Inspiration Fridays! Is It Ripe Yet?

Is It Ripe Yet?

This morning I was out in the garden, elbow-deep in the dirt, trying to coax life out of last year’s chaos. The compost bin was steaming, full of onion skins, coffee grounds, and the carcasses of forgotten lunches. And all I could think was: this is painting.

Creativity’s not precious. It’s feral. It’s compost. The more you toss in, your bad paintings, disjointed thoughts, agitated late-night color schemes… the richer and more fertile it gets.

“People say: idle curiosity. The one thing that curiosity cannot be is idle.” – Leo Rosten

Creativity isn’t tidy. It rarely emerges as perfect rows of tulips or predictably neat sketches. It’s scraps. It’s failure. It’s forgotten starts breaking down, emerging as something richer. Even when the bin is empty, the garden is alive.

8Paint Inspiration Friday Is It Ripe Yet

I painted this portrait over a quick drawing of her best friend. I think they merged.⁠ Rockstar | 10″x12″ | Mixed media on panel⁠

So yeah, some of my best paintings started as compost. If it stinks, there’s something there, and it’s working.

Others just needed time, air, and space to breathe. Sometimes the pieces we abandon are the very ones that find their shape when we stop hovering. Let the mess live for a bit. Feed the worm-bin of your imagination. It likes teabags and egg shells.

What are you letting rot into richness?

What scrapped idea might feed your next piece?

Is It Ripe Yet?

 

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Inspiration Fridays! What’s fueling your curiosity?

What’s fueling your curiosity?

I still wave at my neighbors. The guy at the gas station knows the rattle of my old Falcon and my futile soft spot for lottery tickets. But only when the numbers add up to eight.

“People say: idle curiosity. The one thing that curiosity cannot be is idle.” – Leo Rosten

In Oregon it used to be illegal to pump your own gas and I liked it that way. It wasn’t because I’m too lazy to get out of the car, I loved the ritual. Eye contact, a few words, maybe a laugh. Maybe not. Maybe it’s late, and it’s their second shift. The last trappings of the “Service“ station and the opportunity to meet someone new even if just for a moment.

I’m curious. Not in a nosy way, I just love the possibility that shows up when we’re open.
In art, openness is everything. Curiosity rewires our experience. It keeps the work alive, and more importantly, it keeps us alive.

8paint Inspiration Friday Whats fueling your curiosity

A portrait demo I did last Friday for the 2025 Learning to See artists.

What lives beyond the first impression? How can we describe that?

We’re better when we’re curious, we become more empathetic, more adaptable. Curiosity transforms failure into momentum. It’s the engine behind resilience, and as artists, resilience is our gasoline.

If you’re bored, it shows. You can spot it in a painting right away. All the technique in the world won’t save a piece that was phoned in. But curiosity? That shows, too. It comes with a breathy accent, and a promise too good to pass up.

We’ve all dragged our tires against the curb. Fatigue, burnout, doubt. So how do we get back on the I-5? Start with a question. The answers come later. Begin.

Look at your painting like you’ve never seen it before. What grabbed you first? Why did that happen? What’s one thing you like about the thing you don’t like? This is an invitation to grow. It makes even the most mundane painting feel alive. Because you’re engaged.

The next time you’re stuck, don’t stop. Pause. Look closer. What did you get stuck on? Maybe you’ve arrived at something beautiful. Without curiosity you might have missed it.

Is That a Spark or a Clue?

Where’s Your Attention Wandering?

What’s Fueling Your Curiosity?

 

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Inspiration Fridays! Yesterday I turned 50

Yesterday I turned 50

Yesterday I turned 50.

I don’t feel old exactly, I feel initiated. I’ve crossed an invisible threshold staffed with my elders and ancestors. They’ve been expecting me. There’s a Barka Lounger with my name on it, a half-cup of Earl Gray next to a landline with a pile of Post-it notes, waiting to be doodled on.

“It takes a long time to become young.” – Pablo Picasso

It was easy for me to think 50 was the finish line. The age you slow down, settle in, start repeating stories (I already repeat stories). But what’s real for me right now is this: I’ve never felt more curious, more vulnerable, more irreverent… irrelevant?  No. No, irreverent.

Like a freshman in the school of the seasoned, bumbling around with paint-stained hands and too many brushes, I’m ready to ask some real questions.

Inspiration Friday I turned 50 today

I finished this painting in about 45 minutes, but it’s taking me all of my life to be brave enough to do something like that.

Maybe that’s the magic of midlife: you stop auditioning and start creating. Not to impress. Not to prove. But to be. The way a tree keeps growing rings, even after its branches have weathered a thousand storms. The way paint clings differently to canvas when my hand is sure, not of perfection, but of presence.

Art at this stage feels less like ambition and more like devotion. I don’t need it to change the world. I need it to change me. I want to learn to be comfortable in the unknown. I can be awkward without apology, and bold and soft at the same time.

So here’s to being a freshman again. To taking risks with who I am as an artist. To learning to see, again and again. To the decades ahead, where mastery isn’t about control, but surrender.

And if you’re standing at your own threshold, wondering if it’s too late, I can promise you this:

It isn’t. It’s never too late to start again as yourself.

What are you ready to begin, no matter your age?

Where are you surprising yourself?

Is it time to break your own rules?

 

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