Pouting, Painting and Pondering

This week I am in the studio doing small works on paper.  I needed a break from my larger work after my husband left a door open on my studio allowing a gust of wind to turn the painting I blogged about last week into a sail which resulted in a large rip in the canvas.  I could try and repair the rip and continue, but the painting wasn't really working anyway.  I just don't feel like investing the time into something that is already damaged.

I was disappointed. Yes.  I did take most of the day to pout, bitch and complain.  I behaved horribly, which I felt obligated to do. (wink)  Sometimes...ya just gotta stomp your feet and get it all out!

Perhaps he did me a favor.  The event forced me to change course and start on something fresh and new.  My other studio work can wait for a little bit while I explore this avenue.  I am having fun with it.  I showed this one painting to my friends on Facebook yesterday and I have gotten nice feedback.

Gouache and pencil on paper. 6 inch X 6 inch. 

My husband called it whimsical.  Another friend called it bubbly delicious!  I haven't called it anything yet. Which is kinda strange because I usually name every last thing I paint.  Anybody out there care to help a girl out?!  Wanna take a stab at a name?  Who knows....perhaps I will use it.

So, I could have remained stuck in that rip-in-my-canvas moment.  I could have used it as an excuse to impede the momentum that I am attempting to build in my studio work.  To many...including my critical self, that would have been understandable...even justified.

But why?  What was I to gain from remaining in that negative place? What benefit or growth can be achieve if we allow ourselves to be tied down?  There might have been something to gain in that place. I think there is something to learn from in every circumstance.  But I chose to let it go and move on. I chose to untie from that entrapment and explore what a new freedom might offer.

In order to feel good about not languishing in that place, I had to completely switch it up and work in a different manner. My husband knew what was good for him, so he helped me rearrange and clean up my studio space over the weekend. I set up the tables in a different configuration that is more conducive to working on a paper. It's amazing what a little clean up and switch up can do for perspective!  Fresh path.

Who knows to what this path might lead. I think it is worth traveling.  I think that this matters.  I think letting go of what ties us down matters.  It allows us to move on...

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” 

― C. JoyBell C.

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Linking this post to:
Paint Party Friday