For Every Season: Giving an Inch, Getting a Mile

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School has been out less than two weeks, and my kindergarten graduate and I have already been to the beach, cruised up and down the Tchefuncte river a handful of times, hit up the neighborhood pool, stayed up too late watching movies and eating popcorn, and made personal best distance records on our bikes. Is it August yet?

With that oppressive summer heat just now setting in, I’ve had to mow the lawn more often, and I’ve been taking note of something: weeds. Not just in and of themselves, but what I’m really impressed by is how they managed to sprout out of just these god-forsaken circumstances. Like the teeny tiny cracks in my patio flooring or the minuscule amount of dirt that’s collected against a potted plant on my front my porch. These little green sprouts need almost nothing. How do they even get there in the first place? Even though I can pluck one with the strength of two fingers, their collective force has left me in awe of their sheer will and power.

Summer means a couple of things for me– no school= less time to paint originals and brutal Louisiana heat= far fewer weddings paintings. Case in point, I set out today to do some quick gesture drawings of my son and niece playing, and no sooner had I started than two little munchkins took over my sketchbook.

This is just a season, for sure. One I’ve struggled with since art first became my full-time job four years ago. But I’ve learned from those damned weeds. If I give art just the smallest bit of space, if in my hectic, mom-camp summer days, I give it an ounce of breathing room, it finds a way. I don’t have to clear out entire days or weeks. I just have to wake up a little bit earlier in the mornings or, without guilt, say yes to loving offers from grandparents to babysit. And just like that, from the smallest cracks in my days and schedule, I find paintings blooming.

Summer, in many ways, would seem to be the worst time for it, but I’m planning another new painting release the first week of August. I don’t have the exact date yet, but I’m working to finalize it in the upcoming days.

So far I’ve got several new peacock in the works, one of which is featured above. If you want to be among the first to see all the new paintings when they are released, make sure you are subscribed to my email list. Is there something you really want to see included in the new set of paintings? Please let me know in the comments!

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