Is there something you feel like you were born to do…but just aren’t?  Something that exists so deep within you that is just simply is you but for some reason you are holding yourself back from letting it really bloom?

I think I was born to be a painter.

But this.  This was out of the question for most of my life.  I had a million expectations and responsibilities on me and none of them factored in being frivolous.  But none the less.  I think I was born to paint.

When I was choosing to step out of my life as a nurse and into the world of photography I chose photography because my paintings took far too long to do and I knew that Sam and I would most likely starve and besides I didn’t have a fancy art degree.  But photography felt more immediate and I figured I could earn a crust doing it…and I loved it…but I loved painting more.

I loved doing portraits and feeling like I was getting to know someone deep down into their pores…into their soul.  Everyone I have ever painted has stuck to me somehow at a soul level.  It is a considered time dense meditation.  I love it.

Today I picked up my brushes again.  It has been probably about 15 years since I painted a portrait.

Earlier in the year I decided to take a course called the Red Madonna.  Which is an intentional creativity course and it was a way of painting that had a spiritual base.   I had done zilch on the course and I was feeling a huge guilt monster about it.    I hadn’t set up a place to paint in I had nothing prepared so I decided that in honour of the base chakra I was going to clear the clutter in the spare bedroom and create a sacred creativity space.   I ordered a properly ginormous canvas and today was the first day of painting.   This way of painting incorporates your roots into the image. Your past and your life symbolicly.  It is a free style way of painting that I have never done before and I have to say it was incredibly liberating.   I am used to making things look photorealistic.  This was just fluid wonderfulness steeped in meaning.

This is the underpainting.  Everything will be painted over this but it will be the spiritual intentional bones of the ultimate image.  I can’t wait to see what it will  become.

So what about you?  Do you have a secret love or skill that you have let life get between you and that love? What would you enjoy to do creatively that you have been letting excuse after excuse hold you back?  How good would it feel to look at something you have completed?  I am going to be your personal cheering section…just imagine like a tiny version of me on your shoulder whispering…”Just do it…It will be good for your soul”  Take the first baby step there today.  What can you do to clear the path to your own creativity?  Go on.  I dare ya to play.

Here is my challenge to you.  Do something even just one step towards your creative dreams and tag me in so I can congratulate you.  If you are on instagram or twitter I am @mandilynnvs.  I would love to see what you get up to.

Mwwwaaahhhh until tomorrow.