365 Art ~ Catching UP!

I hope everyone is having a good new year. I have an optimistic outlook to how 2014 is going to turn out, but boy...the first week has been such a struggle! I was sick the first few days with abdominal pain (most likely a candida overgrowth), and I was too ill to even begin my 365 Art Project. Being doubled over in pain I certainly wasn't thinking "Happy Thoughts"! 

Indiana saw the Frozen Vortex, which meant close to 13 inches of snow, business and school closings, and wind chills 20 to 40 below zero! My husband was home Monday and Tuesday, which I love, but I couldn't really focus on my art. I have to have huge amounts of QUIET to think. :-)  My creativity has consisted of doodling and organizing my Pinterest boards (a neverending job). I baked some gluten-free cookies for my hubby (and a couple for me) and drank some herbal tea,  and caught up on some TV shows on Netflix, like that brilliant fairy-tale mashup, Once Upon a Time.  I'm also revisiting a favorite novel I read as a young teen called Beauty: a retelling of the story Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley.

Alice in Wonderland Vintage Get-Well Card via Pinterest

One thing I decided today is that I'm changing the rules on my 365 Art Project. Originally, I thought I would do one quote a day from the Beautiful Thoughts about Happiness book, as I shared here. 

But as I looked more in-depth at the quotes and realistically considered my own patterns, I knew this wasn't the right approach. While some of the quotes are inspiring and full of good old-fashioned wisdom, not all of the quotes {{{resonate}}} with me. This is an important part of keeping up enthusiasm for such a long creative endeavor. So...I decided that my 365 Art Project would be more free-flow and spontaneous, which is more in keeping with my playful artistic nature. 

I returned to an art journal I started a couple months ago, which already had quite a few pages dedicated to happiness. This was a jumping off point into the realm of Happy Thoughts...for what is more enjoyable than playing with paint with abandon? 

My goal is to create daily, but I know even this isn't always possible. Things happen (like my sickness). But no matter what, I will share 365 Happy Thoughts with you! It may be a quote on happiness, or it might be a happy discovery I make throughout the day. I may share favorite things that make me happy, or lines from movies or songs that inspire a joyful outlook on life. I believe this is more fitting to the project than trying to strictly follow a rigid pattern, because happiness is never forced. It comes when we're least expecting, in a beautiful moment of serendipity! We just have to have eyes to see. :-)

Stay tuned for my first offerings. I hope to post weekly, but will share more often if time allows. 

Blessings,
Sandra