I seem to be settling into a regular painting routine again. I’m glad! I was a bit worried this might not happen. I painted something every week for over a year, but then I struggled with motivation over the winter. We had lots of visitors over the holidays and did some traveling, but I still had plenty of time to paint. I just didn’t feel like it.

I’m glad I’m feeling more motivated to paint again. Not sure what shifted, but I like the results. I painted three things last week – two birthday gifts and a little something for myself.

The first birthday gift was for my friend Adam. We’ve been friends for more than 30 years! I painted this Albuquerque landscape for him. It’s of a hot air balloon over the Rio Grande bosque. I’m pleased with the way the reflection on the water turned out.

I chose this subject for Adam’s birthday, because we have an odd “ships passing in the night” Albuquerque connection.

Adam and I have been friends for over 30 years. We met at college in Oklahoma. I stayed in Oklahoma for 10 years, longer than any of my college friends. Adam moved to Albuquerque for work during this time. Then he moved back to Oklahoma while we were still living there. When we got the opportunity to move to Albuquerque, Adam’s enthusiastic recommendation encouraged us to give this city a try. We’ve been here ever since, and we absolutely love it here. I don’t know if we would have ended up in Albuquerque without Adam’s input!

The second birthday painting I did was for my friend Lori. This is a little spring painting of some hyacinths. It’s starting to feel like spring here, so I thought it would be a nice gift for a March birthday.

I decided to work on my loose, improvisational painting technique after I wrote that blog post about painting with a plan last week. Lori’s hyacinth painting was an attempt to let the paint flow organically. I really like how it turned out.

I was feeling pretty confident after the hyacinths turned out well, so I did another little painting for myself.

I love it. I don’t think it’s an objectively “good” painting. It doesn’t make very much sense from a logical or realistic perspective. Why are there flowers coming out of a rock? I don’t know! And I don’t care! It just felt like the right choice. It was what I wanted to paint. I like the way it looks. I enjoyed painting it.

So now I’m thinking about motivation and art. Why do I paint? What motivates me to paint? I haven’t thought through everything yet, but here are some possible answers.

• I want to give someone a gift. This one is huge for me. I love painting things for other people, especially people I love.
• I want to learn something new. I still have so much to learn, and I really enjoy learning. Every painting gives me a chance to focus on a new skill or concept.
• I want to make something that I think is beautiful. This one is more abstract and personal.
• I want to make something that other people will think is good and receive praise. I’d like for this type of motivation to become less important to me, but I’m self-aware enough to know it’s a factor. 😏
• I want to make the idea (or image) in my mind a real thing. I think this type of motivation is more purely artistic than the others. I’ve always had this urge.
• I want to spend my time doing something valuable. I have a lot of free time now, and I want to use it well.

I’m sure I will think of other motivational factors for this painting thing that I’m doing, but maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m just glad I’m choosing to spend my time this way. It feels good. Maybe that’s enough.