Wasn’t sure what I wanted to paint this particular day, just really needed to 😊

I’ve been reading a creativity book, The Adjacent Possible; filled with good ideas, one of which emphasizes “just starting.” A concept the author calls zero to 1, which she explains is like this huge leap, from nothing, to something. She says it over and over, all different ways, and I understood it. First intellectually. Then emotionally. And today, physically.

I’d had some good and some bad starts and pics, as is usual for any artist really, but the day after day of gloomy overcast cold weather – very unusual for her here in Austin – had me in a motivation slump ☺️

But this day, I took her at her word. She’d continued elaborating about “just starting” and it included prep work, etc. Anything that got one starting. Even just barely starting a string of painting to get back to later. Anything. Zero to one 😊

So I did.

Using a new acrylic paste, an inexpensive brand I could “waste” my time on w/out feeling bad, lol! I layered the 1st canvas, working the paste, smoother and smoother each pass. Not something I usually, and starting getting into it. Set it aside to let it dry & picked up a 2nd canvas.

This one I only partially laid in the paste at the top most portion of the canvas, dropped down a bit, and over-lap-layered the rest. Thickly, til I reached bottom ( was that symbolical? 🤷‍♂️ ) and put it aside and picked up the 1st canvas, which by now was fairly dry.

I didn’t know what to do, so I gathered a slightly mix thick glop of paint and paste, and spread them on the middle of the vertical canvas with a palette knife. One swipe across and down each. I liked them, and did dare touch them!

Picked up the over lapping layered canvas with a partial swatch covering at the top, and – watering the paint down, mixing watercolor ( small amt ) with acrylic ( larger amt ), I practically just stained the top 1/4 or 1/5th.

Above pics were how they started, these below may be how they’ll end up —

Obviously “Healthy Vines Happy Heart changed quite a bit, while “Good Conversation” basically got some good tweaks 😊

Here’s each same-image pairing —

I’m pretty sure I’ve finished the 2, though I’ve been known to sometimes still tinker with my work in tiny places, sometimes successfully, sometimes regretfully, lol! But it’s all part of the process. Sometimes those tiny tinkerings are, when seen much later, just the right visual surprise that sparks the heart ❤️

Stay well everyone! Stay creative! 🙏

Adan

ps – I’ll eventually have a full review of The Adjacent Possible; I’m a little past the mid-point, and the most surprising aspect so far is, the basic principles repetition by the author, Nancy Hillis, it’s finally becoming evident to me, is by design, variable, and is increasingly helping me see her various points re creativity — and that’s very nice 💕

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

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