I fell in a hole yesterday! A painful metaphorical hole emerged after deciding to paint plein-air the beautiful landscape of trees behind my studio. It was a gorgeous autumn day and it felt wholesome and good until I ran out of steam and all the not good enough’s and should’s appeared – that particular brain wave pattern that’s always painful.
By the end of the day I’d decided that not only was I crazy deciding I could even begin to paint the vastness and beauty of the landscape but also that I hated all landscape painting ever made through the entire history of art! Grumpy or what? Also not true!
It’s not always a good idea to believe our thoughts, especially when tired. Crappy ego grumps are part of the human experience. Internal wars to resolve. No wonder there are external wars if we can’t resolve our own internal ones. Art confronts! Art clears! Art heals! We all have stuff waiting to bite us on the bum. Don’t let your stuff bite someone else on the bum!
It’s fantastic when we get to the other side of holes without blaming, shaming or feeling sorry for ourselves and produce art that feels as though it has come from somewhere else.
Without ego. Without me.
The hole I fell into yesterday was to decide to do art – ‘I know, I’ll paint a landscape’ rather than just show up in my studio as usual, pick up the threads I am working on, go with the flow and see what happens.
‘Be art, don’t do art’ is what the landscape taught me.
Not a waste of a whole day afterall!
Much love
Kirsten
Date for your diary – The Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, 14 – 18th May 2025 ,11- 6pm