Brooklyn Lamb

Painting faces is like doing an intricate puzzle. One that cannot be undone. One that has to start in the right order from the very beginning or else it falls apart like a million dominoes towards the end and the only thing to do is to start again. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of chocolate, a lot of second guessing myself, a lot of dishes sitting in the sink. But once the puzzle is complete, I feel complete, too.

Starting is the hardest part.

There’s this voice inside that says “you are going to fail”. And a lot of times that happens to me. A painting doesn’t turn out the way I envisioned and I have to start over from scratch. Or the out-of-the-box dinner I had planned suddenly turns out to be inedible and I have to pick up grease from McDonald’s.

Even though failure is a possibility, a home run is also realistic. I believe Babe Ruth to be my hero on this subject. Yes, we all know he had many many home runs. What many do not realize is that he had just as many strike outs. If you are most comfortable living your life playing for base hits, there’s nothing wrong with that. But for once maybe, try to go for something more.

Basically, I surround myself with things I love in order to help me do what I love. Here is my list. And then you have to make your own.

1) Make the best cup of coffee I can afford.
2) Write a list of reasonable things I’d like to accomplish today, even if it means just taking one really good photo. Sometimes it helps to write this down the night before.
3) Music. (Shout Out Louds and things of that genre)
4) Lemon h20 / La Croix
5) Reading someone else’s blog about something they recently created.
6) Imagining how good and emotionally satisfied I will be later on. Also knowing that any creative energy I use today will be a catalyst for tomorrow’s creativity.