Practicing Gratitude Daily

Practicing gratitude daily is something that I always think of in November. I’ll be honest, the change of seasons is hard for this Pisces beach loving summer girl, but I’ve found that if I try practicing gratitude daily during the winter, I’m better off. I’m going to start this November with the practice of writing down three things for which I’m grateful each morning. Today I’m practicing gratitude daily here as I re-share a past blog post that I think you’ll enjoy.  

3 Things I’m grateful for today:

1.    LARGE COMMISSIONS! I’ll be honest, commissions are hard and complicated for many reasons (future blog post to come), but they are also great as they can offer an artist a guaranteed sale, provide an opportunity to paint larger than they usually do, and a chance to work with awesome art collectors and interior designers.

2.    BIRCH TREES, as they are one the highlights of winters in New England, and often stand out during the darkest season reflecting the stunning colors and light from the sky! I don’t love winter, but I do look forward to catching glimpses of these magical trees and all their beauty they reflect.

3.    ART COLLECTORS, as they make it possible for artists like me to try to make some sort of income from our artwork, which is our true passion. I’m grateful for those who have purchased and believed in me enough to buy my art. 

"Swinger of Birches"

This large contemporary painting of birch trees was a large commission I did a few years ago.  Each panel is 36"x60". The art collector was someone who has bought my work in the past and had moved to a large house. She loved birch trees and had a very large wall in her foyer next to her staircase. I met with her in her home and we came up with a plan including the size of the panels. A large contemporary painting of birch trees would be a perfect addition to her new home! I was really excited as I have been wanting to paint birches for awhile. It's hard not to notice them when you live in New England, especially when they stand out in the winter against the gray backdrop of the other trees. When I was at the collector's home we were admiring her view of birches from her living room and it was late day and the light was pink glow. Spring was just around the corner so their were peeks of greens and as well as red budding trees.  I went back to my studio and immediately did some studies while the image was fresh in my head (I hate relying just on a photo as it can lose so much information).

Study for birch tree painting

This large contemporary painting of birch trees went through several edits over the course of the fall including after I took it to the client's home for a midway check of colors in the unique light of her home.

If you want to see some cool time lapse videos I did at the beginning of this painting. Check out my Instagram page here for the videos #whitsartflix that I have been doing of paintings in progress.  

This is me trying to set up my camera for my time lapse video...

-->