A week ago I made a crazy decision,
I came across a local art competition and decided to enter it.
It was a crazy decision because, entries had to be finished and emailed by yesterday at 5pm. I had less than a week.
The theme was WILD, and I knew I hadn’t done anything recently that met that brief, so I had to start fresh.
Was I putting too much pressure on myself?
I had to do a check-in at one stage, because, when you prioritise self-care, you have to know the difference between pushing yourself too much and stepping out of your comfort zone.
So I made myself a bargain, if I hadn’t finished by Saturday evening, I would just wait for the next competition. No biggy. Therefore removing the stress from the situation.
So I sat down in the Wednesday group last week and started my first idea for the comp. It was going to be wild roses around a windowsill.
I wasn’t happy with it, so put it aside for now. (I am happy to show you when you come to the group.)
Next, I decided to paint a monkey in the wild, adding bold colours to symbolise playfulness and joy.
Many times I wasn’t happy with him, my daughter kept telling me to stop ‘fixing’ him and leave him alone, but I couldn’t help it. Over a couple of days, I was finally happy.
Here is Wild George.
While I was painting George, my husband jokingly said, “Why don’t you do Wild Girls Afloat he he he.”
Well, it got me thinking, you see lots of pictures of black silhouettes of girls with a colourful background, but not really the other way around.
So off I went. I drew three silhouettes of girls dancing and painted the background a dark purple. In the girls I used chakra colours, every time I applied colour it had a meaning. My main idea was that they were dancing in the purple to soak up the energy of that colour.
Here is the finished product.
I am so very proud of both of them and completed my entries on time. (Of course my husband is taking all the credit for Wild Girls Dancing.)
I drop them off at the gallery next Monday and the show starts on Wednesday next week.
So what if I had never decided to push myself out of my comfort zone, I would never have felt this feeling of accomplishment, nervousness, and pride that I’m feeling.
What if 9 years ago, I had never picked up a brush and paint after years of suppressing my creativity, where would I be right now?
I will never regret getting back in touch with my artistic side, even when I was struggling to find what medium I was good at. (There are some that I am bad at believe me.) It’s all worth it for the buzz that I get creating. And the amazing feeling I get when I am supporting someone else to open up their creativity.
Is it time to push yourself out of your comfort zone just a little bit?
Come and discover different forms of art and discover which you are called to.