A paint-smudging, firework-hoarding, yankee-cheering, grill-ready kind of Friday.

Friday!

Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” ~John O’Donohue

It's going to be a beautiful and sunny weekend - perfect for some grilling!!!

And to get your inspiration started - you can read my 11th (woo!) newsletter - "Inspire, Discover Create"

You can read it all right HERE!

And if ya like it - go to amyoes.com and sign up for next week's!  

(I promise you can always unsubscribe!)

In the studio...

“The only journey is the one within.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

I'm still on my "backgrounds" spree - so I've started a bunch of canvases to let dry and jazz up next week.  Like I wrote about yesterday, I just love the zen-like process of painting abstractly with no particular end-destination in mind.

 All I was really thinking about were which paints were about to dry up - I just used up those paints so I could get rid of them already.  Otherwise - no real strategy behind my color choices L(

 My favorite part is always smearing the paints around with my fingers - or paper towel if I'm hungry and want to eat while I paint - bad habit, I know.

 Then I literally just bang the canvas on the table at a bunch of different angles.  I think it scares my dog.

 I splatter some water onto it, and bang it around some more.  I love watching the colors drip together and having no idea how everything will turn out.

And when it finally dries, I'll figure out what I want to put on the background.

Of course - my Brandon told me he thinks the piece is finished as is...

I think it needs more "stuff" on it!

But there are actually several pieces I've painted as pure "backgrounds" that end up feeling finished.  I don't know though...a lot of pieces I've walked away from thinking I'll finish it later, or much much later.  And then one day I'll come back and I'll see it feels done.

Here's my question - What feels like finished art to you?

How do you know when to walk away?

I know everyone has a different creative flow.  Some people like to just keep working until they finish.  Some people like to gently nudge at their work day after day.  

I'm an impatient beast, so of course, I always try to plow away at it while the paint is still wet.

But they say patience is a virtue...

This is the day I came home from the hospital after almost a year and the first 13 batches of surgeries - my three brothers all surprised me by the door and serenaded me with their guitars :)

This is an incredible article about what the "creative process" means to a bunch of different people.

10 (More) Amazing Videos About the Creative Process by the Behance team.

There's a great Ray Bradbury video in there, and he says a very powerful quote:

"The real fear isn’t rejection, but that you won’t have enough time in your life to write all of the stories that are in you."

This resonates with me immensely.  I feel this frantic energy sometimes when I create - that if I don't document my life through this art, there will be no way to mark myself, to "get out" all there is in me.

So I went and finished another background - with some trees involved, of course :)

 And...there are my trees!

Before I go...

So I hope your weekend is filled with meat-grilling, fireworks and huge cannonballs into the pool.

Thank you Costco for mass quantities of fireworks...

But if you don't want to hoard a huge ton of fireworks, this is such a great idea!  Thanks to Reading Confetti for this one:

10 ways to make fireworks with kids... but I'd  like to be a kid for some of these!

Salt Fireworks?  AWESOME!  (Potential art idea...)

Hope Monday is filled with fireworks in the sky

 and in your heart...

Make sure you have the best recipes ever - you can check out this Serious Eats guide for the ultimate collection...

Anything's better on the grill!

To restore your faith in humanity - these are some wonderful-feel-good stories...

And now - I'm off to a Yankee game!

“Colored lights blink on and off, racing across the green boughs. Their reflections dance across exquisite glass globes and splinter into shards against tinsel thread and garlands of metallic filaments that disappear underneath the other ornaments and finery.

Shadows follow, joyful, laughing sprites.

The tree is rich with potential wonder.

All it needs is a glance from you to come alive.” 
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration