It has been a different kind of

New Year

I got sick, got the flu, and then couldn’t really recuperate at my expected pace. Sickness hit when l as I was planning to map out my year of work and even in the bigger picture, my trajectory as a mother and an artist. What a fascinating lesson. The tasks that sat undone while I went back to bed, and back to bed, and back to bed looked different when my energy began creeping back. Instead of just tackling all the to-dos, I wondered, what of these things is really essential? Why did I put them on my list in the first place?

And the thing that is helping me feel most normal, most encouraged is the simple act of picking up a paint brush. I am picking it up though it seems like the last thing I “should” be doing and many other tasks press. I am picking it up though I have many fears about making bad art, and even bigger fears about making poor life decisions with my energy and my capacity.

How helpful to have something as true and useful as a paint brush. I am sending one to you with a little description of how it might help you when you with focus and starting a difficult task. And I am sending it with a new little brush stroke painting entitled “The Rise of an Idea.”