Today, I went to my third oil painting class.
I’ve been wanting to take art — painting class in specific for years, but, like everything else I want to do, I haven’t found the time to begin.
So, as part of my birthday present to myself, I gifted myself painting classes. My first class was missed because I needed to be in Seattle for my mom. When I came back to NJ, and went to the second class (which was my first), at the end of the class, the instructor announced that she had a family emergency she needed to tend to, and would be out for the following two weeks.
Day 1
Day 2
After a two-week break, I returned to my second class this past Thursday…
Day 3
And since I had missed the first class, I did a make-up class today and this is my current progress…
I am near completion — I will be working on details in the next class and then hopefully at the end of the 2-hour session, I will have finished my first oil painting! (cue major excitement!!)
Painting has brought me so much joy and inner peace. During the 2-hour session each week, I am focused, relaxed, and learning. I don’t think about a single other thing in my life. For someone who’s mind is a 24/7 news channel, it is remarkable how calm, collected and thoughtless (literally) I am while I paint.
I don’t think about what I have to do later, my brain is not making a mental to-do list, like it usually does. I am not strategizing or contemplating. I am IN THE MOMENT.
Ever since I stopped teaching dance in 2022, after 22+ years of teaching), my ability to be creative in the arts took a backseat. No regrets. I had been dancing since the age of 3, and teaching for over two decades, I was ready to close that chapter. But, I did and still do miss the choreography aspect of dancing. I miss coming up with movements, transitions, formations (my favorite part), and the many changes that ensued before I considered a dance complete and ready for performance.
And I knew, that sooner than later, I would need to find myself embarking on a new hobby to transfer my creative juices. I also knew it would be painting, because like I said earlier, it’s been on my mind for years.
And now that I am truly enjoying it as much as I knew I would, I am so happy with how it makes me feel!
So here’s to anything you’ve been wanting to do for YEARS — GO DO IT!
What I Think I Say 