#12 ONE HUNDRED DAY CHALLENGE...... Don't Quit..........

HOT SUMMER DAYS 8" X 8"
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

Challenging myself isn't easy....... I have gone off track a couple of times, and life has gotten in the way.  Lets see I should be at about #20...... It doesn't matter, what matters is that I haven't quit.

Life has done it's best to distract me.  Throwing in a few life challenges of it's own.  Over commitments, family concerns, and exhaustion at times.  The important thing is to stay focused on your goal.  Keep painting my WHY, and honing my skills, building my body of work and staying true to the dream.

Some of the ways I do this is to surround myself with positive and life affirming practices.  Meditation and prayer twice  a day.  Exercise, and eating well.  Gratitude for everything, even the things I don't much want.  Looking for the good in everything and everyone and tuning into the positive energy of others.  Most important good sound sleep.

This sounds like a long list but it is made up of small steps that lead to large accomplishments....

 My motto today.....DON'T QUIT....

OPENING THE PATH TO CREATIVENESS....... allow yourself to just do.

ABSTRACT STUDY-REFLECTIONS    6 1/2" X 5 "
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

I am going into the second week of my 100 Day Challenge to increase my productivity within the studio.  I am starting to see the magic in this experiment........

It's discipline that I sometimes lack, and with self-talk, and self-challenges I am moving into a more productive state of being.  I found that when I publicly challenged myself to paint a small painting everyday for 100 days that I couldn't back down.  It meant that my EGO stepped up......  I certainly wouldn't want  to look like a failure.......

I am beginning to see the true outcome of this challenge to be something entirely different.  When I put on my iTunes, settle into my studio, and pick up my brush  it becomes much more than putting paint to paper.  It is a time of reflection.......

It goes right to the heart of my being.......my creativity......my intuitive self.  I settle into who I am, the "WHY" of my painting and I intuitively create something beautiful.  It is soooo simple, I don't need to over analyse my canvas.... Just do.....I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO JUST DO.

The other thing I am discovering is if I wait for inspiration......I may never pick up that brush.......  Since this is my financial security I am talking about.... that would be a disaster.  I need to produce work and lots of it.  I need to open the paths to MY creativeness.  The best way to do that is challenge myself to paint everyday.  I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO JUST DO.

At first I thought that my 100 Day Challenge was a crazy idea, one that would surely fail...... Not now. The things I am learning about myself during this challenge will only lead to success.... I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO JUST DO.

How have you opened your paths to creativeness?  What has been your challenge to yourself?  It is time to ALLOW YOURSELF TO JUST DO.

PLAYING WITH COLOR AND DESIGN....a 100 Day Challenge

Abstract Study #3 6"T  X  51/2"W
available at
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

                         

I always like to challenge myself......and lately I have be feeling very abstracted...... Late summer is always a slow time for me so I am able to play little more in the studio.  This is a great time to mess around with color, pattern and design.  My Itsy Bitsy Abstracts are a perfect venue to play with color and design on a small scale, to see if they would translate into a larger format.

I want to do a whole series of these during my 100 day challenge. A 100 Days will carry me into Fall and the Open Studio Tour but working an hour a day designing an abstract study is doable.

Abstracts are not that easy to get right.  I always feel a non-objective painting is hardest still because you can't catch the viewers eye with subject matter.  It is purely design and color driven.  I have always been drawn (pun) to a good non-objective abstract and I would be grateful to achieve a few really  good studies that I could than translate to a larger scale.

I will be posting more of these Itsy Bitsy Abstracts.  I would appreciate your feedback.... Tell me what you like or dislike about non-objective art...

If you see something of mine that you think I should blow-up..... HA HA.... please designate if you mean destroy or just make larger; give a shout out.  I will be posting these each day on my Face Book Page.

Hey, you artists out there..... I challenge you too!   Let's see what you come up with, and I will put my favorites of your abstracts on my Page.

MONSOONS ARE AMAZING.......bringing life to the desert

MONSOON SUNSET 14"T X 11"W
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

I have lived in the Southwest long enough to know that liquor is made for drinking and water is made for fighting over.  With a seven year long drought in these here parts it is getting pretty dang dry........

All I can say is BRING ON THE RAIN!!!!!!!

