If there's one thing that I'm really good at--no, make that great at--it's coming up with ideas. Great ideas. Awesome ideas. Cool ideas. The ideas never stop. They're like popcorn--constantly bouncing around in my brain spawning even more ideas. And they're not just little ideas either. They're usually huge, grand, make-people-roll-their-eyes kind of ideas.
So why is it that 99.9% of my great ideas never make it to fruition? It's because when that little spark of inspiration ignites, opportunity isn't there to fan to flame. For me, opportunity usually comes in the form of time. But sometimes it comes in not having the right materials or not having the right tools or the skills to use those tools. Or the time to get the materials, tools, and skills. You get the idea. So the idea goes on my list of future projects and keeps rattling around in my brain until something happens. Until inspiration meets opportunity.
The opportunity: An entire week off work. Thank you bad economy. Thank you budget cuts. Thank you employer for giving me days off when you cut my pay. What to do? What to do? Which of those hundreds of ideas should I focus on this week?
The inspiration: Glancing at the ad for fabric on the back cover of a magazine. Bam! That pattern is exactly what I've been imagining for a painting I've been wanting to do.
Quick! Run to the art store for canvas and paints. Hurry! Get started before the spark fades.
Get Moving! A week is only a week. And a 24 x 30 canvas is huge (especially when you've been making a lot of little postcards!). And the design is intricate (of course because my ideas usually are)
But the extreme pleasure of getting an idea out of my head and onto a canvas is PRICELESS. And it feels good, too!
4 comments:
Beautiful! Bummer about the pay cuts, the bad economy that keeps sucking, but at least you found a ray of sunshine in all that gloom and seized the opportunity. Sometimes I think I would be more than happy to have my hours cut...just as long as they're not cut all the way, of course. Time seems more meaningful than money.
wooo hoooo.....here's to all of those fabulous little colored dots of popcorn-in-your-head all over that canvas!!! SO glad that inspiration and opportunity had some time together this week.....i LOVE your painting!! :)))
Pat: You really need to sell these postcards. I'd buy them all to give to my daughter on random days--even though she's only 10. I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll do your marketing plan for you :)
Glad you made lemonade out of lemons :-) and I like the thought of ideas popping like popcorn. I'm in a popcorn phase too.
Have you ever thought of publishing a deck of inspiration cards?
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