Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The artist has one function – to affirm and glorify life. W. Edward Brown

How often have we seen revised books with chapters, not in the original? The author thought of something that should have been included. I received the proof of my children’s book. I knew when I ordered it that it wouldn’t be published the way it was, but I wanted to see how the colors would look, the type, the background, etc. Extra pages were added so I have more to work with than I thought I did. Deadlines motivate us. How often have we waited until the last minute but we get done what we need to do? Some things can only be done last minute and sometimes we think we are done when we have only just begun.

It is stamped not for resale. I’ve noticed other authors objecting to this but I love it. I hope to get another author’s proof before final publication, but I am running out of time.

I’m swapping out five paintings and adding two so I am busily painting and composing paintings in my head. The more I’m thinking about it the more ideas are coming. Finishing a project is exciting and nerve-racking. It is tempting to think things can be better than they are. When you actually see something complete it is what it is and you have to accept the quality produced.

Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams

When my daughter told me, “You need more pictures, Mom.” She was totally right and some of the best ones are coming from this last-minute push to get everything done. “You don’t need to rush,” she tells me.

“I have to meet this deadline,” I tell her. No one is taking me out to the bush to shoot me if I don’t, it’s true, but I am committed. Working furiously to complete something is not the same as working furiously and continuing to move the deadline so you don’t actually get the feeling of accomplishment for finishing it.

“But, don’t you want it to be the best it can be?” That’s a tough question to answer because I do want it to be the best it can be. I also know I could always make something better. Instead of making this the best it could possibly be by repainting every picture and rethinking every word, forever. I will put it out and it will be what it will be. I will write another one using what I learned and maybe it will be better. We can rework things so much that even if they are technically better they lose some of the sparks they initially had.

There comes a time when we have to let things go. We’ve kept them to ourselves long enough. This story has been with me since our beloved dog died in 2012 and I wrote a little story about him and put it on my bookshelf where it sat for years. What is being published and what I initially wrote have gone through many iterations. The first one was sad because, in the end, he died. Instead of putting fifteen years into one book, I’m putting snippets of his life into each book.  When I found the “Pete the Cat” series based on a real cat I began to imagine something bigger than I’d originally thought. 

We don’t know where something will go when we start it. It can’t become anything until we finally release it into the world. When that deadline is approaching does it give us motivation and ramp up our productivity?

Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end of the day. Winston Churchill

Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. Leonardo da Vinci

Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us. To create means to relate. The root meaning of the word art is “to fit together” and we all do this every day. Not all of us are painters but we are all artists. Each time we fit things together we are creating – whether it is to make a loaf of bread, a child, a day. Corita Kent

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

Thank you to those who read my books. A special thank you to those who leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. If you click on the picture below and purchase an item through the Amazon link I receive a small percentage of the item through the Amazon affiliate program.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live. Auguste Rodin

On Saturday morning, in my writer’s group, we had an editing workshop and critique session. I put the first chapter of my second novel Secrets and Sorrow up for critique for a second time. I used the critique the first time to make it stronger and I will use this second critique to make it stronger still.

We haven’t done much critiquing in our writer’s group. It is a sensitive subject because we must be gentle and yet if we are going to get anything out of it as writers we need things pointed out that isn’t working or could work better.

One of the things pointed out to me is my use of the rhetorical question to engage readers and ramp up tension may not be working so well. Our session was too short to get too deep into things but after our meeting, I found a blog “Kid Lit” by Mary Kole addressing this same question. The answer it seems is that the question is not a bad thing but it doesn’t go far enough. The question gives us an opportunity to deepen the story and instead of leaving the question hanging we can answer it or at least examine it a little further.

An example she gave is. Could he trust her?

How to deepen this might become. He wanted to trust her, but he didn’t. Not right now. She’d have to earn it.

The power of writing groups and beta readers is they point things out to us we don’t see. When my writing group read my first novel, one of them pointed out I had too many dogs in it. I eliminated a few dogs.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh

This time around I am working on a tighter timeline. I had no timeline for my first novel and it ambled along year after year. I’ve set goals and timelines this time, and I am coming up against a year of working on it. I’m realizing having it ready for publication on September 5^th is a stretch goal, but I am planning to have it pre-released by that date.

