Sometimes you’ve gotta DECIDE and just do it!
Two reasons for this.
One, because it’s quite a big canvas and the only place I was going to be able to paint it was in the kitchen. Which meant I was going to have to get the whole thing done in one go because there isn’t enough room in our kitchen to leave it hanging around until the next time I had time to do a bit. Given that much of my weekends are usually spent ferrying my son around to the various things he gets up to and catching up with household chores and grocery shopping the likelihood of my having pretty much an entire weekend to paint was VERY unlikely.
And secondly, because while I knew what I wanted to paint, I don’t consider myself an artist and I had serious doubts as to whether I could pull it off. So it was easier not to begin.
I’m not entirely sure what it was that made me do it.
I just woke up that Saturday morning and DECIDED that this was the weekend that I was going to do it. There was nothing special about that particular weekend, I still had the same amount of ferrying around to do, still had groceries to buy (and given the amount of food I’m having to get down my 12 year old at the moment in order to stave off hangry attacks (getting angry because you’re hungry!), postponing that was most definitely NOT an option!)
As for the doubt about my artistic ability, I just DECIDED that it didn’t need to be perfect (which is a big deal because I’m a bit of a perfectionist and this canvas was destined for my office wall where I would see it every day so if there was anything about it that wasn’t quite right it would niggle…every day). I DECIDED that I was just going to dive in and paint it and it would be what it would be and I would be happy with it regardless.
It’s funny the effect that stating an unequivocal intention can have.
So, I did everything else I needed to do, but ditched the housework. And I painted.
I let go of all my “should-be-doings” and took care of my “want-to-dos” instead. No-one noticed that the house wasn’t vacuumed and the ironing wasn’t done, nor that the place was a mess. I painted for probably about 7 or 8 hours over the course of the weekend and lost myself in it.
I made time. Time for me.
The end result? I surprised myself. Definitely not perfect, and it certainly wouldn’t win any prizes, but a damn sight closer to what I imagined than I ever thought I was capable of. New art for my office, and I love it.
I wonder what you could do that you don’t think you’re capable of if you just dived in and went for it? What have you been putting off because you don’t think you have time for it? Let me know in the comments…