Still studying color, line, and value over here in the couch art studio. I pull my cart of paints with me into the living room while I keep Mom company and play around, finally open enough to simply play.

I really got in my own way for awhile there, my hands stiff from all the time spent away from the blank page/canvas. They needed to be reminded how to work, how to apply paint. How to let go with all their heart and might and just let things happen.

My pages and paintings have so many layers. I like to see them as what I had to climb up through to get back to solid footing. I think we think too much and worry and wonder if this is "real art" or "worthy of X" and lose sight of the fact that in order to make anything good, we need to make things.

Something Ruthie said to me on IG the other day keeps rining through my head. "Faith not fear in art."

She had just made a beautiful new apron, and I commented that I'd be afraid to wear it because it'd get covered in paint. We want to keep things pristine, perfect, for the next rainy day, the next moment we have time. She's inspired me to actually make a ruffled apron to wear and get covered in paint. I think it would be a good lesson in letting go & impermanence.

Here's your art tip for the day. I often wondered how artists drew on their canvases with paint so easily when I couldn't get very far with my brush. The trick? A script brush. Above are two in sizes 1 & 4. They're magic. They move and swirl and draw with you, and do it so easily. Plus, I grabbed these for less than $2.50 each, so I didn't have to spend much at all! The swirls and scallops above were done with these, as well as this flower and the writing you can see.

I don't know if I'll have much painting time the next few days, so I'll try to share adventures with you instead. We're almost to the end of May...and I only now feel like I'm getting settled with this blogging every day. That's life, though! Just as soon as you figure things out, everything changes.