Another day...another workshop

This is the way to learn and grow: get out of the zone of comfort, open up and absorb the lessons given! Tomorrow is the first day of three in Kevin Macpherson's oil painting workshop. My car is packed and I am preparing myself to be engaged and present and do all the learning I can. These workshops are HARD, mentally and physically...7 hours a day of taking in information, processing it, and then expressing it back out through the paint, brush and canvas. I try to do one or two every year and slowly, slowly I can see growth in the way I paint. A friend asked me yesterday what I was most hoping to learn. To myself I said "everything", but realistically I most hope to slow my approach in the early stages of a painting so as to get the shapes and lines and values in correctly from the beginning. That will keep the paintings fresh and clean, loose and expressive. I will need a quiet spirit to reach this goal...not give into negative thoughts and panic; yes, panic...I feel it coming on when my brain shuts off and the paint brush starts flying with no clear intention. I have 2 meditations in mind before beginning and whenever the panicky starts: 'The Lord your God is with you, mighty to save. He takes great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing' (Zeph 3) and 'love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind' (Matt 22) and then just take a moment to be centered and present and grateful for it all. Stay tuned....blog posts of the adventure coming up!

Meanwhile...here's a new painting:

And also, so excited to announce I've been invited to another fantastic Art Show: The Art Event @ Lipscomb Academy!!!