Bird by bird

I am constantly in the middle of reading about ten different books, or maybe 20. Some of them I actually finish, but there’s always a new one that I find that I must read, and the others shift to the bottom of the pile for later. There are never enough hours in the day. Maybe if I gave up my painting time I could read all of the books…

Anyway, there are some that I actually read over and over again. And I continuously find new inspiration. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is one of those magical books that is filled with wisdom and inspiration. The book is actually about being a writer, but being an artist is almost the same thing.

She writes: You get your confidence and intuition back by trusting yourself, by being militantly on your own side. You need to trust yourself, especially in the first draft, where amid the anxiety and self-doubt, there should be a real sense of your imagination and your memories walking and woolgathering, tramping the hills, romping all over the place. Trust them. Don’t look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.

Or, in our case, just paint. If you are anything like me, you need reminded of this often.

Trust your intuition and just paint!