Getting a new groove

Life has seasons of quiet, and busy. Then there is that place between projects. One project is completed, the next is waiting in your brain, percolating. Before the one was completed, I decided it was time to nourish my artist brain. So I enrolled in an advanced watercolor course at the Visual Arts Center.

Julia Cameron author of the Artist's Way, calls it "filling the well, stocking the pond"  She writes that over an extended period of time our creativity becomes like an overfished pond, then we get artists block . The solution is to consciously put fish back in the fish pond.
For artists, we do this by a sensory  input-visually, musically, a walk in the forest, or a trip to the museum. We must do what intrigues us, gives us joy, and in my opinion, get out of our comfort zone.
My teacher, José Duclos is a gifted teacher who gently nudged me out of my comfort zone, patiently, all the while o000h ing and aaaahhhing when I did some miniscule step in a new direction.

This painting was my breakthrough. Artistically it is so different from my current style. As much as I struggled with it, I fell in love with the technique.

People often say you have to learn to control watercolor. Jose does not teach this.  

This is my practice for painting tulips...see how much in control I am?

Then there was this practice...hmmmm, I actually began to relax with this.

And while this whole painting is only a practice painting, it is the loveliest of all. I need to make time now to practice my new groove!