Be Brave!

It's hard to try new things. Explore things you've never tried before. To get out of the little (or even big) box that you live in. I need to take my own advice sometimes -- be the butterfly and spread your wings and fly. Hard I tell you. I had a pretty well-known person in the artist community I'm in tell me once that she was surprised that I didn't go out on a limb -- take a chance and try something new. go in a new direction. hmmm, really? Her words have echoed in my brain for over a year now.  What I'm saying, is -- what I said the other day -- it's easy to stick with the status quo. It's easy. Same old, same old. Stay on the shore where it's warm and dry rather than jump in the freezing ocean with the sharks.

It's also easy to admire things that others do and think you can never do them -- or to be afraid to try them because you might fail. I often feel this way! But, I do it anyway -- eventually. Because it percolates so much -- it haunts me so much that I just HAVE to try to find out I CAN do it. ;-) 

So, lately I've been going GAGA over some art that Jenny Doh has been sharing on her Twitter/Instragram account -- like the one on the link. And she's got more. Much more. I look at it -- I go gaga -- and then walk around with my head in the clouds wanting to create art that's loosey goosey and all beautiful like that.  Rich. Carefree. Fun. Invigorating. yes. I dream of making art that makes me feel like that. I dream of making art that's ALL that. You can almost FEEL her joy in that art. Well, maybe I'm weird, ha ha -- but her art moves me.  

Fast forward to the end of the day yesterday -- when I walked the 5 minute walk to my Mother's for dinner -  she had torn the above page out of a Family Circle magazine and put it on the table in the pile of things she had collected for me. love that. (karma or divine intervention??)

I immediately stuck it in my pocket for later, to read in the privacy of my own home later and to THINK about how to do it. hmmmmm, really?? Just think about it? Actually when I got home I found I couldn't stop THINKING about making art that was loose and carefree. How WOULD I do that? Could I do that?

The kid-let went to bed. The husband put on the television, which I didn't see because all I could think about was that dang article and Jenny's art. And I kept going back to look at her art. And kept loving it. And I read that article again. and again. I know now what my problem was. I was afraid to try. Afraid to commit it to my journal -- what if it sucks. I have to blog about it. You'll want to know. 

So, I grabbed a piece of computer paper and a sharpie and started making squiggly lines and connecting them together until the page was full. 

I thought, wow. Geez. i CAN do this. 

It looks kinda cool. I'm just gonna do this in my journal. So while Shameless was on I committed the squiggles and scratches to a brand new WHITE page in my journal. Yeah, the one opposite the butterfly. The one where I mention something about in my own time. Yeah - I decided -- my time has come, ha ha! 

And before it was time to go to bed I had created this sketch, in black and white -- in my journal. I committed. and it.was.awesome. I couldn't sleep because I wanted to add some color. This isn't really a Zen Tangle -- it's MORE AWESOME than that. It follows my rules. my lines. my patterns. my vision. it's all mine. 

and I'm not afraid anymore. 

This morning I couldn't wait to add color. It called to me all night, my art journal. I had a LOT of other things to do today. but they had to wait a little while. 

It's a little messy, I got paint all over my shirt -- my fingers -- my face -- my table. but it felt great. It feels great. I did it! 

and I'm not afraid anymore. oh, wait -- I already said that. 

Yeah, I know. I still have a ways to go to get that loosey goosey. Rich. Carefree. Fun. Invigorating feel going on -- but I made a good start. I took the first step. I leapt into the ocean. And I didn't drown. I didn't even have to come up for air,  it felt great.  I can't wait until tomorrow -- I just might try it again. Thank You Jenny for inspiring me to try something new!

Another well known woman gave me a plaque when I finished writing my first book that said, what would you do if you knew you could not fail. Today my answer is -- make art. (thank you Jo!) So I leave you with that, what would YOU do if you knew you could not fail? 

Thanks for stopping by, have a GREAT TUESDAY. I appreciate your lovely comments!