Bex Hall

Exploring Creativity

Bex Hall > overcoming fear

overcoming fear

It’s a nice place to visit

but I wouldn’t want to live there

I am in this space I call the Inn Between. It’s a place where I don’t know what I want to express while I look at a blank page or canvas.

There’s a policy at the Inn and it requires a guest must practice and try new things before check-out. 

So I watched another artist reel as she added color to drops of water, then brushed them into flowers and it inspired me to try. Can’t say I’m pleased with my results, but it was good practice. 

I rekindled the love-hate relationship with the petal brush, pushed too hard with the liner, and then added some inky scribbles for definition and still saw no improvement.

I returned to the reels and admired all the perfect and polished floral paintings and compared mine to theirs, and I felt inadequate.

Fortunately, the phone rang and interrupted my downward spiral. It was Julia, the manager at the front desk. I listened carefully as she spoke.

“Comparison is the thief of joy. In order to do something well, we must first be willing to do it badly. The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist. All of it begins at the beginning, with the first small and scary step.”

I rested the handset back in its cradle and packed my supplies. I paid my bill with a Reality Check, the only currency the Inn Between accepts, and went on my way.

Eliminate fear of the blank page

Try this one simple thing

Nest egg
”The Secret Life of Birds”

The prompt is ‘nest egg’ for the 28 Feathered Friends Art Project. I immediately pictured a fluffy bird sitting on an egg in a nest. But where was the fun in that setting?

Imagination took over and I ended up with what you see above.

But before I arrived at this end result, I tried this one thing.

I’m sketching rough ideas out first. On scrap notebook paper. I know a lot of people have been doing this for centuries, but I’m not a lot of people.

Rough sketch for nest egg

Throwaway paper takes the pressure off facing the blank page. Making that first mark. It takes away the fear of ‘ruining’ a nice clean sheet in the art journal. You know the one — the journal meant for great works of art created by your hand. Perfect in every way.

So yeah, sketching a concept out first on paper that doesn’t really matter has helped me tremendously and it frees me up to expand on what might be fun. To explore.

In this case, to have her standing, holding up her feathers so we can better see her nest egg.

I don’t know how the gold bars actually got UP there in the nest, but that’s the beauty of imagination. I’ll leave that up to you.

Go grab an old notebook and your favorite pencil and sketch something, anything. Let your imagination come out and play. No pressure. Have fun.

Until tomorrow, may your scrap pages be filled and your pencil need sharpening. Now go.

Like a phoenix I have risen, somewhere along the road

I’ve been experimenting with choosing a symbol or graphic to think of whenever I need to check myself. In this case, when I feel overwhelmed, a little lost, and like I don’t have any control, I think of this phoenix.

It’s a visual reminder I can rise above those feelings and live my own dreams, whatever they may be at the time.

So I copied the cover art from this old album that has held a special place in my heart for 42 years now. I added some doodles and a sunflower to make it personal.

Like a phoenix I have risen from the flames

The 100 Day Project asks what defines success for myself doing this creative challenge. For me, it’s showing up every day behind the pen, the brush, or the lens. Doing and being then showing my work, mistakes and all.

From another song on this album, another message:

Joy at the start, fear in the journey, joy in the coming home. A part of the heart gets lost in the learning, somewhere along the road.

Creatively yours

Cheez-It®️Scrabble Junior™️ Crackers
Cheez-It®️Scrabble Junior™️ Crackers

Some years ago, while at the gym, I heard loud music from behind a large curtain at the back of the building. Curious, I pulled the curtain back a few inches and peeked around to discover a dance class in progress.

The instructor motioned me to join. I threw caution to the wind and stepped in. I did not know what I was doing, but over time I figured it out and had a grand time.

Here I am again, peeking around the curtain. No instructor this time. And like the dance class, I’m unsure about what to do with this website, but I have faith I will figure it out.

What I know for certain is my creative projects have been looking for a place to live. To be shared.

Art—all kinds of art: watercolor, pen and ink, and group projects like The 100 Day Project, ICAD (Index Card A Day), Squareathon, Inktober, The Kindness Rocks Project.

I’ve started a phenology wheel and a nature journal I’ll be adding to all year. Also going to alter a vintage Rolodex (remember those?) with drawings on each card. I’m painting canoe paddles too.

Writing—I’m working on a memoir and the craft itself. There will be talk about books and music. Gardening will be in the mix. Creative gardening, that is. <smile> I’m midway through The Artist’s Way 12-week course and I’ll write about that as well.

The plan is to document what I’m learning and doing and include you in the process. We’ll get creative together. Make connections. Inspire. And we’ll discover what it is we want to say and what we want to do. We will BE.

And so it begins. Welcome.