In order to pre-release, I need a cover so I worked on one last night. Putting people on the cover sells more books is my understanding and so I want a person on my cover. Last night I found a perfect photograph by Philip Oursel on Unsplash. What the cover will finally look like I don’t know, but I am pleased with the concept I came up with last night.

I didn’t know when I sat down after watching the last game of the Euro Cup that I would have a concept for a cover. We often don’t know what we will end up with when we sit down to do something. I only sat down to see if I could find some free photos of girls and horses. Then I thought will that photo work with the sunset photo I am thinking of using for my cover? What if I use the same fonts and color of text on this cover? By the end of the evening, I had created something I hadn’t sat down to create, but when I found the photo I had to see if I could make it work.

We don’t know what we can do unless we try and do it. Sometimes we end up with more than we expected sometimes we learned what won’t work. Either way, it is knowledge gained that moves us toward our goal. There are so many tools available to us now, not many years ago it would have been impossible to come up with a concept so easily. With the click of a button, we can make a photo more or less transparent. We can layer images to create a mood. We can remove backgrounds which I didn’t do but may end up doing. Perhaps this concept will not be the cover at all, but I have a starting place.

When we create something it feeds our soul. It might be a great dinner, a new dessert, or everyone’s favorite. We might use our creativity to create order out of chaos, create a flower arrangement that wilts in days, or a garden that lasts all summer. Sue Patton Thoele tells us, “Creativity of all kinds focuses your mind, engages your imagination, and feeds your soul.”

Is there something we long to do but haven’t gotten around to yet? Being creative is learning to play, have fun, and enjoy the fullness of life. Are we finding ways to be creative and feed our souls? Are we listening to the still small voice that tells us, try this?

Make the most beautiful thing you can. Try to do this every day. That’s it. Laurie Anderson

The artist never entirely knows – We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark. Agnes de Mille

When I say artist I mean the one who is building things… some with a brush – some with a shovel – some choose a pen. Jackson Pollock  

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

Thank you to everyone that reads my book. A special thank you to those who leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. If you click on the picture and purchase an item through the Amazon link I receive a small percentage of the sale through the affiliate program.

B

S

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The goal of art is the vital expression of self. Alfred Stieglitz

Last night in the art course I am attending we created an intuitive collage. We were told to get maps (I printed a world map from the computer), and newspapers, magazines, or pages from a book. We outlined the part of the map with clear water we wanted to keep and then tore them out. We were limited for time so we only did one layer of collage. Our instructor Thaniath Siddiqui often does about ten layers. She has videos you can watch on YouTube about Art and Mindfulness and is offering a course online in July called Whyology.

The idea behind intuitive painting and collage is to explore our experiences without knowing where we are going or what memories, ideas, or experiences we will remember. This can be a healing practice for people. As we put words, images, maps, objects, or whatever we can think of onto canvas or watercolor paper.

We need to be careful of bringing computers and water together. Last night I dumped my water container all over my desk. Fortunately, I had put a few pages of paper on the top and the water didn’t hit the keyboard or mouse but I had quite a mess to clean up. One word of advice is to use a flat container for your water and not a tall container as I used.

The painting for this post is the painting created last night. We didn’t have a lot of time but the paintings created by the group were varied and beautiful. Even when we are following the same instructions we are not creating the same piece of art. Different moods, images, and emotions are evident and what the art invokes in others is different.

We don’t know where our journeys into self-expression will take us. Many people may hesitate to put into words what they can express in art. The art is open to interpretation and part of the art may be hidden under layers. It might be the first time we’ve expressed something. As we continue we may express more. We may have hidden dreams or hidden hurts, things we are proud of, or things we are ashamed of. We may have things we don’t understand, things that have always puzzled us, things we question, and things we think we know for sure. Art is a way to get to know ourselves on a deeper level and explore relationships with others, communities, and the world.

Without self-expression, life lacks spontaneity and joy. Without service to others, it lacks meaning and purpose. Lawrence G. Boldt

Finding our voice, expressing ourselves, through art, dance, music, writing, clay, cooking, gardening, quilting, sewing, building, etc is important. How we express ourselves may affect our daily life. If we can express our feelings in a positive way they may do us less harm than when they are bottled up inside. Unexpressed feelings may erupt in our lives in negative ways that had we found a way to express them may have impacted our lives and those we interact with, in a big way.

