Consistency - it's not sexy. It's not epic. But that's my goal right now.
At this point, I don’t care if the steps I take are small or even abstract.
My goal right now is simply to make sure I keep one step every day.
Again, I’m still trying to figure out the exact direction I wanna go with my art.
But I know, from experience, that simply doing is one of the surest ways to figure it out.
Nothing drastic - just one step, one thing, every single day.
And if I do something that feels good - that’s feedback, and I can keep taking steps in that direction.
And if I do something that doesn’t feel good - that’s feedback just as valuable, ultimately guiding me in the right direction.
But if I do nothing. Or only do something sporadically every few days (or weeks). I’m not getting that information.
So, right now, I’m gonna treat my art like my Duolingo habit: small and consistent.
I figured I can spare - and suffer through - 3-10 minutes of Hebrew a day. And so far, that’s got me to a 124 day streak (woohoo!)
So, I’m hoping to apply similar principles to my art right now
(More on that below 👇 )
> > > what's inspiring me this week
When I moved to Israel, I had to reduce my worldly belongings to the most important 200 pounds of stuff I owned (that's 2 50-pound checked bags, over the course of my last two trips to Israel before my move) Unfortunately, books are a heavy luxury, and I had to get ruthless with what few books I could bring: a well-loved Calvin and Hobbes anthology, my leather-bound collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, a 1960s box set of the Lord of the Rings books. And a beautiful watercolor book by one of my favorite artists, Felix Scheinberger. Now, this is not that book 😅 but it is a book by the same artist. AND it's a book that I put in the extra effort to order a physical copy from Amazon (in Israel, that means waiting 4-6 weeks for shipping) instead of just downloading it to my Kindle.
Not only is it full of beautiful bird illustrations from 100 different artists, it's chock full of art tips and advice on making money as an artist. And it was my favorite birthday gift to myself last month 😅
If you're art-inclined - or know someone art-inclined - highly recommend this book (and everything else Felix has written)
> > > what I'm learning right now
Now, this is a section where you'd think I'd tell you I'm learning this watercolor technique, or practicing this landscape element, etc. But honestly, the most important thing for me to learn right now is, quite simply, where the art communities are in northern Israel. And how I can get plugged in. By the time I left Columbus, I had built up 3 years of relationships in the artistic community, and had created this map in my head of events, galleries, community shows, and more. And, when I moved to Israel - I left all that behind. And then, when Covid hit and drove everyone indoors in 2020, I knew I'd have to wait awhile for the fragile artistic world to recover. I also recently learned that Googling for something in English here in Israel is nearly worthless - but if I can Google in Hebrew for what I want to find? Suddenly my Google maps - and Facebook ads! - are FULL of helpful suggestions and workshops and galleries. (Again, this language barrier can be a real bear sometimes) So that's what I'm learning right now: community.
I found a group of women in Haifa that get together and paint just for fun once a month. I can't wait to go.
My sister-in-law and I signed up for a painting class next week at a new artist collective. Sounds like a fun time - and I wanna check out the deets on that collective.
There's an artist colony in Haifa, in the Carmel, that I wanna visit one weekend. The artists have permanent galleries, and there's restaurants nearby. That's the kind of vibe I've been craving and missing since leaving Columbus
And there's a town here in northern Israel, Tsfat, that's also supposed to be very artistic. I wanna do a day trip there with Ido and meet a few artists there, too.
I'm also learning something else abstract: logistics When I was in Ohio, I worked for a few months at a Wine and Canvas studio. I loved the work, even though I brought home less than minimum wage. And I'd love to figure out a way to teach at least one - maybe more - watercolor classes to the English-speaking expats here in northern Israel. The biggest thing I need to figure out around that is venue - where in the heck to teach a class like that. And ... trying to figure that out with limited Hebrew makes that extra challenging. But I'm determined to figure it out and give it a shot. I've also had some good conversations with my sister-in-law - we have a very good natural connection, and she's another creative soul - about perhaps combining forces to host a day event. She's a vegan - and an incredible cook. And also skilled in yoga. So we may do a really beautiful combo event - of vegan food, yoga session, and painting in some beautiful outdoor place. Again, I've got some logistics to figure out first :)
> > > what I'm working on this week
It's probably no surprise that, yes, I'm working on yet another succulent piece 😅 It's a rhythm and process I understand - so it's easy to lose myself in these big botanical pieces, one hour at a time.
I'm slowly working my way through the second layer, and enjoying watching the leaves come to life with more layers and depth. Usually, I work on a picture with a LOT more individual succulents - it's been a nice challenge trying to zoom in on a single "blossom" and bring it to life on its own.
After this one, I'd also like to pull out two other large succulent pieces from last year that I never did quite finish. They're *good*, and it's bugging me that I haven't gotten them across the finish line. So, hopefully, you'll have a spurt of new succulent designs in, seemingly, a fraction of the time (each one usually takes me 60-100 hours to do).
But something I've learned about big pieces like these is that I need to have little side projects going on at the same time. Small quick sprints that give me that dopamine hit of "finished" to help me keep from getting bored 45 hours into a painting, where I've been using the same size tiny size 2 rigger brush and the same three blueish-green colors for the past 25 hours 😝
Therefore, in the spirit of consistency, I've assigned myself a 30 day sketching challenge.
No rules - it doesn't have to be watercolor, or even in color. Even a 5 minute pencil scrawl, I do not care.
The only rule is that I sketch or paint SOMEthing every day for 30 days.
(Again, that's how my Duolingo streak started - I promised to stick with it for at least 30 days. And now, 124 days later, it's an effortless part of my routine.)
I'd really *love* for this sketching habit to go beyond 30 days - but I'm gonna keep the goal realistic for now :)
And I'm gonna plan to share my little sketches on social media, too - I may not post the sketches every day (we'll see) but I promise to make something every day!
For now, you can always check out the existing originals and products in the shop (they're still available and waiting for you :) ) And I hope to add to it very soon.
And, as I increase in my email frequency again, I will also be trying to post a little more often to the social places
You can follow me there to see what I'm working on (or see the lovely old stuff I've just forgotten to post before and am just now sharing)
Until next Wednesday! ✌️
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