#21 emBODY Ketchup Week & A New Series Starts Monday

Tomato ketchup falling from bottle

This past week Life really kicked my butt.

I’m going to spare you the long list of obstacles and heart breaks it delivered and just say that in the midst of all it, I chose to honor my own personal boundaries of what I can and can’t handle.

Doing the #21emBODY Painting Challenge this month really showed me exactly how I deplete myself physically by always pushing, pushing, pushing.

And so when Life started to intensify for me this week, I decided to put a hold on the following prompts:

Spine
Hair
Ears
Legs

Though, I did create the following that I shared over on Instagram and Facebook:

Belly

Navel

As you can see, when life started to feel crunchy, I went smaller.

My belly invitation I sketched in my pocket sketchbook while taking some time to decompress and the naval painting I created late at night doing the same thing — but on a small piece of watercolor paper.

Personally, the whole point of having a daily painting practice is for it to be nourishing and insightful — but there are times when life has other plans.

Back in my past life of being an elementary & middle school art teacher, I would make one week a semester called “Ketchup Week” where each of the students could work on pieces that they had fallen behind on for whatever reason. Or they could take finished pieces and work further on them.  Their choice.

Anyways,  I know I’m not the only one who has fallen behind on the #21emBODY Painting Challenge so I’m declaring next week Ketchup Week for all of us as well!

Please keep posting your “Ketchup Week” work using hashtag #21emBODY and I will still keep highlighting work daily over on Instagram and Facebook too!

See! No big deal! We’re artists — we can make up our own rules! And be sure to CLICK HERE to review what prompts you might have missed.

Also, I’m excited to announce that tomorrow my dear friend Chris Zydel and I are beginning another fun series here on the blog intended to inspire you as well.

Each day we are going to be chatting it up about all things creativity, painting, and the Feminine — stuff that is near and dear to our hearts and our own personal creative practice.

Here’s the conversations you can expect to listen in on:

Monday: How to Embrace Jealousy & Competition As An Artist
Tuesday: What to Do When You’re Feeling Creatively Stuck
Wednesday: How To Discover Your Style/Voice As An Artist
Thursday: The Feminine, The Underworld, & The Creative Process
Friday: How The Creative Process Deepens Our Connection To The Earth

All you need to do to join in is follow along on my blog.  The best way not to miss a conversation is to sign up for blog notifications at the bottom of this post.

Plus, Chris Zydel and I are hosting a workshop together this May 18-21 in Oakland, California called Paint Riot — there’s still room available if you want to join us!  It’s going to be a riot!!!

And don’t forget! 21 SECRETS emBODY just came out yesterday!!!

You can CLICK HERE and grab your copy now! This is one powerful workshop.

Happy Painting Everyone!

 

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