I spent the weekend doing a 3 day Artist-In-Residence at Kah Nee Tah Gallery in Lutsen, MN. I was scheduled to do a painting demonstration for the first couple of hours each day.

The first day, I set up my easel and started painting the trees just to the east of the gallery. I wasn’t happy with what I was producing. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should paint something awesome. Something that people would go crazy over. That is always a bad way for me to think. I was frustrated, and eventually took a big paintbrush and blocked out all the detail I had put in.

The second day, I felt like I was floundering, and so I started painting flounders in the tree branches.

The third day, I took black paint and covered everything, then ended up painting bluefin herring instead. No trees.

It’s ok to flounder. Paintings happen pretty effortlessly when the time is right. When my mind and my hand work in unison. Sometimes I try too hard. Effort isn’t always productive. Play is.

What if I could forget everything my teachers (school teachers, Sunday School teachers) taught me, and trust my inner child?