The Art of Michelle

Let's talk about something fun today.  Let's ignore the cold and snow and biting wind and dream about riding our bikes through the park with flowers blowing out of our baskets.  Let's talk about plum colored pants and little furry dogs.  And please, let's not mention the color gray.  Just for today!

I'd like to teach you how to do something I just started doing a few weeks ago.  Let's go back to the basics and start our days right, with clarity, Scripture reading, journaling, and painting our dreams.

Here's what you'll need (let's keep this simple):
a compact watercolor set
a cheap sketchbook
a pencil
a glass of water
a paper napkin
a small collection of visual references

What inspires you?  What colors and patterns make you swoon?  If you had the day all to yourself, what would you do with it?  What sort of things would you want to see?

Now, open the curtains and let in the morning light.  Start the tea kettle.  Turn on the music.  Ignore the clock, your phone, the computer.

Let's begin.  Lay out the fun visual references you've been collecting.  How happy are you right now?  What about those references make you happiest?  Now pick up your brush, wet the palette, and begin.  Who cares what happens after that?  This is just for you, for fun, for practice, for presence and joy.

Finished?  How does it look?  Does something bother you, please you, make you smile?  Remember those things.  Now, close the sketchbook and open your heart to what God has in store for you today.

Repeat each morning.  :)

*If you're on Instagram, tag your paintings with my custom label #morningpaintsketch and see the artists who have already joined the fun!