I have been painting off and on since I was a young girl…I mean in grade school. I sold my first painting when I was that young too. I had painted 2 deer on some old worn out pictures that I had salvaged, then I approached the drug store near our house in the small town where I grew up. The drugstore owner put my paintings in his store and a friend of our family bought them not long afterward for under $1.  That was big money back then…and I was so pleased. I was a child and this lady was probably just encouraging me, and it did encourage me. Over the years I have not been faithful to paint often because somewhere along the way I got the idea that it was not a viable thing to do and even for the last several years I thought it was self indulgent and so I only painted when I felt that I deserved a treat.

Well this past summer I got a call from a lady who attended college with me, we went out twice a week and painted in the mountains, in the parks and wherever we could….it was such a blessing for me to paint I was so happy. So that was the beginning of my new painting adventure.

We went to an art show a few days ago and she told me about some artists who were painting a painting a day, this was so intriguing to me, she told me that they painted small paintings of everyday objects and sold them on e-bay with the bids starting at $100. This seemed so awesome to me and something very doable. As soon as I came home that day I began to search for these painters who were creating a painting  a day. I wanted to do this and I wanted to find out what they were doing. I was so impressed by their paintings and their blogs that I immediately started a blog that day (which I am very slow at because I don’t know much about blogs, so as a side note if you feel compelled to help me I will welcome the offer)…anyway I made my little blog and painted my first painting the next day. Oh it was so hard for me, for some reason things were not coming together. I thought I had chosen a simple subject when I chose a salt and pepper shaker, but boy it was not simple for me. I am used to painting walls or painting relatively large canvasses and painting outdoors or from a photograph, things from creation…not salt and pepper shakers  so I was disappointed. But since I made a commitment to do a painting a day  I painted it until my time was up took the photos…and despite my disappointment in the painting, I posted it anyway….follow through is important to me. 

I wanted to mention some of the artists that I found, they are absolutely masters at painting (I think)…I was so taken by their work… there is a man named Duane Keiser who actually started this painting a day, from what I understand and he is amazingly blessed with talent. I also connected with a man named Julian Merrow Smith, and another artist, Dave R Darrow…fantastic painters; they don’t need my endorsements either, they are all successful.

Yesterday I did everything I could to paint another painting; I thought I need to paint something organic, from creation, so I chose an angel wing plant…I spent several hours painting it and I was brought to tears doing it…I was so frustrated. I look at creation and I know that there is a Mighty Masterful Artist, the Almighty Artist Creator who made everything because it (creation) exists I know HE does… even my pitiful paintings exist so people know that someone made them…anyway I look up to the heavens at HIM and I ask…why do I have this desire to create and yet I do not have the skill to do it??? Well I do have some skill but its almost as though my hands don’t do what I see or know in my mind…how frustrating. I put in all my effort and it still wasn't working…well all is not lost, I left it late last night, and I realized I had started a painting that was too big to complete in one day and I was rushing it, so I will finish it in due time.

This morning I prayed and I knew that I would be blessed today, my intentions are to give the Master Creator all the glory…I mean after all HE made everything and we ‘artists’ even the great ones that I mentioned…(and some I didn't mention like Scott Prior, Scott Kiche and Larry Preston) are merely copying the One True Master Artist…there is nothing new under the sun. 

So after praying…and realizing that I am not those artists, I am me…I paint differently…mostly with a lot of paint and even though I do like photo realism I haven’t achieved that… yet.

This painting a day will enable me to hone my skills and I pray that I use them to exalt the Eternal One.

So I took a beautiful red gala apple and decided to paint that for today’s painting…it is painted the way I like to paint and I can see that I am actually developing my skills by the Eternal’s mercy and patience with me. I will be posting this for auction on e-bay and you can also see it on http://www.hearingissweet.wordpress.com.