I hold my breath every year when the spring winds blow and the heat rises, drying out the forest and parching the plants.  My trees begin to look like sticks with barely any life.  They brown up and drop leaves to preserve their energy.  This is forest fire time.  I think back to last year when we had two major fires in our area, and we lost our 19 hotshots in the Yarnell Hill fire... and I lament "Lord when does the rain start."

The month of July has brought us the blessed relief we have all been praying for, with the arrival of the Monsoons.  We have gotten about 4 1/2" at our house in the mountains north of Phoenix, double what is normal for this season.  That makes this a great monsoon so far with another month to go.

I feel the moisture coming back to the blush of my skin, my hair is full and soft; my eyes twinkle. My whole body drinks in the succulent drops of luscious nectar that falls from the sky. A joyful spring is in my step as I dance through puddles, and the 4 year old comes spilling out of me.

This is a MONSOON.

The skies crack open with the sound of thunder, dark clouds descend toward the ground as white tops billow above.  The wind picks up and swirls the dusty leaves, whirlwinds scour the desert floor and walls of dust form haboobs as high as a 747.

This is a MONSOON.

Billowy clouds turning crimson and gold as the sun sinks deep; glinting against the steel and glass of the high rise.  Phoenix at cocktail time.

This is a MONSOON.

MONSOONS ARE AMAZING.........

100 DAY CHALLENGE.....One Itty Bitty at a time.....

Rain Forest 14"T x 11"W
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

I like to think strategically as well as creatively..... I have 64 days before the 7th Annual Prescott Area Artists' Studio Tour so I thought what better way to get me motivated to complete some affordable art for all my peeps then by doing a 100 day challenge; this will spark the production of a whole lot of original art pieces in a Mini size.

The above piece RAIN FOREST was the first of many.

The second day I completed BOUQUET below.

Bouquet 8" X 8"

Today (Day Three) I was working on an abstract study on 5" X 61/2" Watercolor Paper.  These will be little creations that can be matted and framed by the new owner.  I call these my cash and carry art.
This will be art that anyone may afford...... I am so EXCITED an original that will be assessable to everyone.

Abstract Study #1  5" X 61/2"

I am totally physched to be able to offer these new little bittys.  Or itty bittys.... a size of a card.  OMG people can even send them in cards....... What a nice gift to give.  Super Neat Itty Bitty  Abstracts

I will be showing the collection on my Facebook Page  as I complete each new original.

VISUALIZING MY SECRET GARDEN......

BACKYARD GARDEN  24"T X 36"W
available at
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

Living in the South Western United States, I miss the green and lush backyard gardens of the Eastern part of our country.  Don't get me wrong my backyard is beautiful, though rocky and rugged with more lichen than flowers growing.  After the monsoons is our season of flowers with beautiful blue wildflowers springing up between the rocks and mesquite plants.  They are small but profuse like a blue carpet. But I do miss the lush big blooms of the perennials I use to  plant in my backyard in Michigan.

Visualization is a great tool to use when you are in a slump or as I call it (my summer snit; when it is hot and dry and dull brown) and I want to move to a more beautiful GREEN place. As an artist I like to take my visualization and turn it into a more permanent visual picture.

So my creativity takes over to bring the rich color of a hidden garden, smack dab in the middle of the South West.  You will find many of my newest paintings with this theme; eye popping color and gigantic flowers as I visualize what I wish I had.........   Growing flowers like these would definitely bring the Javalina..... they would make a tasty treat for those pesky critters.  So I must only dream.....

PAMELA PONDERS.........What if YOU take a peek?

PEEK A BOO 6" X 6"
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

Some times artists are timid to show their talents to the world.  Though they could shine brightly the fear of failure forces them to hide away where they perceive safety.  Their thoughts keep creativity hidden, afraid to take that first step.....  they become invisible.

Pamela Ponders........

One should never come from the side of fear, but come from resiliency, if you fail....no big deal.  Any successful person will tell you that they failed many times before they became who they are today.

Like the marigolds peaking from behind the grasses, let your colors shine.  Let your creativity pollinate and spread across the land.... Create the thought, step into the action and expect to win.

You don't have to be an artist to let your colors shine....................


This little mini is being offered in my Etsy Store.