To look at you

Tired but pleased

The sun is shining and I am just home from the studio. I want to go out and explore Edinburgh in the sunshine and celebrate a good week of work. But first, there is the matter of my weekly studio blog. So here we go.

This week was all about finishing up some resting pieces and allowing some resting pieces to tell me they were finished. It was full on and truthfully I am pretty worn out but gratefully so. Last week, I shared the first two of my large works in my new series. This Tuesday, I shared my studio video visit where you can see and learn more about what has happened in the studio since then. Here are the latest paintings in the series (pardon my mobile phone shots, proper photos in the near future).

120x100cm

80x80cm

80x80cm

100x150cm

100x120cm

Honestly, when I woke up this morning, I wasn't sure if I had it in me today and thought about taking the day off but then I bought myself a wee gift of an old album I used to have. It was just the ticket and the work got done.

Thank you to everyone who has had a kind word or shared this latest work. It feels really good to be painting in this way again and your support really helps. Okay, there are about two more hours of proper sunlight left in this day and I aim to get out in it! Until next week, keep fighting and for the love of everything holy, remember that every day you paint is a victory.

Go big or go home

How many times have I tried to make myself small? How many times have I tried to fit in? How many times have I tried to be agreeable? How many times did I try not to rock the boat? How many times did I not play my hand? How many times did I stifle myself out of fear?

Too many times, enough of that. Today's motto is "go big or go home."

Paint big, dream big, live big, and take up space. Take up space and make it beautiful. Take up space and make it bolder. Take up space with pure nothingness. Take up space with the edge of a charcoal smudge. Let the white envelope you and the blackness tell the secrets locked in your heart.

Let the paintings pour right on out. What is enough? You are. Your work is. That black brush stroke, that swath of white, it's enough.

Until next week, keep fighting.