Yesterday I was visiting several blogs, checking around on Flickr (which I am finally trying to be embrace into my life), and I came upon a photo of a painting that really caught my eye, from Toni at Simple Sparrow. I thought, oh, that is so pretty... how I'd love to paint like that... could i paint like that?... I have no idea if I could paint like that. I was an art student in school but always avoided the painting classes, thinking I wouldn't be good enough. Without being too fancy or think too hard about it, I decided to just try and paint what I saw, to just see if I could come close to creating anything as pretty as Toni's piece. The beginning went surprisingly well, I was pleased with the little cluster of pink flowers and have no idea how I made the leaves actually look like leaves... I was even thinking, "I just might hang this in my home." As I continued to work, the painting quickly got away from me. I wondered if this happens to *real* painters and if they are able to save their work. We were running out of white paint and it seemed like every time I went to dip my brush in the palette, I needed white. Well, the orange flowers (which on the original painting are clearly roses) look like nothing more than gloppy circles. But those leaves were still fun! I forged ahead, trying to fix or save my little orange roses until the white ran out. At this point I could only step back and look at my work, as complete as it was going to be. It's not great, many of the flowers appear to be floating around in space and should have been painted in much tighter clusters, but it was incredibly fun and I can see an interest developing here... with lots and lots of practice. I really enjoyed the process, painting beside Emily, listening to The Splendid Table podcasts (safe to listen to with children!), and painting away, inside, on an unusually cool August afternoon. I'm going to stock up heavily on white and get back to work, next time taking a cue from the young one though... Find inspiration all around you and let it motivate you to try new things, but have the confidence to make it your very own.