Sometimes you just need to change the view....

Every day when I walk to work I pass by some amazing flower or something else equally beautiful and I am reminded that even crappy days still have beautiful moments!

I have had a lot on my mind lately, and the stress levels have been pretty high.   I have this file at work that I have been working on the last little while that has really got my heart hurting and feeling frustrated.   I have been worrying about money which has been tight due to being off for the surgery and I have my big camp coming up!!   I have to admit the creativity has been feeling pretty low!

I was hanging out over at my family's house and my sister asked me if I wanted to paint and to be honest I really just wanted to do nothing and veg out, but I knew that I needed to do something that would exercise another part of my brain so I said sure why not!

I thought of her gorgeous garden filled with flowers

Then I started to paint....I was imagining a macro photo of the center of a flower, I had seen paintings like this before and had an idea in my head, the trick was figuring out how to do it when I had never done one like that before.  I tinkered and fiddled and tried to get the texture of the petals right and eventually, my sister said, stop messing with it!   I added some depth and shadow as best as I figured how and this is what i came up with....

Not to bad for a first crack?   I was all pumped up with creative juices and decided I wanted to do one of those paintings where you put down the paint, then tape, then black paint and see what happens....and it was TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But my sister does this thing when I start critiquing my work....she says give me that for a second and she holds it up away from me and I still didn't love it and so I was going to scrap it so I started scratching at it with the pallet knife....and still I wasn't too keen.

I was about to give up and throw it in the garbage when I thought, maybe I should just walk away and change my view! I pushed the painting across the table and put down my brush and then.....it turned on its side and suddenly I saw it...two people walking in the rain....an umbrella being pulled away by the wind, a coat over the head as you run into the wind....okay it's still a weird painting but I kind of love it.   I just needed to change my view.

It's definitely not a masterpiece but a great reminder that sometimes you have to remember to give things a second chance or look at them in a new way and you can still find beauty.

I didn't love either of the paintings but both of them taught me something new, helped me bring a little colour and creativity into my day and helped me move out of my rut.

I hope you are able to look around and find some beauty in your day today!
T