Preliminaries

A friend sent me a link to a painter's web site - Jim McVicker - http://www.jimmcvickerpaints.com/ - and there I downloaded the 30-minute documentary about him. I found him to be so similar to the way I have always painted that I'm now galvanized to get off my butt and go out and paint regularly. I may not live in a wild, beautiful area, but there are still plenty of places around here that catch my eye. I've gone out yesterday and today to scout out possible painting sites, and took photos. I'll continue to do so, and on my next free day, weather permitting, I'll return to one of them to paint. Here are some possible painting sites to choose from - I'll keep snooping around until I find something that really excites me:

A view of Bull Run from under Rte. 29, by the Old Stone Bridge, Centreville, VA.

Looking the other way, at the Old Stone Bridge. This area saw lots of action during the Civil War.

Another spot on Bull Run, where it crosses under Rte 28, between Centreville and Manassas.

Riffles and reflections.

Introduction

I have started several art blogs over the past few years – Amy Mann’s Painting a Day, Adventures in Painting, Copying at the National Gallery, and A Drawing a Day – but they have not proven to be sustainable (except for the copying blog, which I add to whenever I work on a copy at the National Gallery, a practice I will not give up, no matter how long between visits). I love starting blogs, almost as much as I love starting paintings. The starting is exciting and inspiring. Much less so is the slogging through dry periods. This year (it is December as I write this) it was A Drawing a Day, a project I began last New Year’s Day, 2011. I resolved (maybe that’s why it was doomed from the start) to do a drawing every day, no matter how serious or involved, and post it on the blog. The first of every month would be self-portrait day. It worked very well for the first half of the year – I don’t think I missed a single day of drawing and posting until June 16^th. I kept going fairly strong through August, but I drew less in September (14 days) and only 8 days in October and November. In December I have not drawn at all – not even my first-of-the-month self portrait. I have fallen victim to my own pattern of strong starts, loss of interest, and abandonment of the project. I could blame it on starting a new job last July, with more hours and a steep learning curve. Or maybe on joining the Sketchbook Project, which gave me more burdens and goals. But I think it’s mainly my personality to dive into a project with grand resolve, then sputter out. I start to feel resentful of the rules that I myself came up with. My natural tendency to want to rebel takes over. I won’t say the Drawing a Day project was a failure, but I do feel as though the pressure to draw every day wore away at my desire to draw.

Now I'm starting a new blog (hope springs Eternal), because I do seem to respond well to having an audience. It makes me feel not quite so isolated in the Northern Virginia suburbs. This time my purpose will be in learning to work – to approach my work in a more workaday manner. To try things out, to make small starts again, maybe to continue on some of them. Just to get into my studio and make something. I’m hoping that without the pressure of doing a Daily Anything, I’ll be freed up to just Do.

I also want to say that I spend a large amount of time looking at other artists’ work on Facebook. FB has become quite an amazing source of inspiration. The artists I have “friended” are prolific and generous in their postings. But I need to get into the studio more and post my own successes and failures, marks that I have made, proof that I am Learning to be a Painter. My husband tells me that inertia is my worst enemy – that once I stop working, it’s very hard to start again. I invite your comments and input. Engage with me in what I’m doing, and make it hard for me to stop.