Where Inspiration Lives

Saturdays aren't always delicious, but this one was.  I got up (lateish for me), I exercised (this is a new daily thing), I spent a few hours editing my jewelry photos while my hubby hung out with me and read stuff from the news site he was browsing.  He had a union meeting to go to this evening, so I headed to the farm by myself to feed the horses.  Yesterday I had to break ice off the pond, which is something I truly hate doing, so today, instead, I just brought water.

"V" is a big, gorgeous black mare my friend owns, whom no one has been able to touch for years.  Every day, when I feed her, I'd do a little more.  Pause so she had to stand near me.  Then, offer the bucket I was carrying so she could eat out of it while I was holding it.  Then, I'd offer for her to sniff my hand (no way!).  The other day I offered feed in my gloved hand but she spooked.  Tonight was the first time she took grain out of my hand and acted like it was no big deal.  It was a BIG DEAL to me, but I didn't tell her that.

"V" this summer, running with Abbey & Storm behind

 

 

My horses and I do something I call "no agenda time" which means I just hang out with them... no riding, no training (well, technically it's part of training, but they don't know).  They followed me to this gigantic, ancient pear tree in their pasture, which has huge roots for me to sit on.  Abbey, my mustang, came to me and nuzzled my hands. Everything was colored in shades of pink and purple, even my dirty horse.  But oh, the sky.

January Sunset

The landscape is pretty drab in January and I eat up every bit of beauty I can find.  Might have to paint this.  With a horse in it :)  (they were behind me).

Anyway, after the sun had set I stood to go, but lingered a while.  A huge shape floated into the treetops of the big pear tree (the one whose branches are in the top of this photo) -- a great horned owl.  I sat and watched him for several minutes before he spotted what he was looking for and swooped away.  The painting of an owl is in my future, too.  Couldn't get a picture in the dusk.

Then, I came home and painted.  I am not normally an evening painter, so it felt a little weird, painting by entirely artificial light.  But, I made some good progress on Georgie, whom I think I will have done tomorrow.

Georgie - getting close to done :)

And now it's dark, and the house is quiet.  I'm counting blessings, and there are a lot of them... some curled at my feet or in my lap, some out in the pasture in the dark, some that come and go, and one on his way home.  Life is good.

Confession Time

Sometimes, art isn't about inspiration 24/7, or wild passion to get the next thing on canvas.  Sometimes it's about dragging yourself to the studio when it's soooo hard to do.

I'm so blocked.  I think it's because I volunteered to do 3 custom paintings, one in September and 2 in November, and they have piled up, and I am NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN.  Never, ever more than one at a time. 

And, I got busy with making jewelry for the holidays and I'm just way, way out of the painting groove.   I haven't been able to drag myself to the canvas for this 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  *sigh*  Another part of it is that I cleaned the house for Christmas because we had it here for the first time ever (yay!) and partof that invoved shoving all of the crap in the rest of the house into my studio, so it's awful cluttered mojo reflects mine.  Gotta fix that.  Spring, hurry up and get here, I desperately need a purge and yard sale.

But about these three donation paintings:  don't get me wrong.  I'm actually excited about the three subjects I'm painting.  One is a beloved dog who passed away last year, and the others are adorable ponies that I think will be actually quite cool.  It's just that, it feels like ages before I get to paint something I want to paint, just 'cause.  Of course, the longer I put off doing these, the longer that age gets.  And I'm just not painting.  

Anyway.  Monday is the one year anniversary of Georgie's crossing the rainbow bridge and I really want to get this painting to her mama by then, so I did some work on it today.  I actually sat with Georgie's picture in front of me when I meditated today because I wanted to get a feel for who she is.  I love her smiling eyes and I imagine her tail was just as happy, and I imagine she loved a good belly rub.  I never met her but I used to be a vet tech and she has "sweet dog" written all over her.  Also, "huggable."   

So, Georgie, I hope that there are lots of turtles for you to find and lots of hugs and belly rubs on the other side.  And I hope my efforts here and the memory of your smiling eyes and adorably crooked ears will give your mama some comfort.

Still, obviously, a work in progress.   But she should be done in the next day or two.

In other news, I got Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's Dreamscape Myth & Magic for Christmas and I am very much looking forward to painting some dragons and other mythical goodness (unicorns maybe?).  I'm torn.  I have decided I much prefer my oils to watercolors, and I'm wondering if I can adapt some of her watercolor techniques to this media.  Can I get excited about art again?  Like my inspiration Julia Cameron says, sometimes you just have to show up at the page/canvas and let the divine work through you, however it chooses to do so. 

So yay, I showed up today.  Here's to many more days of showing up.

By the way, please don't take my foot-dragging as reluctance to do commission work :)  I'd love to paint your beloved pup, horse, cat, bird, or whatever, too, whether they're here with you or gone to greener pastures.  I have a few beloveds I still need to paint for myself.