Artist self care

birdies made it onto the mini's
 this week  in celebration of the
little darlings flitting about in
the garden lately.

Not a great deal of studio painting going on this week.  I've been nursing a cold so staying home and focusing on health improvement instead.  When I'm away from the studio and not painting I feel like part of me is missing.  My studio practice is an essential part of feeling whole.  I recognize that 'a break is as good as a holiday' though, so a little self care is what's in order this week.  When I've been feeling like it, I have been satisfying that need to create with some little mini's.  My mini oil paintings are a meditative practice that celebrate little joys.  I plug into a podcast (favourites are: Art Juice, Savvy Painter & Art For Your Ear) and lose myself in the rythymn of the brushwork.

I applied to a couple of galleries for various juried shows last month and now they are all coming to fruition, which means there's a lot of dropping off/picking up paintings this month.  As a matter of fact there are 4 shows this month where I will have work ... two at Coast Collective, one at ArtPod and one with the Victoria Sketch Club.  I'm honoured to get to participate in these.  As an artist its important to 'get the work out there' so different people get to see the work.  One never knows where that might lead; often it leads to art sales and happy customers, and often it doesn't.  But we make art because we need to say something, and sharing the work is important.