In the Beginning

I recently signed up for a thirty-day “Find Your Flow” program with Karen Abend that begins on June 1st after taking part in her incredible Sketchbook Revival. My hope is that my participation in this program will help me to develop a daily practice of creating art. I have been a writer for as long a I can remember, but my struggle with persistent writer’s block, and despite it, an unquenchable desire to create, led me to art. I’m just a beginner, and don’t know much about anything, but I’m willing to give it a try anyway.

Something I’ve learned through my many starts and stops in my “creating art” journey is that it takes practice to develop skills and that learning is an on-going, life-long process – there is always something new to learn. I have come to realize that I allow myself  a freedom in art creation that I have not allowed in my writing practice. I can see now how I have blocked my own writing process because of the need to always be perfect the first time around – that somehow, because I earned an MFA in creative writing, I should know everything there is about writing and what the hell I am doing. I definitely do not. I’m okay with accepting that when it comes to art, but not my writing. Why? I don’t know. I am hoping that through my exploration of art creation, I can wind myself back around to a writing practice that actually works, and along the way develop some much-desired artistic skills. I have always been frustrated with the inadequacy of words to fully encompass what I see in my mind. I am hoping that developing artistic skills will help me to fuse the two together in a way that is self-satisfying. If you are called to do so, please follow along on my thirty-day journey…and then beyond.

*The above photo is a watercolor that I created in a handmade sketchbook I learned to create in Kiala Givehand’s Sketchbook Revival session.