the wonder of it

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”      -Martha Graham

I am trying to be open...to lose all the negativity and self criticism in my painting (+ in my life = so much more difficult!!!). But how many times do we do that to ourselves..."oh!! this...it's nothing"...it was just something I did a long time ago...I'm not a real artist/writer/sculptor/poet etc, it's just something I do in my spare time. I used to do that a long long time ago until one day I realised that my whole living room (turned studio) was filled with about 50+ huge completed paintings.

There were still lifes, portraits, abstracts and figures. And a light bulb went off in my head...aha!!! I am an artist!!! I don't need a BFA or an MFA or or or. I am an artist because I paint!! It was at the very moment that I claimed my work and my SELF that I felt a huge flow of creative energy and inspiration. Of course the journey is never a straight one and I have to constantly affirm my work in different ways. Growth and change bring about all sorts of exciting + fearful challenges to work through.  And that's where I am right now...on the cusp of a new blossoming of work. Its's exciting and terrifying all at once, let me tell you. I am bringing all of who I am to my canvas...and it's vulnerable + freeing . I have no idea where it's going to go... that's the wonder of it.

So dear friends...I ask you, too, to claim all of who you are. Don't throw any precious pieces of yourSELF away...honor them and give them voice + space to flourish.