Inspired.

This Year, I decided I wanted to focus simultaneously  on "beginnings" and on finishing, or at least following through. The idea of learning new things and working on mastering/practicing the things I know. Expressing emotion through skill, gaining understanding of my own creative limits. Renewal, the cyclic nature of the creative process, etc. My stepson suggested I used the symbol Ouroboros for my fous, at first I wasn't convinced and then I read this ....

"often taken to symbolize introspection, the eternal return or cyclicality,^[4] especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself. It also represents the infinite cycle of nature's endless creation and destruction, life and death and despair"

Which to me, sounds like the process of art itself. There are also some cycles in my life I'd like to both finish and begin, some emotional patterns that I'd like to shed away and some things I would like to come into fruition so I can move on to other cycles and goals. 

Aaanyway, my first goal of the year was to find a way to express my art in a more free sense. Expression in a raw way, led by my heart rather than my brain. Well, my natural process is half and half, but I wanted more soul and rawness. And honestly, just something differeng. So I came across Mindy Lacefield's class randomly on Facebook, I saw it was discounted and I've been struggling to find a class that I'd like... I've never done an online course. I love Mindy's style but I've never painted like that, the description of painting from the soul was so alluring, so without further research I asked Rob to buy it for me. It was afterwards that I read the description  and I panicked, omg, I can't do this! Working big, using an easel, acrylic paint! Ah! Anyway, I'm thankful I didn't read the description because my self doubt would have held me back and I'm thankful to this class for giving me a new perspective! I went on a creation frenzy and painted 5 paintings for the first class, here they are. 

I'm really happy with the expressive quality of them, along with the hint of a more Jennie style. Jennie-ish, it's in there somewhere, lol. Anyway you can check out Mindy's class here

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/495843309/let-the-paint-speak-online-class


Happy new year! Let me know if you have a word or focus of the new year!