Again after Newtown and Paris. Troubled times.
 
I hear myself saying, What is the point? Painting?
How does that do anything? It seems frivolous and somehow pointless.
Should I turn my brush toward expressing my political view? Trade my art for activism?
Paint doom and gloom?
 
I get it that artists, writers, and musicians can be reflective of what is happening around us. We need to be reflective, but you don’t have to change what you do, you have to continue. If you paint trees, continue to paint trees.
Paint the beauty. Paint the faces, the color and the joy.
 
Paint like it’s your job—that’s what artists do.

Even though last month was crazy busy, I decided to try a month long painting challenge. The idea is to paint every day and post a finished painting on the host website. There are no other rules.
Here is what I learned:

• When I first started, I was self conscious and tight. I realized I had to keep the paintings small, which I don’t normally do.
• I thought I would be painting all kinds of subjects, but I mostly worked with some type of floral.
• I was working with acrylic so I used that in the beginning, changing to oil about a week into it. It turned out the medium didn’t matter.
• The faster I got in and out of the paintings the better the result. Knowing I could try another approach the next day made it easier to stop before I went too far.
• Painting every day led to more confidence.
• Besides the painting, the posting and uploading of images was a lot of work, but it got easier.
• Having a limited amount of time led to more risk-taking.
• I usually need to stop before I do.
• The answer is in the painting. Thinking a lot didn't help.
• There are no rules, just keep painting.

Since the challenge ended I haven't painted much but I think the experience was valuable and I would definitely do it again.