In art, we can express our fears and we may find acceptance of things we cannot change. We can look at uncomfortable truths about ourselves and history. We may learn to make peace with what is, and make the most positive choices presenting themselves to us.

Listening to Pastor Mark Hughes on Sunday he said, two sons were talking about their life. One said, “I drink because my father did.” The other said, “I don’t drink because my father did.” The same circumstances but different choices and those choices impacted their lives in big ways.

We can’t control the circumstances we were born into. What we get to control is the daily choices we make. and what we make important in our lives. Life is a garden our thoughts are the seeds. We can plant flowers or we can plant weeds. Unknown.

We are who we are, we’ve been through what we’ve been through and self-expression may help us deal with the wounds and heartbreak we feel. What do we have to express and have we found a way to express it positively?

Art is a way to express yourself and through that, you can escape a bad situation. Russel Simmons

Telling the story, acknowledging what has happened and how you feel, is often a necessary part of forgiveness. Unknown

Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. Sigmund Freud

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

Thank you to everyone that reads my book. A special thank you to those who leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. If you click on the picture and purchase an item through the Amazon link I receive a small percentage of the sale through the affiliate program.

S

B

S

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Creativity is contagious, pass it on. Albert Einstein

What if creativity is the fountain of youth and we all have access to it? We choose to find ways to use creativity in our lives.

I was at the bookstore looking for a book for my son for his birthday. On a podcast, I had seen a book called The Practice by Seth Godin. When I looked at it I thought it was a better fit for me so I bought something else for my son.

Seth Godin has been writing a blog for twenty years. He has written nineteen bestselling books. He has been walking the walk of the practice. He has been making creativity, a practice, and putting it out into the world. On the podcast, he said, “Do you know why I’m putting out a blog post tomorrow? Because it’s Friday.”

He tells us we should be generous with our ideas, our art, and our creativity. He calls putting our work out into the world “Shipping the work.” It may take us a long time before we feel ready to “Ship the work.” It took me until I was fifty-five to hang my own paintings on my own walls. What was I afraid of? It took me until this year to publish the novel I’ve been writing since 2012.

I need to get back into the practice of painting. I’ve cut my blog down to two posts a week so I can write my second novel in the mornings. I’m working on learning Adobe Illustrator so I can finish a children’s book I’ve started. Time needs to be carved out for painting. Nothing gets done if we don’t take the time to do it. We don’t get better if we don’t continue to practice.

He tells us not to focus on the outcome. That is what we cannot control. It is like planning a picnic but we have to work with the weather. I remember when we were kids we used to go to my Uncle and Aunt’s place at the lake for picnics. We had many picnics inside roasting hotdogs in the fireplace and I remember some of those the best. We can let the rain ruin our day, or we can find a way to have fun anyway.

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. Sylvia Plath

Life is about choice and we have created our lives by the choices we have made. He suggests keeping our expenses down so we can afford to be creative. Has he looked at rent lately, or the price of buying a house? But, truthfully keeping our expenses in line is always the best solution because consumer debt is one of the big problems of our time. Debt is not a new problem, a widow was left with the prospect of her sons being sold into slavery in the bible because of her dead husband’s debts. That is when she was told to fill all of her vessels with oil from the small amount of oil she had, and she sold the oil to pay off her debts.

Not needing to live off the proceeds of my writing or art is freeing. Poverty is never something I’ve aspired to and it is a good position to be in to be able to do something for the love of it without having to depend on it for sustenance.

This was the advice given to the character Philip by his art instructor in “Of Human Bondage” by W. Somerset Maugham, to not pursue art as his calling if he wasn’t of independent means because money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make complete use of the other five.

We can find a way to make art, writing, quilting, dancing, singing, playing instruments, or any other artistic endeavor part of our life and earn a living at the same time. We don’t have to choose to only make a living or only be creative. Sing, dance, and learn something new. Life is an adventure if we make it so. We can learn new things and we can share what we learn with others. What if this is the secret of those who say they don’t feel old because the creativity they use in their lives keeps their mind and heart young?

