Tranquil Beginnings

20 minutes of play—and a quiet shift toward feeling

Today was the 3 hour Welcome class for the Creative Visionary Program I’ve signed up for. It’s a 14-week course that will immerse me in figuring out what is important in my art process. I have a feeling it’s going to center a lot around… feelings—specifically my own.

One of the journal questions today was: What is your perfect day?
After listing everything out, the follow-up was: What is one word that sums up how that day made you feel?

My word was tranquil.

That’s how I want to feel in my perfect day.

Today’s 20 minutes of art play was centered around that feeling. The artwork itself isn’t anything remarkable, but I felt tranquil while I was making it—and that feeling lingered afterward, too.

I want to explore how to really tap into that. I’m planning to do some brainstorming around what brings me that sense of tranquility—activities, subjects, smells, environments, situations, and color.

I think I’ll start with tranquil color palettes and see where that leads.

I also have a sense that this coursework will inform the series of paintings I’ve been planning, inspired by my recent Southwest travel. But for now, I’m going to give myself a couple of weeks to work freely—without trying to connect it to that project at all.

Initially, I thought I’d jump straight into quick studies to support the series. But right now, it feels more important to follow the thread of play and exploration, without a specific outcome in mind. That feels more joyful.

So that’s the plan—for now.
We’ll see what comes out of it.