by Andrea Fedder | Jun 4, 2019
When I sit to paint, uncertainty always shudders on my shoulders. Imposter syndrome always swells in my throat. But curiosity also always tingles in my fingers. And that’s enough to keep going.
ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
Someone asked me the other day if I’m getting settled in this daily painting challenge yet.
Faster, yes.
More comfortable with different techniques, yes.
Fluidly inspired, yes.
But settled? Never. Not one time that I sit down in front of a tiny canvas do I know for sure whether I’ll pull it off. Uncertainty always shudders on my shoulders. Imposter syndrome swells in my throat. But curiosity also always tingles in my fingers. Wet Wet Wet may have been singing about love for another person, but they may as well have sung those words for your craft.
Feel it in your fingers because it IS written in the wind. And today, with a storm like this – it’s written on the rain, the thunder and the lightning too.
I hope you are getting drenched by some aspect of the thing you love today.
And if any of this sounds like gibberish or resonates with you – PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE listen to or read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. He shares a much richer ethos about all of this – overcoming the daily resistance to creating your art.
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📸 from @unsplash
(artist retains all rights to print reproductions of this painting)
Inspiration found in common licence imagery
by Andrea Fedder | May 20, 2019
Let’s say ‘slow up’ or even ‘slow in’ instead of ‘slow down’. Down seems negative. Down seems void of, lacking. It’s in slowing our haste that we rise higher, not so? Slowing is a call to action too. Silence is an action. Observation is an action. Sitting is an action.â €
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That road ain’t going nowhere.
(artist retains all rights to print reproductions of this painting)
Derivative work created with permission from the photographer
ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
Funny how we tell people to slow down. Down has a negative connotation – it feels like someone is telling the dog in me to heel and wait for the command or for permission to tear down that road.â €
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What if we said ‘slow up’ or even ‘slow in’ – it’s in slowing our haste that we rise higher, grow taller and reach further in the long run. Slowing is a call to action too. Silence is an action. Observation is an action. Sitting is an action.â €
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That road ain’t going nowhere. :)â €
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📸 @deniscebulec (great eye dude!)⠀
by Andrea Fedder | May 15, 2019
gowhere – a self-designed and desired destination created amid the action of its ongoing physical creation.’ Or more simply put – making your future while you make it up.
(artist retains all rights to print reproductions of this painting)
Inspiration image: common license and artist own work
ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
I thought I was done with the foresty, tree lanes, but can ever really be done with those?
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While painting this little dude, that old song (raise your hand if you know it) by the Talking Heads popped in my silent head – Road to Nowhere (for which the official music vid if you haven’t seen it is a totally bizarre but beautiful comment on what a society-defined, stereotypical life must be like for some people). But singing it in my head – changed the lyrics to ‘I’m on a road to go-where’. Because that’s my truth. I feel like the wide-open meadow is turning into a distinct path and while I’m not sure exactly what colours will be in the outlines of my picture, there’s a definite picture forming – and it’s one that I’ve drawn many many times. Just this time, I’m drawing it in ink instead of pencil.â €
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And I will tell you, all lovely six hundred and thirty-five of you, that one of the first signposts coming up on my go-where road is a brand name change which I am super excited about. (more on that later).â €
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So that’s my new addition to the language of self-actualisation; ‘go-where – a self-designed and desired destination created amid the action of its ongoing physical creation.’ Or more simply put – making your future while you make it up. 🙂
by Andrea Fedder | May 13, 2019
(artist retains all rights to print reproductions of this painting)
Inspiration image: common license and artist own work
ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
This is a very special road to me as I drove it regularly for about 2 years on route to my morning therapy sessions. It was beautiful in all its seasons. But on this particular day in autumn, I paused because the scene felt like it contained all seasons in one. The road was damp from rain, scattered with autumn leaves, the oak trees still changing colour and the sun had just come out. Magical right? This was my road towards travelling wilfully into myself and learning how to appreciate the potential for growth and beauty of all my seasons.
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