WINTER'S JOY
Being an artist is not always as easy as it seems. Like climbing a mountain, until you see the view from the top, or at least a glimpse of something beautiful, it doesn’t seem worth the effort - but it is. With each painting effort there is a breakthrough of sorts, even if it is to work through our own dissatisfactions, doubts, fears and boredom, which can happen to any of us. But that's not the end of the "climb." In my experience, breakthroughs become a small act of some new purpose that I learn to work towards - It is the thing I seek. No small effort is useless, so I decide to take it on, the smaller the better. There is a gain even in the effort to "rest." It seems that winter is a time that nature rests, and in it's silence I experience a certain joy. This joy then can become my small purpose. It can be as simple as choosing the size of the canvas, placing it on the easel, picking up the colourful tubes, brushes and imagining the first brush stroke.