If you’re old enough (back in the 70’s), you’ll remember the intro to the Wild World of Sports. The announcer comes on, introducing the show, and you begin to see a number of athletes as they do something amazing, and the announcer boldly declares, “the thrill of victory”. Then he quickly follows up with, “and the agony of defeat”. At this point, you see a skier who has totally lost control, careening down a mountain and tumbling over the jump. Even though you’ve seen it a hundred times, it doesn’t get any easier to watch, as the athlete’s dreams are being dashed before an audience.
Although I’ve never done anything as committed and costly as preparing for the Olympics, I have committed the last 8 years to painting. Yesterday was one of the “agony of defeat” days. I spent an entire day preparing a beautiful intro for my soon to be You Tube video about this glorious painting. I then filmed a thumbnail that turned out rather nicely. Then on to the painting, which, to my best efforts, was not successful. The day felt wasted. I had filmed and uploaded a day’s worth of painting (assuming it would turn out well).
A phrase I often hear in my head is, “I want to paint breath-taking paintings.” I believe that’s in me (or better said, God will eventually equip me to paint that well), but it’s been a frequent battle with the voice of discouragement. As I was praying about the discouragement this morning and asking God for tools to combat it, I heard the word “consistency” rise up in my heart. I had noticed Carol Marine’s wonderful book on Daily Painting before I sat down ~ something I hadn’t looked at in years. After rereading her story, I felt hopeful that the consistency of daily painting might be the answer to take my paintings to the next level. So ~ I’m going to give it a month. That may not sound like enough time (and perhaps it will become a life-time habit), but I do feel a month will give me a feel if this pivot is working or not
I’ll start posting them and would love your feedback!
To be continued!
