Day 80: Cloudy Morning in the Park
Today is my last day in Florence, tomorrow I’ll be flying back to Florida. This gave me a lot to think about as I was riding around on my bike this morning searching for my spot to paint. I was thinking that I somehow needed to paint something particularly Florentine, but then I thought that anything painted in Florence couldn’t help but be Florentine. This empty park bench wasn’t what I expected to find, but it did express my mood of nostalgia and sadness for my departure which is why I stopped to paint it.
While packing the other day I found a box full of old paintings, it was a real treat! They were pretty terrible and it made me stop and wonder about what it is that had me keep painting if they weren’t really very good. Why did I keep going and not stop seeing that I wasn’t a genius producing masterpieces from the get go? I’m so glad to have found these because even though I have a long way to go I can see how much I’ve improved just by keeping at it.
I often think about the so-called 10,000 hour priciple that says one has not mastered something until they have practiced it for that amount of time. How many hours have I put in so far and when is that 10,000 hour mark coming? And what will I do once I reach it?! I’m not actually worried about this, about arriving to a certain level of accomplishment, but it is exciting to think about. Rather than giving up since I wasn’t born a painting genius, I can become a master of my craft if I just keep working, thinking, studying and being open to learning. Now there’s a reason to keep going. Besides, there are so many things to paint, paintings just waiting to be made, who could stop now?!
To buy today’s painting, click here. To view all other paintings from the project, click here. All paintings are 6×8″, painted on birch, unframed and cost $100 (+ $15 shipping). You can buy a painting directly from my website using paypal or by contacting me at kellyaksey@yahoo.com.
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