"You cannot spell painting without pain." (-John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun)

There are some days when I feel like I’m capable of really intuitively painting something that’s light, loose, and easy. Other days, I really do feel like I’m “pain”-ting. Everything I’ll attempt will feel like it results in disaster and mud.

Here and there, I’ll sketch things outdoors in our yard, and while those surroundings are lovely, the results of my efforts are definitely not. I don’t get depressed by that, though, because I tell myself that it’s all practice anyway: trying to improve and learn more about the process.

I’ll ask myself how I could have approached that sketch differently if I were to try it again, to achieve a different result. I realize I have to keep plodding along! Practice, practice, practice, like any other endeavor.

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.” (-William Inge)