We’re kicking off Art Days 2018 with a bit of reflection on a very timely topic: Beginnings and endings.

For the first piece of art in this new challenge I decided to go a familiar route and do my favorite kind of art journaling. A bit of watercolor abstractions, some modeling paste over a stencil and some writing with black pen and POSCA markers.

Guys, there’s absolutely no shame in playing it safe every now and then. Especially when you just want to get started and not risk losing your confidence. There will be plenty of opportunities for wild experiments later.

My art work this week is about one of the things I will practice to let go of even more this year. I’m trying really hard to be less judgemental and get less upset about things that I cannot fix. Or things that are broken in this moment even if I do intend to fix them.

There is nothing to be gained from raging or wallowing or judging. It can feel like the best or most satisfying thing to do in the moment but all you’re really doing is filling your mind and eventually your life with poison. It’s not about letting other people off the hook – it’s more about allowing yourself to feel content and even happy, even when things are really un-great. At least that’s my experience and belief.

There’s a lot of talk about resisting in the world right now and while I agree with the intent I feel very conflicted about resistance being the solution to the problems we’re facing. It feels reactive and negative to me. I’m a major people pleaser so resistance doesn’t come natural to me in the first place.

I realize that we can’t just chill our way out of our problems either but these are my thoughts at the moment and I’m trying to figure them out. Feels great to work through it on paper.

If you want to participate in Art Days 2018 sign up for the weekly prompts and go check out the #artdays2018 challenge page for more info. It’s totally free to join in and you’ll be a better, happier everyday artist for it.

xo Nina