Meet the cat with attitude!

This isn’t the first time I’ve painted a cat, and it’s not the first time I’ve used tones to create dimension in the painting. It’s definitely the first time I’ve painted on black paper.

One of the main things I’m loving about my painting journey is expanding on what I know. Using tones is something we’ve done multiple times over the last few months (especially in the portrait sessions).

In each lesson we are adding something new in terms of approach, style, and different ways of using the brushes – even playing around with other items to apply paint including cardboard, sponges and aluminium foil.

And yes, you’ve guessed it, there is a life lesson here too (obviously) 😁

We live in our comfort zone.

Sometimes that serves this because it keeps us comfortable, it keeps us in familiar territory, it keeps us safe.

But to grow, we HAVE to expand our comfort zone. So yes, this means getting uncomfortable intentionally and trying different approaches to expand our toolbox of resources, approaches and experience to enable us to continue to lead a better life every day.

This is hard. There are days when I struggle to push myself. We all prefer to take the path of least resistance. It’s our default. This is why change is difficult, because we’re pushing against our default – the ‘easy option’.

Yet we’ve all pushed through struggles in our lives: Learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to read are some. In fact, if you look back through your life at any difficult time, or where you are learning something new, you will find that you resisted and then pushed through. It’s what makes us who we are today, and we are the better for it.

The beauty is that for most of us increasing our comfort zone is a gradual thing that we can do in steps over time.

“Life is not about growing old and dying. Life is about growing and trying.”
— Raven Moore

What one thing could you do today that you’ve been resisting doing?

Life is about growth. Embrace it.

With love xx

#acrylicpainting #lifejourney #continuousimprovement #stayfocused #accidentalartist