Motivation and finding the time

(Original reply dated 29th May 2012) - Today, I managed to get started on a new pastel painting. (Apart from finishing-off another one that I started last year sometime, this is my first art of 2012!!)

Having just about run out of excuses, to put-off starting something new; I attached a blank sheet of paper to my board. I then sat there and just stared at it, refusing to leave my studio until a scene came into my mind and pastel had been applied to paper.

In the absence of a scene that I could visualize and wanted to paint, I was fully planning to just start applying sweeping lines and colours to the paper and give abstract art a try! Happily, though, a fairly simple scene did occur to me and I am glad to say that I subsequently spent a couple of quite satisfying hours actually painting again!

Here's the result of my little burst of enthusiasm:

This my ideal view from an imaginary kitchen window in my ideal imaginary country cottage:

This was the first ever painting that I created entirely from my own imagination, without any form of reference to photographs, actual scenes or other artworks.

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. All comments and criticism, good or bad, will be very gratefully accepted. (There is no such thing as bad criticism in my book!)

The window frame looks like it was made out of matchsticks!!