What goes through my mind

As I approach a busy weekend of paintings and public events, you might wonder what goes through my mind.  How do I mentally prepare for the three or four paintings that will emerge through the weekend?  Parts of each are rolling through my mind, at some level, most of the time - even in my sleep.

Getting in the right head space is important.  If I go in with good energy and a sense of how long I am going to paint in a particular session, the results are always better.  For instance, this morning I know that I have roughly three hours of painting time before I have to pack up and head to the KD Gala.

My time is even more limited when I get to the live painting event raising money for the United Way, but I've been working out how I'll make it work ever since the project took shape.

Tomorrow morning I'll be able to do one of two things: complete the painting I'll start this morning or start a new one.  In the afternoon I shift to UNLEASH THE ARTIST WITHIN workshop, which gives all of us one hour of drawing time and two for painting.

Colours, brush strokes, techniques and supplies all swirl through my head in advance of starting a project.  A collage element planned for the live painting today keeps evolving, even as I type.

Through all of this, two ideas are essential to success: trust and commitment, or maybe I should flip those around and say commitment and trust; commitment always comes first.  Once I put my foot down in the direction of a project, I become fully committed to it.  That is where trust begins to play a role, trust that the answers will come to me when it comes time to put colour to canvas.

I really enjoy a morning like today when I get to sip on coffee, listen to great music, take a deep breath and dive into a painting.  I especially like it when time is limited.

It's not always easy; I think it's important to admit that.  Once in awhile, a project overwhelms or eludes me.  Other times, I need to step away from the studio and painting to just do other things.  That's what I did last night.

Recovering from a bad cold, my energy was down after having sketched out two of the projects on tap for today.  I knew that I need to lock things up and give myself a night off.  So, I turned on a radio broadcast of the Blue Jays game (we no longer have cable television) and puttered around the living room and kitchen.  It was exactly what I needed to refuel for the busy weekend ahead.