Begin Again and Again

Song - John Lennon "Starting Over" 

This weekend I began three paintings.

I was so happy to have three full days of uninterrupted painting and I rushed in with a childlike eagerness. 

My reference materials were ready.

I had lot's of blank canvases and plenty of paint.

I was pumped up and was swimming with ideas.

Only thing was, none of them turned out like I envisioned.



Painting number one....was of two Peacocks outside a Parisian Orangery. After working on it for a full day, it just felt flat.  I want to paint something fun and different!

Painting number two....very different for me.  A combination of two photos.  One of the beach in Lake Tahoe, with the beautiful colors of water in the background and a sea shell from my collection that I photographed outside on my deck Sunday morning.  Voila!  Not quite. Something doesn't feel right and I am not sure what.  Is the shell too large?  Is it too "fussy"?  Maybe the shadow is too dark....or the wrong shape?  Since I was having trouble trying to figure out where to go with it, I went forth to a new large scale painting.

At this point it kinda felt like "Romey and Michele's High School Reunion" where they are going on a road trip but the car keeps dying on them.  It starts up, they turn on the radio, put it in gear and it dies again and again.  I just love that part, they have such enthusiasm....it has me laughing all over again! 


Oh yeah, back to my "backfires".





Painting number three.  Combining about five different photo's.

Never, ever a good idea........

All of the photo's are shot under different lighting.  How can I combine them and have it look natural?

Arrghhh...  I wanted bigger Adirondack chairs.  Maybe I should of turned it vertical instead of horizontal?  

So this morning my sweet "hunter-gatherer" - Mr. B took me to the Nursery.  I think I will go out and garden to get a new perspective on my life!

Maybe I should paint this pretty little Daylily? Mmmmm.....

“The problem is acceptance, 

which is something we're taught not to do. 

We're taught to improve uncomfortable situations, 

to change things, 

alleviate unpleasant feelings. 

But if you accept the reality 

that you have been given- 

that you are not in a productive creative period- 

you free yourself to begin filling up again.” 

― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life