Magical Blessings

Seven Pairs of Utopia

20 x 16 oil on canvas

It's my anniversary! It seems so fitting that I'm posting a commission painting on this momentous day, it really helps tell the story of how far I have come in a year. Yep, that's right, one year ago I started this blog. I had decided to keep a blog after seeing the movie Julie & Julia.  As Julie committed to cooking over 500 recipes in a year, I committed to paint 100 paintings in a year. I stated in my first blog entry that part of my decision was based on the fact that I had heard many times that painting 100 paintings in a year is very magical and I wanted to find out about the magic part. 

Well, magic it has been. I had expected my painting skills to change but the other changes have been quite unexpected and yep, I have to say it, magical. 

First I'll share the effects on my painting. Speed- I have certainly sped up the process, what  used to take me 6-8 hours now takes me 3-4, not that I set out for that to happen it just did. Clarity- I have received more clarity, oh what a wondrous thing.  Those of you have spent time in limbo-land know what an amazing blessing clarity is. Style-this is not something I tried to make happen, it just happened. I'm sure this will evolve over time, but I can sense where I'm going.

The affects on my psyche has been  nothing short of amazing for me. As my first blog entry stated, I have been a bit of a commitment phobic in my life and I really thought that I would mainly share my struggles with committing. But it only plagued me for a couple months and then it went poof.  Then I moved unto the, oh so delightful, nasty gremlin voices.  Those voices didn't go poof in a few short months, but they did go.  The exodus of those voices seemed to go hand in hand with me getting better at following my heart. The louder the voice of my heart became the quieter the voice in my head became. With the commitment phobicness dissolved (when it comes to painting) and the voices silenced (or at least muffled) I'm able to enjoy a very peaceful happy state most of the time. Hmmf, who would of thunk it, all from deciding to paint 100 paintings and blog about it.

I have to confess, I did not complete all 100, but it just doesn't matter, it got me painting on an almost daily basis and I received so many magical blessings in return. Another of those blessings is the above commission from a self-diagnosed shoe-aholic, her friends call her the 'shoe goddess' and her closet the 'shoe alter'.

I highly recommend finding your own thing to commit to, then observe yourself going through it, it is quite fascinating and quite rewarding. Let's have a drink and toast to the next year, shall we?