ART and CREATIVITY : Fear of the Great White

About me

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. I’m here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Fear of the Great White

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”
- Sven Goran Eriksson

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

Practice 1

I've been doing some quick practice sketches for larger paintings I'm planning. Anything bigger than A4 has been scaring the daylights out of me - I keep taking out the BIG piece of art paper and then quickly putting it away "for another day". I've just got to tackle those large canvasses now, no more procrastinating!

Here are a few sketches I've been doing over the past couple of days. They're all done on Bockingford 300gsm, working quickly to get a feel of the brush as it moves across the paper and they are all 12" x 9". Here I can see what works and what doesn't, where I have to go lighter or darker or where I can improve on my technique. Planning is something totally new to me, but for the large paper looming in front of me, it seems essential this time!