
Nevertheless, the only thing I brought to paper was a sketch of my
daughter’s eye which I did while riding in the Metro.
Day 5 (Monday) meant
back to school and work. While I got tons of work done, my creative
challenge got pushed to the back seat again. During the walk with our
dog I was so fascinated with the ice covered trees shining silver and
gold in the late afternoon sun that I wanted to capture this miracle
of nature in a painting. I started the painting of a group of
birches Wednesday (Day 7).
On day 8, I painted
this white lily for a friend.
All in all I am not
very happy with this week’s results, and have to admit that I
thought about quitting and just writing a different blog for the
week. In spite of the slow start, I want to keep going to see if I
will be able to avoid neglecting my creative work whenever something
else comes up that needs my attention.
If you want to know
how my challenge will continue please log back into my blog next
Friday. Happy creating!
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