{"id":7940,"date":"2013-12-08T20:09:35","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T04:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7940"},"modified":"2013-12-08T20:09:35","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T04:09:35","slug":"dont-make-paintings-just-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/12\/08\/dont-make-paintings-just-paint\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Make Paintings, Just Paint"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"First-Sketchbook\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
Page 1 of an early sketchbook, 1996.<\/h6>\n

That was a piece of advice I gave myself when I first started painting. Just get into it and enjoy the process. And don’t expect too much too early; it only discourages. Growth is incremental. We hardly see it.<\/p>\n

When I first started painting, I painted in sketchbooks. That was with oil paint! Crazy, I know; oil paint dies slow; you can’t even turn the page. But that’s what I did. My reason? I wanted to keep it all informal, unimportant, and only for practice. I didn’t buy a canvas for a long time. Painting on a stretched canvas seemed too much like “making a painting.” And I wasn’t ready to make a painting; I wanted to just paint.<\/p>\n

Whatever your particular new interest is, I recommend this approach.<\/p>\n

Don’t go out and buy all the equipment necessary, the wardrobe, the rented space. All that will do is keep you busy and you may even feel like you’re “doing it.” But it’s a deception.<\/p>\n

Just get painting.<\/p>\n

Or writing.<\/p>\n

Or learning.<\/p>\n

Or serving.<\/p>\n

Or whatever it is that’s on your heart to do.<\/p>\n

The reason you haven’t done it yet is because you haven’t started.<\/p>\n

And you haven’t started because you’ve made it too important. Too scary. Don’t you know the hardest step on a thousand-mile trek is the first one?<\/p>\n

The results of your labors won’t be grand for a long time.\u00a0But they won’t be anything at all if you don’t start.<\/p>\n

So, whatever your art, whatever your contribution . . . to yourself or to others: Don’t worry about the masterpiece; that’ll come later, much later. For now, just get painting!<\/p>\n

Whatever happens, it’ll happen because of that.<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

Don’t forget to order It’s About Life<\/em><\/strong>, for you, or as a great gift. Just $14.95, or $29.90 for three. Shipping’s free. For further info click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the adage: “The hardest step of a thousand-mile trek is the first one.” It’s the same with everything. Don’t wait, just start. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7940"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8151,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions\/8151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}