Spring tulips, watercolor, 8.5x6" 2010
I believe every painting is a self-portrait to a certain extent. The painter leaves not only pigment but the mark of his soul on paper or canvas.
If art is anything, it is footprints left on a journey. By studying what painters and other artists leave behind, one can follow the moods and sensitivities not only of individuals, but of history itself.
Personally, spring could not have come at a more meaningful time for me. Something is breaking loose in my soul and breaking a long winter’s hold on my spirit. The creative force is beginning to flow again.
Have you ever come out of a long creative winter? What do you think caused it? What helped you along the way?
Bright Spirit Studio 
Anne, I have an occasional glimpse out the creative window of winter at a coming spring but then get buried by another blanket of ordinary. I hope you are enjoying your spring and that it blooms to full summer. Me, I hope for a thaw that I know will come eventually.
Hi John,
You’ll get there. There are plenty of seeds under the snow, bursting with potential! Sometimes one just has to stop digging for them and go skiing for a while instead…
Good luck!
That made me smile!
I think my creative winters end up showing themselves in my work. I just keep on keeping on. Some of the work I like the least seems to find itself in another’s hand as a treasure. Go figure. These tulips are absolutely wet and wonderful!
Ain’t it true? And some of the most intriguing work from the artist’s point of view sometimes gathers dust. Maybe it’s waiting for another century.
It’s funny I can find it hard to be creative if I go for too long without being creative. Sometimes I fret too much about just repeating myself–thinking about it makes it worse.
Normally I start by doing small things working with my materials–refolding fabric, making items that sell, doing an order. Then I can move up to larger and more exciting projects.
I always feel a bit of a let down when the show deadline comes and I have to stop being creative and move on to selling the work.
Those tulips are lovely.
Thanks, Ann.
That’s exactly what I find myself doing, too right now – little stuff! You’re so right – once you lose the momentum it’s +hard 9to get back in the groove. Kinda like exercise.
Your quilts are beautiful, by the way! When my kids were little I abandoned painting altogether for a while and made quilts instead – somehow working on one block at a time was less intimidating. But I never did anything as complex as yours!