Celebration in Exhaustion
This past weekend was an adventure - both home and away.
The girls at Three Door Studios and I took a studio field trip down to Burbank and Frogtown in LA for the day on Friday. We did the IKEA marathon with the kids, visited a sister studio in Frogtown called Forager Crafts, ate lunch on the “river” at Spoke, and mosied our way home.
On Saturday, I had a full plate with Open Studio, which Three Door Studios hosts every first and second Saturday of the month and most excitingly, I had the very first Oil Painting for Beginners small group class!!! Big celebration for that!
It was filled with people who mean so much to me, my studiomate Emily and her husband Ben, Plein Air Club member Adella, and my MVP: my mom. (She has never taken an art class in her life, and as a lifelong educator, being on the student side of the room was definitely hilarious to watch.)
We worked through foundational techniques often seen in landscape painting - starting on a transparent red oxide–tinted wood panel and building an underpainting with burnt umber. Using our reference photo, we explored the wispiness of the sky, the “Coors Light” blue mountains, and the lovely cadmium yellow woven into our warm greens.
Everyone walked away not only with a finished painting, but with plenty of laughs - and the joy that comes from winning at trying something new.
There has been a lot of “busy” lately. I’m sure you’ve felt it too as the year has picked up pace. I’m definitely in a season of fatigue, but also in a season of remembering my why and the importance of slowing down.
Last year stretched me in so many ways - professionally, personally, spiritually. By the end of it, I could look back and clearly see how much time I had given away. Too many meetings. Projects I didn’t need to take on. Free activities that didn’t serve me or my business. Lost time with family and friends. Struggling to actually rest on rest days. You name it.
This year, I’m striving - imperfectly, but intentionally for a slower year. I don’t want to do all the things. I want to do the right things. Where’s your mindset right now?
