Written by There’s no doubt that oysters are odd little things and not particularly pretty, but on rare occasions, one might just find a glistening pearl inside one of them. I landed here for today’s prompt of “beach,” mostly because I’ve probably already painted too many conch shells. And while pearls are indeed mysterious and pretty, they’re actually caused when an irritating object makes its way it an unsuspecting mollusk. A bit weird, since we don’t hold human kidney stones to such high regard, but perhaps that’s because they’re not so perfectly round and sparkling. In any case, a pearl is a rather wonderful thing. It occurs not despite a problem, but precisely because of a problem. Proof, that in even the most trying of circumstances, the most beautiful and amazing things can happen. I’m a firm believer that challenges, while certainly irritating, only exist to make our lives better and more fulfilling. To lead us to a sparkling conclusion that probably would have never happened otherwise. That’s a pretty awesome thing!
And things have been a bit trying and challenging on this site, for example. I’ve been making a million little tweaks and changes to make sure that it runs smoothly and quickly as we grow as a community. In case you’ve wondered, I’ve not added guest artists posts this week in case tiny problems occur with all my crazy tinkering. Rest assured, they’ll be back very soon once everything is smoothed out and running properly. But there are so many wonderful things happening and many improvements coming soon, so please stay tuned. Also, we just received a sample copy of our illustrated cookbook and it turned out great! It will be on sale very soon and I’ll let you know when you can get a copy for yourself if you’re at all interested. Still working through the formats as the coolest hardback version is a bit pricey. They’ll be an inexpensive e-book version, but honestly, the hardback one is just cool! We’ll will be offering a very limited quantity of the hardback edition at a lowered price for the launch, at least. And both Philippe and I will be sending a free copy to our mothers, of course. They’re really the ones to thank, after all, even though Phineas received the note in the dedication.
This has been such a fun adventure these past two and a half years. I still can’t believe that picking up a paint brush for the first time in the summer of 2015 would create such an addiction that would lead to such a wonderful community of artists. I just have to share a post from when I had been blogging for just barely over a month, for those of you who haven’t seen it. Click here to see the post. I rambled on and on about a Doodlewash movement and yes, even had buttons made. My newly discovered excitement for watercolor simply couldn’t be contained! A ridiculous thing for anyone to consider when they’ve only been blogging a month, right? But that’s the wonderful thing. When we let ourselves simply believe that our most ridiculous dreams are truly possible, then they can and actually DO happen. So, by all means dream on. Dream the biggest, craziest dreams you can possibly imagine. Don’t let yourself or anyone else ever tell you that something is impossible. It may take a lot of time, and a ton of little irritations along the way, but one thing is certain. At some incredible point in the journey, you will always end up with a pearl inside.
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About the DoodlewashDa Vinci Paint Co.: Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Red, Terra Cotta, and Cobalt Blue. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with sepia ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. |
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Looking forward to the cookbook! Lovely painting.
Thanks so much, Sharon! 😃💕 It’s coming! Philippe had some edits… hehe… but coming very soon!
I was wondering if I had missed a guest post somehow. Can’t wait for the cookbook to be available! I’m sure it will be a pearl as perfect as the one you painted tonight!
Thanks, Sandra! 😃💕 Yep… guest posts will be back soon… just didn’t seem fair add them when I’m making all these site tweaks lately to optimize things! hehe… And cookbook is on the way soon as well! (it’s a tiny tome… just 40 pages, 10 recipes and tons of illustrations! hehe)
That cookbook sounds just right! Lots of recipes can be fun, but you usually end up only using a few.
hehe… yay! because there are only 10 recipes! lol 😃💕 We’re totally excited with how it turned out, but our vision is a bit pricey so we have to reformat it into a different type of book so it’s not so pricey. We’ll still offer our intended version though, for anyone who wants it! hehe
Congrats..Looking forward to your cookbook..I have also been thinking of writing one which will have my food illustrations …about old and forgotten vegetatrian receipes of India..Your oyster painting looks awesome…!
Thanks so much, Anita! 😃💕 And yes!!!! DO it! you should totally write that cookbook. We really had fun making ours!
OOh, can’t wait for that cookbook, Charlie. You’re a great cheerleader too. You make me believe my dreams can come true. Thanks for that.
Aww.. I’m so happy to know that!! Thanks, Jennifer!! 😃💕 And cookbook is on its way… Philippe made edits as I have no idea if the recipes are right since I don’t cook. 😊
(I did comment previously but it didn’t show, so not sure if it went through) Seriously pretty pearl! The ambition in the Doodlewash Movement post doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. “Figure if we just keep doing, something will happen!” Well, you did, and it did!
Aww thanks, Jacob!! 😃💕 Yeah, still some odd things happening on WordPress.com. I’ve found as of yesterday I can’t comment from the main interface and have to got to my site itself. By the way… respond with something so I can see if you got this!
Success! Strange indeed. Once I signed into the Doodlewash account it seemed to work okay, thankfully!
Yes!! It was a momentary bug it would seem. It should work now even if you’re not signed in to Doodlewash. 😊 hehe… I’ve gone a bit crazy with all the functionality I’ve added and it’s a bit of balancing act now! lol
Charlie, you took on a very difficult subject to paint and succeeded with making a homely mollusk look regal. Look at him – he’s smiling ‘cause he likes his portrait so much. I like the sentiment of your first paragraph, that dealing with challenging tasks makes us better.
Of course your moms get the first copies of the cookbook. (Phineas sneezes in disgust.)
Aww thanks!! I really appreciate that! 😃💕 This was indeed a weird subject to choose! hehe Glad you liked had it turned out! Yeah, our moms are getting the cookbook as we envisioned and we’re doubling back to make a couple other versions as that one is pricey! lol We’ll offer them all in the end, but it’s good to have a range!