Killing Paper Tigers

I am blogging tonight just because I need to vent a little, clear my head a little, get my thoughts out a little.  And I think this drawing is a pretty good illustration of how I feel... rearing to go, but like this horse staring off into the distance, there is something off the edge of the paper that is putting fear in my heart.

Struggling with fear has become a daily project for me and I have learned a lot from that struggle.  I mean, fear has always shadowed my path, but as I have been planning and goal setting and dreaming, fear has become this very real opponent who harasses me.  The cool thing is that now I can actually see fear.  It is not just a murky shadow.  It is a paper tiger and I can actually figure out how to deal with his tactics and reveal how flimsy fear is.

I have been really industrious lately.  I have been making a lot of art and I am about to make some more.  I have plans to open an Etsy shop.  I have plans to create a post card mailer to send out and plans to create a mailing list.  But now, I am at that place where plans have to become real action.  Guess what... I am making excuses.

Have you ever gotten to that place where all of your dreams are about to become footsteps on a path but then you start to second guess and even wonder if the journey is one you should take?  I am there.  And I am finding reasons to flounder.

Okay, so I need to get a good scanner for my art work since all of it is made with water color, pencil and paper rather than digital.  I need to get a printer so I can make nice prints to sell in an Etsy shop.  I need some extra cash to support this en devour.  I need to make some decisions about how to sell my art, where to sell my art, all along wondering if anyone will even want to buy my art.

All of these fears are little paper tigers, roaring at me, but amounting to nothing, only having power if I give them power.

So I am going to look at this picture of this wild mustang and I am going to gather my courage and run into the wind!  I am going to make this work.  I have to!

Have you found it hard to get started when you think of all you need to do to make your plans happen?  How have you coped with that?  What did you do to get over that hump?  I would love to hear from you because I am always looking for good advice.  Please leave a comment and share!  Thanks for stopping by.

Tangled Art, Tangled Life

"If you get tangled up, just tango on!" - Al Pacino from "Scent of a Woman"

I look at this and it is just doodles, right?  Okay, now having said that, to actually get myself to sit down and do the doodle, was a challenge.  I mean, looking at other people's "Zen tangles", (What a clever name.  Great marketing!)  I start to feel a little nauseous because I think, "I can never do something that PRETTY!"  But thankfully, I don't have to necessarily follow a rule, I just have to make patterns.  Easy.  Really, it is.  So, I make the tangles (That's what I hear they have been called.) and if I get tangled up, I just tangle on.  Not as romantic as the Tango, but that's okay.  Apparently this form of doodling causes your mind to calm down into a meditative state which helps with stress among other things. 

One more reason I love cruising the web.  There are literally millions of artists with just as many sites and they are all out there sharing their work.  And we get to browse through and feed our inner creative.  Of course then it is up to us to do something about it, like paint a picture, draw a doodle, sing a song, write a poem, make a special dish, plant flowers, imagine dragons and fairies in the clouds, what ever your imagination leads you to do.  I just know being creative causes you to become more creative!  I love that. 

And I kind of feel like life is a little like a Zen tangle.  Over here you have something going on and then in another place you have some other complicated thing happening, all of it seems crazy making and a little confusing, overwhelming really. But you just keep plugging away, hoping the patterns will begin to form and clarity will eventually happen and then when it does and you step back and look, your life is this amazing beautiful patchwork with depth and richness of detail.  We think we want it simple and we complain, "Why can't things be easy?!?!"  But it is the twists and turns, the dark places and the light places, the curves and sharp angles that make our lives these amazing masterpieces, when all we thought they might be were doodles.  Go figure.  No wait, go doodle!

Thank you so much for reading my blog today.  You are so very welcome to leave a comment, be it brief or long.  Either way, I'd love to know what you think, so leave a comment dear reader!