Morning Madness

I have not been as dedicated to my morning pages as I had hoped. I have trouble doing them when I travel. I did return to them this morning and am finding that they are difficult to get back into when I have not been doing them for a couple of days. Writing 3 pages is tough. I do find that they are helping me to focus. Did them this am and they do calm me and help me get through the day's chaos. It is as if they lead me to a path. I had to do a lot of life stuff today, but managed to get to the easel in spite of everything. A nice feeling...

Green Mt Reservoir Campground

Update on the Morning Page Habit

I have been doing the morning pages off and on for the past few weeks and I must admit that something wonderful is going on. I am feeling better, I have goals in front of me and I am taking better care of myself. I am painting more regularly and am stretching myself again. It feels good. Synergy seems to be showing up again.
I am painting even when I only have small bits of time and I am enjoying doing small works. The painting on the left is a 5"x7" oil. It is a lot brighter than the photo suggests.

Taking Small Steps

I am learning so much from my morning pages and studying my Julia Cameron book. Something leaped out at me this morning as I sipped coffee by the fire and watching the wind blowing the snow around. Small pieces of time spent painting are just as important as those long blocks of time. Small steps do add up...all journeys are made up of small steps. Yesterday I began a large painting, working from photos and plein air studies of a portion of the Colorado Trail that my husband and I hiked this late summer. I worked on it a large portion of the day. It was good to take a look at it this am. I already see things that need work. Today I have a full afternoon of appointments and thought about not stepping into the studio because I won't have a huge block of time. I will instead work on the painting in small amounts of time...it might take me longer, but I will still be painting and learning as I go along...even in baby steps!

Happy New Year!

Above: " Ring of Kerry", oil, 14"x11", © Amy Evans. Painted from my walking tour of Ireland.

I worked on my goals yesterday and I highly recommend doing that exercise! Thanks to Alyson Stanfield's web newsletter and book...I began my morning pages again and am going through Julia Cameron's "Finding Water". I feel energized and focused again. I purchased that book several years ago and read it...then put it away. I think I am now ready to work.I will keep everyone posted as to my progress. I do have difficulty when trips come up as well as visitors...and we do have lots of visitors here in the mountains of Colorado. I am excited about my goals and am in the process of breaking them down into smaller tasks. Happy New Year to all...may you have a glorious 2009, full of opportunity, joy, peace, and love!