Sharing a Studio, Being Good Enough and Minka

Minka
Encaustic on birch 10x10

Its Friday again... the week flew by and I'm not really sure where it went.  I reset my studio to accommodate two people creating and I invited a friend to come for the afternoon.  She's been asking about encaustic and wanting to take a run at it.  So we set up a time and we had a super day of it.  The really beautiful thing about today is that my friend isn't an artist and yet she felt really comfortable just playing around with the wax and color and texture.  She turned out some really brilliant stuff.  Maybe its because she came into the studio with no expectations, no preconceived notion of what she had to do or create and no pressure to perform.   Its a state of mind or a confidence I guess, in that she felt she is good enough. 
Good enough is a great state to hang our hats in.  Its a nice place to offload the baggage of trying too hard, or falling short of expectations or well.. not being good enough.  It is a state of mind and it is a confidence and a belief in ourselves.  Within the belief lies the ability to take a whole load of stresses off the plate.  So add a little mantra going forward- I am good enough.  See if it helps to melt those stresses away. 
Happy Friday all.

A Word for the Year, Resolutions and Zoom

Zoom
encaustic 6x8

Its a new start to a new year.  Every year I renew my list of resolutions and every year I start off with a flurry.  I organize, I exercise, I drink less and I eat better.  I try to keep the house tidy, I try to manage my time, and I try to make Mondays meatless.  And, every year I pick a word to be my North star for the year.  Last year was a really good word and its been hard for me to come up with a new one.  I almost took the route of just using the same word again.  But, that seemed totally lame and frankly a bit lazy.  So, I decided to make up my own rules for the word game.  Yes, I have a new word for 2014 - but I've decided I will still lean on last year's word when needed.  My word for 2014 is:

FORWARD

 

I actually thought long and hard I had a toss up between forward and flow - but in the end - forward is the winner.  Seems I feel I need to keep momentum going into this year.  Some big things are on the agenda in the spring - and forward is the name of the game.   For 2014, forward just isn't a direction. My definition also includes no excuses and no upper limit problems.  It also includes being bold in my actions, artwork and well.. life.  With that said - forward I go. 

Wishing you all a very happy Friday and a wonderful weekend. 

 

If you are a word picker - I'd love to hear your word for 2014

M.x