How many times do you write a social media post and then delete it to start over? Or even worse: how many times do you finish a post and never post it? I do it all. the. time.

I can’t pinpoint the exact reason I am so hesitant to write and post, and I am sure that reason is probably an entire new can of worms that I am not ready to open.. but I waiver around not posting becasue everything I write seems so cliche. I can very easily convince myself that I am not a writer. Done. Boom. No post.

I’ve read what I am thinking elsewhere a gazillion times before. I always tell myself that I never want to be the person who spends the energy and sounds like XYZ.. I force myself to “show up” (ugh) and post because not matter what I write, there is totally someone out there somewhere who will resonate with my thoughts.

I don’t want to be happy with showing up, my drive is that I need to feel happy making something great when I do it. It’s hard. It’s unknown and I need to face it, it’s not as easy as it sounds.. I’m a lunatic. The same reasons that I stop myself from writing content are the same reasons that I stop myself from painting!

So I finally did something about it. I got off my high horse and called my mentor…and we worked, talked and painting over zoom for a couple of days. That is how this new painting showed up:

“Paloma”, new abstract painting from Julie Prichard. Tap the image to purchase. (Available to ship Jan 2, 2023)

The deep aubergine, faded denim blue and rusty orange colors are newish to my artwork, but the colors that I used to mix them are not. I am pulled towards these colors because at this time of year, I am pulled back into the high-jewelry business. I am inspecting, placing and showing very richly colored gemstones to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season (in my mind, much like the gemstones that Paloma Picasso works with. A colleague and I used to revel that these stones were indeed a gift from the earth. For a gemologist, those were the best of times.)

It is much much much easier for me to explain to my students how to develop paintings like this than to write about them. In fact, if you look closely, you will see that the techniques I used in this painting are the same techniques that I used in the class samples for my “Expanding on Color” online workshop. With videos that are so packed with information, there is no way you can completely understand them in one play back; I encourage everyone to watch and paint with the videos for a handful of paintings…and post and ask me when you need help with your work. Doesn’t matter how long it takes. I am around to help.

So there you have it.. just in case you have been feeling the same way either in painting or writing, or whatever creative pursuit you enjoy.. with all of the years I have been painting and blogging under my belt, there is always that voice in the back of my head telling me NOT to do something.. I am working on changing that. I am a work in progress, still, after all this time.

Example of my painting in a contemporary living space. (Frame not included.)

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Experimenting, pushing, growing..