"I want to paint like a bird sings." (... said Claude Monet)
Don't you love that quote? I saw it the other day somewhere online, and thought: "Me too! That's exactly how I want to feel when I paint!" Free, bright, energetic, effortless, as natural as breathing.
But too often I've felt like the mechanical bird in a cuckoo clock that's all wound down. No singing, no painting, no energy.
I'm picturing the hand on the clock chains, pulling the weights back to the top and resetting the clock so it's ticking away and the cuckoo starts singing again.
And... back to what I've been considering lately: blocked vs unblocked creative flow. I need to have techniques in mind and at hand so I can kickstart myself and get back to work when I'm all wound down.
(Feeling pretty good about not being blocked these days. :) Painting: a sketch in acrylics on panel from a couple of years ago, 5x7", private collection. Currently I'm working on an 18x24" acrylic, "Granny's Garden in France", based on this small sketch.)