I get these inspirational newsletters on Saturday nights from Dr. Phillip Humbert (no, not the TV Dr. Phil!). http://www.philiphumbert.com/ He’s a life coach. He always has some inspirational material to pass along…whether to do with your life, your profession or your bliss. Included in the newsletter are some quotes which I always check out. They are pithy, appropriate to his writing and usually by someone whose name we know.

This quote I copied down and have sitting on my desk…that is, when it’s not on my working table! I seem to carry it from place to place, depending on my task at hand. I hope you enjoy it!

I can see this in my painting. About a year or so ago, I just had to paint a red painting…and I did! It is a beautiful painting in my eyes, if I might say so. I remember that when I painted it, I determined to make it a powerful painting. It is as the quote states regarding power, controlled…one of my most controlled paintings. I am an experimental painter, so it is a little edgy, but still more controlled compared to my other paintings.

In the last year, I have gone through the “desert”…most artists go through this at some time in their careers….months where the artist runs up against a wall, where most attempts to create leave you frustrated because it just isn’t working…just isn’t what you want. I have come out of that desert, and on departing, I could see that my painting had changed…I determined that I would allow myself the freedom to paint in any style that happened…no limitations. I unleased myself from the expectations I had set up previously…as a result, I am painting with saturated colors (something new for me!), adding pattern and texture, and using different mediums for new “effects”.

The quote says it all…Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash. I like power, but I love freedom…unleashing can produce some fantastic surprises!! My lovely red painting, “Red Mesas”, is up above. I still love it because it is as I had hoped…powerful and painted with gorgeous reds…my more recent “unleashed” landscape is the one in my title bar…what do you think?

post script: the paintings I have produced in the last two months are even more free…someday when I get my courage up I will put those on my blog also!! Thanks for reading my post!