Growing in My Creative Practice

detail from 20"x40" work in progress

I've been experimenting with a potential commission piece in my painting. I usually paint intuitively; to work with a specific size of canvas and colour palette is new to me.

But I'm enjoying the challenge.

detail from 20"x40" work in progress

A relatively risk-free experiment, whether the potential buyers end up buying the piece or not the experience is pushing me out of my comfort zone.

It's a great way to grow.

"Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new." ~ Brian Tracy

 ~~~

How could you stretch out of your comfort zone today? Are there opportunities that - although a little intimidating - could offer you a relatively safe place to experience growth in your creative practice?

Word for 2011: Unfold

evening shadows on a garden wall, Maplelawn Historic Garden, Ottawa

"If there are no emergencies in your life, what situation could you allow to unfold more gently?"

~ Julia Cameron, Walking in this World

unfold: vb 1: to open the folds of: open up 2: to lay open to view: disclose 3: blossom, develop

It's what I see happening this year. It's what I struggle with. It's what I practice.

Letting things unfold.

~~~

What could you allow to unfold more gently today?

Earth Day Wendell

 

 "we and our country create one another, depend on one another, are literally part of one another; that our land passes in and out of our bodies just as our bodies pass in and out of our land; that as we and our land are part of one another, so all who are living as neighbors here, human and plant and animal, are part of one another, and so cannot possibly flourish alone"

~ Wendell Berry, excerpt from The Unsettling of America

From the archives, a little Earth Day Wendell. Be kind. Be grateful. Flourish.

Happy Earth Day.

Steph

xo

On Rest and Intuition...

chocolate gooey goodness

"During periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and delight."

~ Fritjof Capra

Relaxation and chocolate. Chocolate helps too.