Monday, April 18, 2011

Longing for beginner's mind


Why I haven't posted recently:

1)  Finished "the color of water ?" series.. yikes! what next?
2)  Excessive ukulele practice/play
3)  Child #2 moved into her own place and started a new job.
4)  surfing
5)  distractible mind (so what else is new?) 
6)  what next? (again) 
7)  designed a tee shirt for the Berkeley Ukulele Club..by hand... THAT took a lot of time..
8)  and all the other life stuff

 Now that I have a LOT of water paintings and explorations under my belt I don't feel quite so much like the beginner I was when I started all this.  I also feel like I am starting to repeat myself..and when I stop seeing new things, well... I lose interest and move to other things.. I know I have just scratched the surface with the water paintings.. ah, for a return to beginners mind.. 

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few"- Susuki Roshi

SOOOOOOOOO.. I decided to buy eight 16"x20" canvasses and just paint as a practice.. Move quickly from one to another (yeah, right!) .. They actually look pretty cool when I hang all of the same size together.. Here are the first two.. (not including the 4 completed canvasses I already have)   

"Peachy morning" oil/canvas 16"x20"
"Shallow" oil/canvas 16"x20"