Yellow lily in a purple vase

6x4", water mixable oil on linen panel

I realized the other day that I've been pretty intimidated by painting lately. I've been focusing mostly on drawing, which has been really, really good. But I don't want to neglect painting to the point where I'm afraid to pick up a brush. Not that I haven't good reasons for being afraid--painting is incredibly complex and there is so much I don't know. But at the same time, I don't want to let fear control me--not good. And with painting (like many other things), I think the way to fear it less is to do it more. So I'm going to try to whip out some really quick, tiny studies a little more often (this one was probably a little under an hour?). 

I think when you paint more often, you learn from your mistakes faster too, because you actually remember them the next time you go to paint something (like, the last time I painted flowers and they ended up spilling over the top of the canvas--yep, it happened again ;). But maybe if I paint flowers tomorrow, the lesson will be fresh enough that I will be able to fix it. Anyway, I really like painting. And this is a low-pressure way to go about it. I'm not out much in the way of time or materials when painting small, so it isn't a big deal whether it works out of not--and I tend to get a little overly worked up about these things sometimes, so low pressure is good. 

And isn't it nice when it's plain and clear that you have so much room for improvement? The future is certainly filled with better and better paintings. I just know it ;)