Some days art feels hard. Devil dogs hound our brains. Monkey voices chatter about work to do. Yes, there will always be more to-do: laundry, bills, bookkeeping, internet, news, cooking, cleaning… But to live we need to stop. Step out of the to-do zone, and just be.

Step away from the internet, the news.

Pick up your pencil, brush, camera.

What is it you see? What fascinates you? Pulls you in?

Start there.

For me, this week, it was $5 worth of flowers. They are the promise of sunshine. They speak of the earth’s longing to survive. They are full of light and warmth. So with pencil and paint, I’ve studied them til they faded. Then painted how they made me feel.

You are an artist. You notice what others walk past. You’re entranced by what others take for granted. In this fascination you will find your work. Spend time with what you love. Why does it hold your attention? What fascinates? How can you make that more? How can you express it in your work?

“Why do you never find anything written about that idiosyncratic thought you advert to, about your fascination with something no one else understands? Because it is up to you. There is something you find interesting, for a reason hard to explain. It is hard to explain because you have never read it on any page; there you begin " - Annie Dillard

Spend time exploring what you love.