A rock pile ceases to a rock pile the moment a single man contemplated, it bearing within him the image of a cathedral. Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Little Prince

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

There is a fountain of youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap into this source, you will truly have defeated age. Sophia Loren

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, see archives or categories of posts click on the picture, and scroll to the end. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

If you purchase an item through the Amazon link I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

See this image

The Practice: Shipping Creative Work Hardcover – Nov. 3 2020

by Seth Godin  (Author)

See all 2 images

Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? Paperback – Large Print, Aug. 29 2020

by Belynda Wilson Thomas  (Author)

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The answers you seek never come when the mind is busy, they come when the mind is still. Unknown

When we do something, we might want to do it as well as we can, perfection might be our aim. This can leave us stuck and worried that the next action we take will ruin it.  A pottery teacher told his classes I can grade you on one or two pieces you take a lot of time with or I can grade you on the sheer weight of the pieces you create. He found that the students who went with more volume created the best pieces overall.

The more we create the better will be some of our creations. We may labor with writing a great sentence. The more sentences we write the more good sentences will be in the mix. The more cakes we bake the more fabulous ones we will produce.

Isn’t quality supposed to matter more than quantity? What if it is better to sift through quantity to find quality than to agonize over everything trying to make things perfect? This might be where writer’s block comes from. We are trying to be too perfect. Just writing anything that comes into our head and then deleting it later if it doesn’t fit may be the way to move things along.

We may think we aren’t creative enough to do something creative every day. Maybe we are using too narrow of a definition of what creative is. Some people believe that tapping into our creativity is good for our mental health. When we immerse ourselves in a creative activity we often enter a meditative state where we are so engrossed in what we are doing we temporarily forget the things that are troubling us.

Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow. Vincent van Gogh

Have you ever tried to tell yourself to quit thinking about something? It seems almost impossible to get our minds to quit churning over something we are sick of thinking about. If we start doing something like cooking, drawing, photography, art, music, or even crossword puzzles we enter a meditative state where our brain releases dopamine, which is a natural anti-depressant.

Adult coloring books are a way to relax and enjoy the creative process. Zentangling is a form of doodling that can be meditative and helps us be creative. Intuitive painting is an opportunity to explore our inner self through creativity. The main premise of intuitive painting is to tune in to our own unique creative process without attaching meaning to the end result. The more layers we add the more likely we are to find something in the end that we love.

One expert said to use warm colors on the first layer, cool colors on the second layer, and to create as many layers as we want but to let the canvas dry between layers so we don’t muddy our colors. As the colors below and above mingle we can use white if we want to paint an intense color over it. We may see images show up we didn’t plan. We can paint everything onto our canvas and by covering it up with another layer we can lay our soul bare but in a way that is recognizable only to us.

On this canvas, we could lay all of our hurts, troubles, fears, and hopes in whatever image, scribble, words or symbols has meaning to us. People are paying artists to do this for them but we can do it for ourselves. One price I saw was for a 36-inch by 36-inch canvas for $17,497.00 done over a one to four-week consultation between client and artist. Check out Dominique Hurley’s website to see some really beautiful work. I’m thinking of doing a large size eventually but right now I am working on smaller canvasses and watercolor paper.

The idea is we have no idea what the finished work will look like, what colors will be dominant, what images may surface, or at what point we may feel we are done. The more layers we use and the more colors play against each other the more interesting it will be. In the end, we may feel there it is, the mosaic of our life, the dark times, the bright and happy times, the worry, the excitement, the fear, the joy, and the love.

We are told the more we do this the more we will find to express, the more chances we will be willing to take, and the freer we will feel.

Are we finding ways to bring creativity and self-expression into our lives?

Do things that feed your soul, not your ego, and you will be happy. Unknown

Feed the mind good wisdom, the body good nutrition, the soul good vibes, and the heart good love. Elevation for your situation. T.F. Hodge

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. Socrates

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

If you purchase an item through the Amazon link I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate link.

See all 2 images

Creative Revolution: Personal Transformation through Brave Intuitive Painting Paperback – Nov. 1 2016

by Flora Bowley (Author)