Last week my dad went back into the hospital for the 4th time with another life threatening ailment. In last week's newsletter I talked about having 2 exhibits because I have been getting so busy with all the Armed Forces paintings. I have decided and come to the realization that I can't get all the work done for the November 11th exhibition and I don't think my dad will be able to make that exhibition. It was my dad that partly inspired me to do this exhibit, I need him to be at the opening. It's is amazing to me how fast my inspiration has been zapped and now I need to focus on my dad and family. I still need to do 2 workshops in the coming month but they will hopefully get me motivated to finish what I started and inspire me to get back on track. My dad is back at the rehabilitation center and he is doing much better, but it will take him a while to get back home and it will also take some time for my family and myself to get back to a normal routine again.

This last month got me thinking about how a month ago I was on the biggest motivational high and how it can be zapped away in an instant. This got me thinking and also gave me something for this week's newsletter... I will talk about how my creative motivation came and went and I will also talk about how I feel about it now and what I think can help one regain motivation.

This week I lent out my studio classroom for 3 days to the Lakes Region Watercolor Guild so they could run their fall workshop. The instructor is Björn Bernström from Sweden and I am excited to see what the instructor and students think about my workshop space. I won't be able to take the workshop myself because I will be checking in on my dad but I hope to try and be around the studio as much as I can.

There is also the Lake Region Watercolor Guild meeting this Thursday and Bjorn will be the demonstrator for anyone that didn't get a chance to take the workshop. You can watch him demonstrate Thursday morning
Info Here

Next week I will be in North Carolina doing a workshop for the Perquimans Art League

The following week I will be in Jacksonville Judging, instructing and demonstrating for the Jacksonville Watercolor Society.

Yes to Class at the BeckerArt Gallery in McHenry, Saturday, Oct. 13th 9:00 am to 11:30 am

Back in March after my workshop at the Kanuga Watermedia Workshop I felt so inspired to create. After years and years of working as an illustrator and teaching right after getting out of art school, I always wanted to create as a fine artist. I wanted a studio where I could go and paint and create great works of art. Slowly but surely that dream became a reality this spring. I was finally living my dream and creating works of art with not a care in the world. I didn't care about if these paintings were going to sell, will people like what I am painting, did these paintings make a statement, I was painting for myself and it felt so good. 

My whole artistic career I have been creating for someone else, art directors, designers and clients with commissions, it was always their ideas and images I was creating. The series I started this spring to honor the Armed Forces just came to me and I took off on a mission to create 50 paintings by this coming November. 

Since March I had been on a painting high and I never wanted it to stop, but last month it came to a screeching halt. My dad went into the hospital with a crack in his spinal cord, then a week later he had a ruptured gallbladder followed by sepsis and pneumonia. Then when I thought it was all over and I was teaching a workshop in Santa Fe a urinary tract infection raced him back into the hospital. I have had my dad, mom, kids, wife, relatives, and friends all have ailments and many have gone to the hospital, but it has never affected me like this time, where my dad could have died 3 times in the last month. I guess this is something that can zap one's creativity but it seemed so fast.

I started thinking about how does one get so motivated and inspired and what can take them away, and since I love making lists I decided to make a list of what really motivates me and what stops me in my tracks and zaps away my inspiration. I figure the list will help me to get back that wonderful motivation and inspiration I had last spring.

Things that Motivate me

Things that have zapped my motivation

Many times the things that keep you away from your art are the things that are also very important to you, like one's family. Things like family, childcare and health issues should come first but that doesn't mean you should stop your art. I usually scale down the ideas and the amount of paintings I can do but I try my hardest to keep up the top list of things that get me inspired and motivated. I tell my students, even if you are not creating at least try to talk art with anybody that will listen. Talking art is sometimes as good as doing art.

A small amount of motivation and inspiration is just as good as a large amount, just do whatever you can to get yourself motivated.