Tonight, after a harrowing day of taking my daughter for lasik surgery yesterday, I wanted nothing better than a quiet evening in my chair, with a glass of wine, after a nice dinner. (It all turned out fine even though we sat in traffic due to an accident, arrived two minutes before the appointment because, once again, I refused to listen to the GPS, and then, leading her out of the building with her eyes closed, almost got her caught in a door – other than that, the surgery went great and today she has 20/15 vision and acts like nothing ever happened.) Back to the tulips.
I was sitting in my chair idly flipping through YouTube for something interesting to paint. I settled on some tulips, oil painted with a palette knife, since the roses I did a few weeks ago came out so well. The guy only showed how to paint one tulip and when we were done, I liked mine better. He left me with a string of tulips and stems sketched, that he didn't include in the video. I decided to stop the video and strike out on my own. I loved creating my own stem colors and finishing the rest of the tulips by just having fun with how the paint blends and mixes on the screen. (I was using the ArtRage app on my iPad)
Then I was stuck with a white background. Again, I struck out on my own. I applied white paint really thick and used a hard out smudge on the palette knife to spread it. As I worked, I thought about adding black and using a hard out smear to create a really cool background for the plants. Well a background is a pretty big space and I began passing the brush over it fast, trying to hurry the spreading of the paint. I had to keep stopping and starting again because it just didn't look right. I was getting frustrated. Then I slowed down and I began getting the look I wanted. Go slow. Do a small space and give the brush time to drag the paint. Hmmm. Here we go again. Slow and steady. Patience. I began to relax and enjoy the process.
When faced with a huge task to do, the best way to approach it is in pieces. Break it down. Do one piece at a time. Keep a steady pace and the end will come so much sooner than doing it haphazardly and attacking it at a fast pace. This alleviates the anxiety caused by facing the mountain – you climb it one step at a time, slowly, steadily and with patience. Pretty soon you relax and begin enjoying the climb. The rhythm kicks in and and what stared out as a stressful task, actually becomes a pleasant experience.
And so, as another day goes by, I will need this in the weeks ahead – to remember, I'll just look at the tulips, and…I have written.
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