Okay, so you’ve made some time. You’ve brewed a cup of tea. You’re in your space to create.
You’ve got something to make marks with, and something to make marks on.
You’re open-minded. You’re ready.
So all that’s left now is to begin.
Start making the marks.
Because once you make the marks, you’ll make mistakes, you’ll have wins —
and more will be revealed.
Keep making the marks.
Keep noticing what they do when placed together.
Sometimes, when I paint, the first mark I make feels completely wrong.
It does nothing for me. Moves me nowhere.
But sometimes, that’s exactly what forces the second mark into being good.
Because once the page isn’t empty anymore,
you’re not starting fresh —
you’re responding.
And that’s where things start to get interesting.
Once you’re responding — you’re creating.
Being creative is really just solving a puzzle.
Responding to the conundrum.
Your puzzle, in that moment, is:
where to put the next mark,
where to draw the next line,
which colour to choose.
It’s about lining up this beautiful, shifting tapestry of variables until things feel… just right.
But here’s the twist:
Something can look balanced and not feel balanced.
Something can feel balanced but not look it.
This is where you have to turn off all the outside noise —
the rules, the references, the endless scrolling —
and decide for yourself whether it’s working.
This is how you start to find your own tempo.
Your own essence.
This is where your own rules are born.
Try to judge the outcome by how it feels, not just how it looks.
If you’ve got a painting that doesn’t feel right —
find the part that does.
Maybe it’s where two colours meet.
Where two lines cross.
Where two lines don’t cross.
Maybe it’s the thickness of a brushstroke.
The neatness of a line.
The beautiful messiness of it.
Zoom in on that. Ask yourself why it works.
And carry that forward.
That little moment — that rule, that guideline, that boundary — that’s yours now.
It’s not “how to paint.”
It’s how you paint.
And when you paint like that —
you feel happy.
And when you feel happy about what you’re making, you’ll be less in your head and more in your heart.
In your gut.
This is where the brush becomes tainted with something no one else has.
Observe it as it happens.
Celebrate it.
And tuck it into your arsenal for tomorrow.
