It's muddy on the plateau today!

This one is muddy!

Work in progress 8x12 Acrylic on paper Jan. 6, 2023

Today’s painting is ‘muddy’. In yesterday’s blog post, I wrote about the plateau I’m currently experiencing in my painting practice.

It’s hard for me to share this image, but I’ve decided to be more open about the behind-the-scenes of my art practice this year, and that is going to include some of the ‘bad & ugly’ that I believe is part of every artist’s experience.

I tell my workshop students that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. And this painting isn’t necessarily a failure; I can continue fleshing it out to see whether I can improve it.

I will start by softening the top part of the land mass because it is almost smack in the middle of the painting and that is screaming at me to change it.

When working on a painting, I always start with the thing that is bothering me most. Once I have made that adjustment, the painting will be different and I’ll need to reassess to determine the next step. Or maybe I’ll be lucky and it will be the only change I need to make.

TIP: Don’t make the mistake of thinking you need to have it all figured out right away. This false belief can be paralyzing and will keep you from being able to grow through the process of discovery.

If we let our work become ‘precious’ too early in the creation process, it is deadly to finding our authentic voice as an artist.

Journal prompt: What is one small change you can make in your life that might help you to change your state and be more grateful, peaceful, positive, or happy?

I’m often surprised how positively impacted my life can be just from one tweak.

As always, I’d love to hear from you!

Blessings and peace to you today my friends

~ Jenn