Why do I paint?!

I had the distinct feeling yesterday that I just didn't want to paint. It felt stale, stagnant. I knew I didn't feel like working on any of the paintings I had in progress. In fact, I felt tired, like I wanted to go lie down. Instead, I sat and observed what was going on inside me. I realized that I felt some pressure to put out good paintings, and admitted to myself that I was afraid of my art not turning out as well this time. I felt a response to that acknowledgement rise quickly from within, "No, this is not what it's about for me! The reason I do this is because I love doing it!" My energy had returned. I reflected on and remembered what loving to paint felt like. I knew now I wanted to paint something new and different!

Poppies! A magazine picture I had saved, and some photos on the internet inspired me to create my own composition. It was really exciting. I spent quite a bit of time playing with how I wanted to arrange the flowers on a sketchpad before transferring my design to watercolor paper. I'm experimenting with using plenty of water with my pigment rather that wetting the paper first. I ended up with several backruns or "blossoms" in places where I added more wet paint before the previous paint was completely dry, inducing a surprise effect to the foliage. It is fun to try new things. Looking forward to continuing today! I'm stylin'!