Which feels better:  “I have to do it” or “I choose to do it?”  Because I don’t have to do this 30 day challenge.  I don’t have to do most things in life.  I don’t have to eat healthy or pay my bills or be nice to people or clean the house or practice meditation.

Most of the time, I choose to do these things, or at least some of them. I’m choosing to do this 30 day challenge because I want to prioritize creativity in my day.  I’m choosing to keep at it because I want to see what happens.

If I think to myself, “Ugh.  I have to go draw right now because I said I would” it feels like a chore.  Like an imposition from some external place.  Like following a diet or an organization plan.  Like it’s not my choice.

But if I think to myself, “Yay!  I’m taking care of myself by prioritizing my creativity and playing with colors and paper and seeing what happens!  I can’t wait!” – now that feels much better.

I can believe either thought.  They both go with the circumstance of taking on a 30 day challenge.  I’m picking the second one.  And check out what I can do when I give myself 30 minutes of play with paper!

I was inspired by this artist’s work that I cut out and put in a notebook years ago.  I think I’m going to do something similar with my picture of two cardinals that I copied out of Peterson’s bird book.  Lately I’m into copying (not tracing – just copying to get the main gist) from something already two-dimensional.  That’s what feels fun.

Now I’m excited about playing with this drawing some more tomorrow and making it all whimsical and dreamlike!

And here’s a view from my grass time spot.  These little Mexican petunias look a little like crinkly tissue paper after all the rain.