News — art struggles

In the interest of "work smarter, not harder" & "done is better than perfect" in 2023, I'm resurrecting some blog posts I started months (or even years) ago and posting them in whatever state they're in.    One sentence in my "kitchen sink" mantra I've been saying 21 times a day for a couple months now is: Fear no longer rules my decisions. Despite that, I've been living with a fearful scarcity mentality when it comes to art supplies, and it took a challenge from my coach to finally break through it. Despite meaning to paint on a full sheet...

I'm continuously surprised by how much I enjoy watercolor. It has a mind of its own, and I'm a total control freak in the rest of my life! I like to think that painting in my studio is the one place I feel totally free to make all the mistakes, and really, truly let go.A few weeks ago I got an extreme reminder that I am not in control--I dropped a big ole drop of water in the bottom left corner of this painting, right about the time I thought I was done. Cue major internal screaming and panic!! Mistakes...

I have a love/hate relationship with outdoor art events. I love that they're my best sales, and I love seeing how people react to my art. But I hate that they're so hot in KC in the summer, and that the weather is so temperamental and sometimes ruins the events. My coach challenged me to come up with a way to make them fun this year. Together we came up with the idea to give out free stickers. I decided to create stickers for kids & adults, in order to spread happiness & positivity. The kid friendly stickers are colorful circles...

Last month I did a Facebook live event with local curator & businesswoman Jan Jensen, discussing my watercolor process and background. Here's the replay if you missed us live.

I realized recently that it's stilly to beat myself up when I mess up a routine or habit I've been working on cultivating, because messing it up gives you perspective. How can you tell if something's working or not otherwise? My light bulb moment came because my coach pushed me to move my meditation to first thing in the morning to make sure it gets done. I was trying to do it around lunch, and I really enjoyed the reset it gave my day, but of course I missed days here and there because things get busy, I don't always...