When I travel, I always have a grand vision of stopping at a beautiful location, unpacking my travel pouch of art supplies and whipping up a little masterpiece. I love all the parts of this vision: carefully choosing which supplies will fit into my portable studio and be able to survive the plane ride; seeing gorgeous landscapes with my artist’s eyes and selecting the most inspiring composition to paint; and then taking the time to sit and create a drawing or a painting without a thought about anything else. 

Dropping into the Flow State

Have you experienced the joy of dropping into the flow state, allowing yourself to be totally involved in the present moment, and paying no attention to those external voices, or the louder ones inside, that tell us we should be doing something else?

This is what I love to do with my one wild and precious life. Though I only did it once in an entire month in Ireland, it was intoxicating! 

We were hiking up Slieve League in County Donegal on a bright sunny day. I climbed higher than I thought I’d be able to, and though the trail invited me further, I was getting a little wobbly and decided to stop. My husband was happy to hike higher up and off he went. I found a rock to sit on, ate a granola bar, and pulled out my wee little sketchbook, a mechanical pencil and an eraser and began to sketch. I was filled with wonder and delight! 

After some time, I finished my sketch. My husband reappeared just as I had packed up my backpack, and we headed back down together. 

Now why, if this activity fills me with so much joy, don’t I do this more often? Honestly, I still struggle to take up space and ask for what I want if it feels like it might inconvenience someone else. To be clear, that is not the voice of my husband, rather it’s those inner voices that tell me that putting myself first is selfish. I’ve spent so much of my adult life prioritizing other people and making sure they had what they needed, from clean laundry to packed lunches. It’s way past time for me to prioritize my needs and desires. With lots of practice, I’ll get more and more comfortable allowing myself to do what lights me up! It’s a work in progress ;)

Consistency may be the key!

I came home with my wee sketchbook almost filled with my own watercolor postcards of Ireland. Perhaps you’ve been seeing them on my Facebook or Instagram stories. On prior vacations, I packed up my art supplies, and packed them back out, never taking the time to use them. This time, though, I chose me. After touring all day, and returning to the quiet of our hotel room or airbnb, I could have scrolled through my phone and worried about the news reports. Instead, I chose to show up to my art practice.

It was a lovely way to unwind and remember some of the beautiful sites we saw during the day. I would review all the photos I took that day, choose one scene that seemed doable, and crop it to a square format so that it would fit on my 3” x 3” page. As a way to bring all of myself to the page, I usually started by sketching a square border just inside the edge of the page. That simple act seemed to help me focus on what was in front of me and be fully present. Next, I sketched out the scene in pencil and then in black waterproof Faber-Castell Pitt Pen. I erased the pencil marks and added watercolor to the page. I made only used green, blue and gray in about 90% of the paintings. Just a few dramatic sunsets called for red and orange. Luckily, I love the green-blue part of the color wheel!

My book has 48 pages and I came home with over 30 of them complete! That is a huge victory for me. I have been adding to them since being at home but not as consistently. Life happens.

But that consistency may be the key!

Here are the benefits of showing up consistently:

• My art practice gave me a peaceful alternative to doom scrolling.

• Because I showed up, I now have a precious collection of sweet little masterpieces, some of which I’m planning to paint in a larger format.

• Because I was consistent over a 30-day period, I actually saw an improvement in my skill level! I wasn’t surprised, but I was pleased! That’s no doubt due to a variety of factors:

  • I started paying more attention to the details.

  • I learned how to add more nuance by waiting patiently for the first layers to dry and then adding more layers on top. Both patience and layers are required!

  • I put in the time, or the “brush miles.”

Who knew? Practice makes improvements. But the most significant benefit is knowing that I showed up for myself, and for my art practice, and prioritized doing what I love!

Next time, I share with you a video flip through of all the paintings in my Ireland sketchbook. I still have three more pages to fill!

How do you want to show up today?