In the Mood, 9x12, Oil on Board - Jane Appleby-sm

In the Mood, 9×12, Oil on Board

What does it take to “Get in the Mood” to create something from nothing?
I asked myself this question after spending a whole day painting without any satisfying results. On other occasions, taking a hike in the mountain’s fresh air or surrounding myself with the vastness of the ocean was all it took. But then there are those other days….when I am not in the mood.

Like the day spent in the park, studying yet another blank white space, nothing coming to mind after several failed landscape sketches, and feeling as though I had forgotten what a paint brush could do.

That’s when I decided to pitch one last effort to use everything left in my paintbox and employ the full spectrum of my spirit to capture whatever I could.

It was in this striving to go the extra mile, in the mood of surrender, that finally prepared a place in me to receive what I needed. Within a short time a small bright painting resulted and I felt I had discovered something new. This creativity was not something I could force but something to be open to.

My hope is that in whatever “extra mile” you take along your way that it too brings you to undiscovered places. And, like a special painting, add a bit of colour to your life.

Jane