Umbrella Girl MotoGP Spanyol 2011

Umbrella Girl MotoGP Spanyol 2011 - MotoGP Spanyol 2011 taki hanya menyajikan drama di lintasan, tapi juga pemandangan yang menyegarkan mata. Apalagi kalau bukan kehadiran umbrella girl.

Practicing Confidence in Success

Umbrella Girl...a pastel in progress.

Confidence. It's not that some of us are lacking it while others have lots of it. We all have confidence in something. It's just that some of us have confidence in failing rather than in succeeding--in losing rather than in wining, in dying rather than living.

I like the synonyms Rodale's gives for confidence: full trust, reliance, dependence, faith, trustworthiness, assured expectation, conviction, sureness, resoluteness, sheet anchor, heart, fearlessness, backbone, tenacity, spunk, self-assurance...etc.

Confidence is an innate quality expressed by all of us. It has nothing to do with whether or not we are good enough or are deserving of being confident. However, we do get to choose what we put our confidence in.

Are we convinced of abundant goodness and supply, unstoppable inspiration and fulfilling creativity? Or, do we have expectations of lack of time and money, creative blocks and poor paintings?

There's a Bible story where these guys are fishing off the coast all night and catch nothing. Jesus stops by and suggests that they cast their net on the right side of the boat. Suddenly the net is so full that the fishermen can barely pull it in. So what changed? It was the same boat with the same fishermen in the same spot with the same net. Even the same fish in the ocean. Maybe their new friend showed them how to transform their confidence in lack, to confidence in plenty? or how to uplift their dependence on limited skills, to faith in a higher expression of talents?

So, if you're an artist who doesn't always have confidence in your talent, time and resources...ask yourself where you've been placing your confidence. You might even try painting on the right side of the boat!

Alternative Views and A Single Focus

I'm now offering 5 other fun ways to view my blog by typing the word "view" to the end of my URL. (http://www.studiozanne.blogspot.com/view/)

Next, if you click on the top right pull-down menu you'll find the alternate platforms to look through my blog. The first one I've featured here is called "Mosaic". Click here to check it out.

Speaking of alternative views...don't forget to stand back to look at your paintings (or your life) and get the big picture. If you focus in too closely the whole time you are painting, you'll find it warps your perspective and keeps you mired in the details...as it does in most all jobs/tasks. Go for a walk and come back into the room refreshed with a new pair of eyes.

Remember that your eyes can only focus on one thing at a time in any given scene...so this means that your paintings should only have one focus if you are wanting to reproduce life. If the light area is in focus, then the darks should be out of focus...and so on. It's a good practice to apply to your to-do list, too...if you focus on one thing at a time, you'll get much more done at the end of the day than if you stop and start several projects at once.

You may also want to look at your artwork upside down or in a mirror, as well. It helps you identify any mistakes that may be hidden due to the way we see what we believe is reality rather than looking and measuring for what is really accurate. The mirror makes you check your reality against what's actually going on.

Hope you're having a fun, creative weekend!