Ran into a similar problem today that i did with the Birds, which was… not knowing what to draw today. Before I resigned to painting random colors on the paper and seeing what comes out of it, I had another thought:
Write a quote or poem and draw what it makes you think of around it!
One of my biggest inspirations is G.K. Chesterton, so I googled quotes from him. The first one that came up was:
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It's been found difficult and left untried."
So, I wrote it down. The second I wrote it down, I remembered a scene from the movie, Pan’s Labyrinth. The young protagonist, at the request of her mother, tells her unborn baby brother a story.
If Youtube has removed the video since I wrote this post, here’s a brief synopsis of the story: There is a rose at the top of a mountain and whoever picks it will be given eternal life, but it’s guarded by poisonous thorns, so no one dared go to the flower even though it offered eternal life.
The Drawing
Even though it was a small drawing, I still set a timer for myself for 30 minutes and just got to drawing. There were several times where I thought I was “done” but decided to keep going since there was still time.
I’m glad I did. Normally I will draw until it feels done in which case, I’m scared if I keep going, it will get ruined. But since I kept going, I had the idea to add more tiny thorns as really neat little details, the isolated bit of watercolor on the flower, and even putting black watercolor in the shadowed areas.
My Thoughts
It made me think about the good things to strive for, not just Heaven, or being the ideal Christian, but anything good in general. Chances are if you have a goal you’re trying to reach or a dream, more likely than not, in order to achieve it, there is no easy or risk-free way of getting there.
Heck, even the Christian ideal comes with a lot of sacrifice and risks. If you volunteer in war-torn areas, visiting people in prison, and helping provide services to the homeless, you’re not going to be in a safe place.
The alternative is staying still. Living a life dictated by others, going to work at a so-so job, breeding, dying, and never willing to put in the work the achieve their dreams.
There are so many understandable excuses:
“What if I try and fail?”
“What if I succeed and it’s not what I expected?”
These are things I’m struggling with myself right now. The fear and lack of motivation to make changes or sacrifices to get what I want in life.
Heck, today I felt like a failure because I overslept on my day off! My husband, because he’s the best, reminded me that I got up at 7:30. Which is still early and a lot earlier than most people get up on their day off.
In Conclusion
- When you don’t know what draw, start by writing a quote.
- Success is difficult and scary and daunting, but hopefully worth making some sacrifices.
Ash Meyer Art 
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