Before my mom died I had started painting again. I had to force myself to at first but then the interest came back and I was painting for an hour in the morning, again over lunch and then again after work. After her death I stopped and found it difficult to start again. It was as if my black dog thought this habit was a meaty bone and decided to bury it in the back yard.

The ‘painting a day’ movement had been featured in our local paper and I was inspired by these people who had the discipline to develop such a healthy, creative habit. Everyone should have some sort of outlet. Something they truly enjoy doing and can become lost in. It is very similar to meditation in some respects. Thoughts recede, the mind quiets down and time disappears.

I also found inspiration in an elderly woman I remembered reading about several years earlier. Her name was Elizabeth Layton. She had lost a child years ago and fought depression for a long time. She enrolled in a drawing class at a community college and after a while her her depression lifted. She also developed a following of ‘naive’ art enthusiasts.

I’m painting on wood boards and find they respond to paint and the brush much differently than a canvas does. I haven’t got the knack of them yet but I’ll keep trying. They’re hardly high art (whatever that is) but at least I’m painting again. Not everyday yet, but every other day or so. My goal is to paint everyday even if it’s only a little sketch painting of everyday items I can find around my house. The perfectionism in me has raised its ugly head and I’m posting these 2 paintings as an exercise in taming it.

Maybe my muse will return . . .

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 6:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized.