Oh, My Goodness!

I was taken by surprise when I logged in here this morning after a rather long and painful absence. I was expecting to see one of the last photos I’d taken of our little Butternut. As far as I knew, that was the last post I’d made.

Oh, but surprise, surprise! There was a post there — all about inspiration! Yes, I was the one who wrote that post, and I was also the one who had scheduled it, but that actually happened a long, long, long time ago.

Several years back when the blog was a daily thing for me, back when I came into the studio every morning and drew and painted and did other “artsy” things, I spent a lot of time thinking about the creative “process” — especially as it applied to oil painting. I planned a series of posts describing that process from start to finish.

But then, somehow, life happened, and it happened in a lot of different directions with one thing after another taking me away from art. Obviously I never wrote more of this intended series on “The Process of Painting”, but I still liked the idea. So rather than delete the post, I scheduled it for some future date — which somehow happened to be July 23, 2025. My thinking was that at some point between then and now — or now and then, as the case may be — I’d get back to the studio, I’d get back to art, and I’d get back to the actual Process of Painting.

And life kept coming at me. Guys and gals, the last couple years have been rough. It’s still rough, but I won’t bore you with the details of more eye surgeries for my husband, my own vision problems, or any of the other stressful situations we’re dealing with here. Even with it all, we’re very blessed, and day after day I tell myself — and my husband — that we’ll just keep doing the best we can with what we’ve got.

So, here I am today. Coming back to my little blog to find a post I’d actually written several years ago, a post that I’d actually all but forgotten, one that I certainly hadn’t realized was on the schedule to publish. I’m glad so many of you enjoyed the post and found it helpful.

But why did I choose to come back today? Well, guess what! Yesterday, for the first time in years, I picked up a paintbrush, got out a palette, and started a landscape oil painting. Oh, yes, I did make a very tentative start on a painting earlier this year — It’s Not Much — but as my vision problems worsened and life got more and more hectic, that first attempt was set aside and forgotten. In my mind, the few minutes I spent on it don’t really even count.

But yesterday, I did make a real start at coming back to art. I’ve spent quite a bit of time re-organizing the studio, and, you might remember, I bought a beautiful new easel. For quite some time, that easel has been sitting unused. Last week, I decided it was time to change that. “Saturday,” I said to myself. We’d had a busy week with appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so I chose Saturday as a good day to start my return to art.

I almost changed my mind! But when my husband commented about my decision to start painting yesterday, I took a deep breath, threw on one of my old painting shirts, and set about gathering up supplies.

Oh, my goodness! That alone was nearly enough to make me give up the whole idea. Most of my paints are dried up, used up, squeezed up and otherwise unusable. My brushes were all in deplorable shape! But, nevertheless, in keeping with that oft-repeated phrase I use, I just did the best I could with what I had.

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This is only a starting point, a sort of “rough draft” of what I have in mind. My plan is to include a large, leafy tree on the left, to put in a lot of grassy stems and more realistic flowers, and to work on the clouds in the sky — and on the water below.

Yes, there’s a lot of work to be done, but it has to wait at least a day or two. I’ve ordered a set of new brushes. I’ll be sorting through my paints and getting my palette prepared with the pigments I really want and need.

Hey, it’s a start!

It was … well, here I’m hesitating. I started to say “It was fun”. I considered saying “It was enjoyable”. True enough. But more to the point it was “different” and it was “interesting” to once again be standing at an easel with paintbrush in hand and a palette of paint beside me.

Compared to my first ever attempt at oil painting, it was less intimidating and much easier. I at least had some idea of what to do and how to do it. Yet it was a bit anxiety-provoking, too. Could I actually paint a landscape again?

All in all, considering the condition of my paints and brushes — and the state of my mind and vision — I think I’m happy with what I’ve done so far.

In a few days I’ll get back to it — I’ll have what I need — and we’ll see how it goes. So, don’t expect to much too soon. But do check back and hopefully this will mark the start of a happy return to my art studio.