Be the Turtle

Happy November everyone! 🦃🍂🍁🦃

October was a busy, yet exciting month for me! I hope all of you had a great beginning to the Autumn season as well 💛

I'm excited to say that I will FINALLY be wrapping up my El Morro Castle commission very soon! I'm now at 130 hours and over 5 months. 

I know what you're probably thinking because it's been on my mind too- Wow, 5 months?? That's a long time!

Trust me, I've been beating myself up about it. I feel like I've spent more time fixing mistakes than actually making headway with this one. 

However, I have to keep telling myself that I'm still learning, and that this particular painting is really freaking difficult! 

There's no rhyme or reason to this castle, it was forged out of a cliffside, has been destroyed and rebuilt more times than anyone could truly know.

The light in the referance photo is at high noon, which makes capturing the  complex angles even more difficult.

The top photo is my painting in progress (I ended up editing out that big, lonely cloud in the middle.) The bottom photo is my reference- a vacation photo from a cruise ship. I was given artistic liberties by my client to change the scenery and add my "twist."  I felt the incoming storm made the painting more of a statement piece for where my client plans on hanging this. 

I work as a restuarant cook during the day. Most days I get home from work, I put on a pot of coffee and try to get in as much painting as I can. Sometimes it's just an hour or so, sometimes I'm up burning the midnight oil- then waking up late for work the next morning. 

You sit down at the easel and it feels like it's only been 20 minites, but it's actually been 7 hours. It's almost midnight and you still have to wash your work clothes for the next day, the house is a disaster, the dog needs taken care of, and the endless list goes on and on and on...

I guess my moral to this post is that we all have our own way of handling things, and all of our situations are different. There's a lot of artists out there that paint full time, that's how they make their living  (one of my long term artist's goals by the way). I follow an artist that can finish a 24inx36in painting in 4 to 5 days. Meanwhile, it takes me 5 months!

It's so easy to compare our art and talents with others, but that leads to us feeling bad about ourselves and our work. 

So if you're an emerging or beginner artist, know that you're not alone in feeling this way!

Follow artists, but be INSPIRED by them and their work instead of comparing. I know it's easier said than done, but I feel it brings more confidence to your work when you abandon the goal of trying to make your painting look likes someone else's, or exactly like a reference photo. 

I think the best advice I have yet to be given was the toughest: There is no easy way to become a great artist. There's no easy way to make it a profession. You have to really want it, and then you have to go get it. And you have to practice, practice, practice! Then practice some more!

You have to train yourself to see the world for what it really is, then teach yourself the patience to sit down and capture it- no matter how long it takes. 

So be like the turtle- slow down and enjoy the journey. You'll get there in due time. It's so easy to get caught up in the way the world is now- constantly full speed ahead; where if your stress level isn't at a constant threat level midnight, you're labeled "unproductive." 

Even if you're not an artist, I encourage you today to slow down and enjoy at least one of those fleeting moments. Those small, yet profound moments in our lives where the sun is shining through the trees just right, or when the sun sets and for a few moments the sky looks like a lavender field. Those "blink and you'll miss it" moments. 

I hope that I was able to inspire someone today! I also hope everyone is enjoying their November so far and looking forward to Thanksgiving. 

Peace, love & happy painting 💛🖌🎨

-Megan