Morning Paintings #261-270

They say it takes 30 days to create a habit, but from my perspective that is a very optimistic view. It took me a very long time to feel about my morning paintings the way I do about my writing: a thing that is so much a part of your daily routine that you can skip it for a day without being afraid you will drop the habit. That's what a real habit is to me, not so much a discipline, but a thing that is ingrained in your system.

I think it took me at least six months (if not more) before I got the feeling that my routine of painting every morning before breakfast had really become a part of me. Now that it has that is quite a wonderful realization. And yes, I have skipped it. I skipped it consciously during my vacations, because those are for stepping out of your routine (well, in my opinion anyway), I skipped it when I had the flu and I even skipped it just two weeks ago when I wanted to pack extra light or a work trip where I had to spend the night in a hotel. The thing about a real habit is that after that skip you pick it up again without any trouble. Because you will miss it if you don't.

I'm glad I have reached that point with my morning paintings and I feel quite proud I have been able to get this far this past year. I never expected to be capable of this, so it makes me happy that I am.

Here are paintings no. 261 to 270:

#261 - A Good Day

#262 - Alien Candy

#263 - The Owl Queen

#264 - Flowers and Washi

#265 - A Full Head

#266 - Mandala

#267 - Bubbles

#268 - Flowers and Dots

#269 - Mandala

#270 - Rainbow Blocks

#261 and #262 were done at my sister's house in watercolour when I was staying there because of our annual visit to Kreadoe. The rest is in gouache as always and done at my studio table.
#263 is done after the owl bag that I bought at Kreadoe. You can read all about Kreadoe 2015 here and see the bag that I used as a base for the owl image.

I hope you enjoyed this new batch of paintings and that you are doing something wonderful and artsy today!