I’ve been really enjoying my studio time and have taken a moment to think about why things feel so good.

I started a new set of work towards the end of November, but didn’t spend a lot of time in the studio in December, so I came back to work in January after quite a long break. I didn’t have a great first week, I think because I started focusing on the outcome of some paintings and stopped enjoying the process.

I took a step back, started a new series on a set of 5 boards, using a limited colour palette of red, yellow, black and white, with the intention of just playing and seeing what happens.

I really enjoyed the colours I was mixing and the value contrast I was getting, the difference between the light and dark colours. It was a big reminder to me to just have fun.

I started back into the other paintings that were in progress. This time I wasn’t thinking about the end result. I worked on something I wanted to try and then let it rest and moved on to something else. Everyday now I am moving between different sets of paintings. I have a lot in progress, more than ever before, so plenty of time to give the paintings a bit of breathing space. One idea will feed into another and this gave me the confidence to go back to a big painting, which I liked but knew wasn’t done, sometimes it takes a while to be brave enough to make the next move.

Some of these pieces are now reaching the end point, but then I move on to something that is still at the midway stage, so I move from careful, refining to being brave and bold. This constant movement is helping paintings move along that production line.

I have also realised I don’t always need a lot of time to make a difference, if I only have an hour that is good enough to make some progress, short bursts of time seem to work for me. So instead of constantly feeling short of time, I feel I have more to play with.

These mindset changes may have benefitted from a couple of books I’ve been reading. Essentialism by Greg McKeown, making me think about what is important right now. Also Coffee Self-Talk by Kristen Helmstetter. Negative self-talk can have such an effect, I am good at noticing it in other people, not myself so much. I think when you are working alone for a long time, you need to be able to be your own cheerleader - talking yourself up and reminding yourself what you are good at. Otherwise you can fall into the social media trap of worrying too much about the likes.

It is a process, I will have to keep going and keep reminding myself.