Here's a turkey I painted last fall. It got a bit muddy, unfortunately... It was painted from a photo that I took of a turkey who hung out in my yard a few years ago. (I think it's a hen, not a Tom.)

The reference photo is up as my Thanksgiving entry on the main blog...

I started reading TAW again. Its hard to get very far, because my baby boy keeps demanding my attention. Last night, we put him in the swing to fall asleep, and I sat up in bed, reading by flashlight. Haven't done that since I was twelve, and desperate to keep reading my latest mystery or F&SF book after curfew... My parents almost always caught me and yelled at me for ruining my eyes... (Maybe there was something to that, because I'm almost blind without my glasses, except for the really really up close range...)

Anyway, I got through the introduction and the description of the two major TAW tools, morning pages and artist dates.

Morning pages are three pages written upon awakening that serve as a brain dump. I can get into that pretty easily, except for the immediately part, because breastfeeding Mikro has to come first...

And artist dates are pretty enjoyable and simple-- go do something alone to feed the inner child/ inner artist. Walk on a beach, go to a gallery, hang out in a thrift store looking for little treasure to include in an assemblage... The possibilities are endless. Julia Cameron says you must do ADs alone.

I'm not sure I agree with that, because some of the most well-filling, creatively inspiring jaunts I have taken have been in the company of other artists.

Just getting together with the Crazy Artists Club and talking about art gets me jazzed and ready to run to my easel. Sometimes much more so than wandering around by myself, beating myself up for wasting so much time, for the things I haven't done...

I also wonder how a mother of a young infant is supposed to be able to take a day off to be alone with her muse.... Does an AD wqith a baby count?

Just to get things started, I'll link to the only paintings I've been able to get done since my seven month old son was born. They are watercolor and breastmilk...

I really need to get some work done. Painting is necessary for my continued sanity. Hence the title of my main blog, Painting to Stay (?) Sane which tends to focus more on the mom stuff.

I am about to begin delving into Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way to try and kickstart my languishing creativity, so I figured, why not set up a new space to do that in...

Here we go... A new adventure.