
Just warming up
My personal trainer cautioned me to do at least 15 minutes of cardio to warm up my muscles before I lift weights. Without that warm-up, I dramatically increase the chance of getting hurt. I follow that advice, and it works. Conversely, even though years ago, I learned that the first thing I painted was always a little stiff and awkward, I didn't draw the parallel to exercise and start doing painting warm-ups. I'll admit it, I'm stubborn. So every day I've done those stiff

Practice Makes Perfect...Pears
At the Robert Burridge workshop I attended last week, Bob talked about HOW he works as much as HOW to paint. I've been quite stubbornly resisting being too focused, but he convinced me of the reason to practice multiple paintings of the same subject. Repetition builds muscle memory. After I got home from that workshop on Vancouver Island, I was still resisting. Then I had a dream about practicing scales and progressions on the piano. I woke up in the middle of the dream a