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!

Morning Paint Sketch: Blue Jay

Did you have a nice Christmas?  I hope so!  This time of year can, in all honesty, be so stressful that I'm finding a return to my daily routine comforting, reassuring, calming.  Seth and I were talking just yesterday during our short drive home from a family gathering about how foreign it is to wake up with nothing to do!  We spent most of Christmas day on the couch drinking coffee, eating homemade cinnamon bread, and watching our favorite shows on TV.  How unusual and restful it was.

I'm happy to be developing a new habit these days- morning paint sketches.  It's so fun and gives me a chance to play around a little with no pressure for perfection.  I've always loved morning reading and journaling and have found a way to combine them both with my other great love: painting!

Today's paint sketch was inspired by the Jay-Jay! sound I heard this morning right outside our front window: a beautiful Blue Jay!  I'm in love with him and practically RUN to the window when I hear his loud distinct call.  I learned this morning that Jays often live in giant oaks or pine trees, so I painted him here with a pinecone.  I like to imagine him soaring through a great pine forest on his way home to his nest.

Morning Paint Sketch

Two nights ago, alone at my kitchen counter, I started journaling and thinking about the year to come.  Here's a little portion of what I wrote that night:

"What if I bought a little travel size watercolor set & a small book of watercolor paper to practice with? I'm thinking of Rebecca Rebouche's blog where she posted her daily sketches from her journal/sketchbook.  It's so amazing.  Plus, it would loosen me up a bit & give me some much needed practice.  I just don't want to get "stuck" in the mentality that I can only paint houses & pets, etc.  Custom work is a blessing, but I certainly don't want to be limited by it."

So the next day I finished my work early and headed out of town to get my supplies: one tiny 14 color watercolor set complete with pullout trays, one 7x10" mix media Canson sketchbook, and two 6x6" watercolor pads.

What will come of this project?  I'm not exactly sure.  One thing I'm certain of is how heavily I rely on my sketchbook to generate ideas and how easy it is to get out of the habit of working playing in it every day.  That said, I'd like to invite you into my world in a more personal way by showing you the process and not just the finished work.  Will you join me?

I'll call them my "morning paint sketches."