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I’m an old school paper, brushes, and paint gal. Digital art is a learning curve I’m still working to master. When a client asked for a hand-painted header for her website I took the challenge. Then, I had no clue where to start.

Start with what you already know.

This is something I still have to remind myself to do, because I think our “show your work” culture can make us believe we need a certain tool or process to complete the task, when, in actuality, there are a bazillions ways to skin a cat.

She wanted hand-painted – and she hired me, because I knew how to do that! The only real difference was the size of the work – I had to scale it much larger than the finished product so it would would yield a super high resolution. The rest of the process was the same until it was time to place it in it digital home.

Once we settled on an arrangement I made a much larger version to scale, using pencil on vellum so adjustments could be made easily.

Time to paint. I like to lay color one-at-a-time and in small increments and in short burst of time to avoid hand fatigue, because making a mistake can mean starting over.

Things went really well until the end, when I smudged the paint with my hand – and skills I already have saved the day. At the top of the page I re-recreated that section and used Photoshop magic to replace the smudged area with the clean version – a trick I learned doing photo-restoration.

Once the pencil was erased and it was scanned into the computer, I removed the background paper in Photoshop. Using a colored background to illuminate any spots I missed, I cleaned it up by hand to get the best results.

Was this the most efficient way to do things? I have no clue, but it worked. My high school Algebra 2 teacher used to tell me, “If it works, do it.” That’s good advice.

Your skill toolbox is unique to you and your experience and is filled with most everything you need to do your genius work. It’s tempting to be distracted by the wow-factor of someone else’s process – don’t let it convince you that you can’t do something or shouldn’t bother trying. Use what you know until you it reveals what you need to learn. You’ll save yourself a lot of wasted time and money learning and buying unnecessary things.

When I began this blog, my goal was simple – to create fearlessly. I figured if I was struggling with it someone else out there probably was, too. That goal remains in the back of my mind as I continue to fight the perfection monster and reclaim the child-like joy of creating.

Fear has no place in creativity.

Seriously, all we have to do is show up. How’s that for no pressure? Show up and be who you are. Too often I let fear keep me from awesome things. I listen to what-ifs and turn back to “safe.” Safe is boring. Safe doesn’t reach our goals. Safe doesn’t spark life, it hastens death.

This arrived in my inbox from Lisa Jo Baker. It’s big enough to print out and hang on your wall as a healthy reminder. What’s the worst that can happen? Failure only happens if you quit.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been teaching the Animation track at Regent University’s summer Film Camp. What a blast! There were five campers, and we covered a lot of material in that short time. It was super exciting watching the lights come on in these young minds as I helped them draw their creativity to the surface.

A favorite part of camp was joint time we spent each morning with all the campers. Our theme for the week was Creation (God’s first act recorded in the bible) and our role as artists. We began the day with a film clip of some sort, and the instructors took turns presenting short devotionals that fit our theme. This time was a watering hole of sorts for me. It reminded me of how very much I love film and art and creating. Even working with high-schoolers creating silly short films is magical. It also reignited my passion to change the perception of what people consider “Christian” art.

I’ve been working on some storyboards – trying anyway. I couldn’t draw a stick man to save my life. There were wads of paper all over the floor. I didn’t know what I was battling, but I was sure I was losing miserably. I love when I muscle my way through something that stretches every limit I thought I had, only to discover there is more to me than I knew. I can laugh about it now that it’s over, but it’s only a matter of time before it happens again – and man it can be painful.

I recently discovered Steven Pressfield’s book, “The War of Art”. Whoa. Pressfield exposes Resistance and its tactics to thwart our dreams, goals, and growth. The challenge is applying what I’ve read, but the truth in this book has the kick in the pants I need. It applies to everything from weight-loss to writer’s block.

Warning: It’s a quick read, but chewing on it will take awhile.

A friend saw some art quilts and asked if I could make her one. I said, “Sure!”
Wait. What?!

Now, I’ve been quilting for a lot of years, but this was one area I always admired but had never explored. I panicked. I sketched. I joined an online community of art quilters and signed up for some small challenges to learn about supplies and techniques. Panicked some more.

My friend is an addicted scrap-booker, and family is super important to her. I envisioned a family tree, and ran with that idea. The project morphed and stalled more times than I care to discuss. And sat for over a year. She was paying me a lot of money – I had to

She had seen several art quilts and fell in love, then completely trusted me to just come up with something. I broke through a lot of different fears during the process, and the quilt evolved and changed – just like I was evolving and changing artistically. I am amazed at the final product and humbled at the way God works through my hands and pops ideas into my head from nowhere.

It’s titled “Foundations”. The words at the roots represent a firm family foundation: faith, honor, integrity, trust, hope, passion, purpose. The flowers (children) springing up are the result of those roots, their ancestors (in the leaves) serving as a protective covering in the branches above.

Words stamped into the “ground.

Children grow under a cover of love.

Ancestors watch from among the leaves.