A Fresh Start

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A Fresh Start

During the collective pause while we burrowed into the longest nights of the year over the Winter Solstice (in the northern hemisphere), I did my share of reflecting and planning for the new year.

As did everyone else, it seems, on the interwebs.

I didn’t want to make resolutions or goals, as both dissolve and fade in the light of real life. And after completing a year-long, weekly project I didn’t want to box myself in with another one. But I thought I could using a guiding intention for my art practice. A navigational beacon for 2023 that would keep me sailing in a direction I want to go.

And the direction I want to head next is to experiment more, play with new materials in new combinations and generally wander outside my comfort zone.

I mean this as both a matter of spirit and craft. Through more intentional experimentation and play, I am as eager to learn more about my Self as a creative being as I am to improve my art skills.

I didn’t know where to start at first

So I began by

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Just exploring

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Just exploring

In the last few weeks I’ve been in this weird exploration phase; trying out abstracts in watercolor, sketching randomly, trying out some zentangles. I haven’t shared what I’ve been making because honestly, everything feels a bit off and my enthusiasm is waning. But you know what? This is part of the creative process too. Getting lost. Losing your way for a while. Ebb and Flow. It’s natural.

So thought I’d share a tiny gallery of some of my latest experiments to remind myself—and maybe you need a reminder too: experiments—and failed experiments—are all part of the process.

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Captivated by watercolor studies in a whole new way

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Captivated by watercolor studies in a whole new way

This is a spread of thumbnail studies in my art journal that I made from photos during my recent trip to Loreto. They really surprised me!

I’m not a landscape artist. I love vistas and views, but when I’m out in the world my eye tends to zoom in to the particulars. Like when I entered the Posado Las Flores on this same trip last week. It was immediate. I had to draw the entryway. I had no real desire to draw the town plaza or the foreign desert landscape all around me.

I do take pictures, though. And I enjoy painting abstracts.

So one afternoon

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