"San Miguel Still Life", 10" x 12", Oil

I've been doing the daily painting blog now for three months, and this is what I've learned so far:

1.  Getting up every morning with the idea that at the end of the day I will post a painting on my blog is highly motivating.  It encourages discipline and persistence.  It gets me started every day, which is sometimes the hardest part.  It is sort of like being in a workshop or class.  It gives a sense of structure to my day and the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.

2.  I recognize myself as an abstainer as opposed to a  moderator, as described by Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project.  I cannot eat just one cookie.  It is easier to post every day on my daily painting blog than to write an article on this blog once a month.  Writing approximately monthly is a task that is always proceeded by doubt and procrastination.  Doing it every day, a strategy of an abstainer, is not hard at all--just an image and a few sentences about the day's work. 

3.  I didn't sufficiently account for the ups and downs and highs and lows of a commitment to post a painting every day, and on some days, my creative side revolts.  Its means are terrifying--fatigue, aversion, doubt, boredom, day dreaming.  It demands a fallow time--or at least time to ask myself what do I want to do rather than what do I think I have to do.  But I learned a secret--some daily painters paint ahead and have a reserve cache of paintings to post.

4.  I need to moderate my behavior--to disengage from my projections.  That is the problem with going public--I become answerable to my own expectations that may or may not have anything to do with the creative impulse. So I am letting go of the idea that I have to post a painting every single day.  I need a kind of a reverse psychology.  If I give myself permission to slack off every now and then and do something else, the part that actually wants to do it will have an easier time--and maybe I will give myself the space to remember why I am doing it in the first place. 

5.  The daily blog has sort of become my new best friend.  Its like a friend I can count on to be there every day, encouraging me to keep going.  If sometimes I can't quite remember why I joined up with this friend, I accept that the journey is more than just an exercise in self discipline. Its about trying to become a better painter.

So stayed tuned--if I learn any other crazy stuff I'll let you know.  And if you'd like to get my latest painting post every day, you can sign up for email notifications at http://www.kathryntownsend.blogspot.com.