I am reading this little book about success and I have gotten so much nourishment out of it! It asks if you have the determination to succeed and achieve your goals. If you really want to succeed at something, you’ll make the time for it; take risks for it AND DO YOUR BEST TO EASE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT IT. (That is a biggie for us creatives),

“You will do whatever it takes to not to give up. Stubborn persistence may be the critical factor that separates you from the competition.” I understand the stubborn persistence part. I have recently been put on a gluten free diet which is fairly easy to follow if you never eat another baked item in your life. Ha! The problem is I have always been a baker! I have always loved it and have found baking a soothing and almost therapeutic for me. Gluten free means no wheat, which means no flour which means baking with other flours which can be very complicated. No two recipes are alike, all calling for there own special mixes of a mulitude of ingredients like potato starch, tapioca flour and xanthan gum. No substitutions or you risk complete disaster. But I am DETERMINED to make it work. I will not be defeated and will not give in to never having a decent cookie again!

I have the same determination with my knitting. I was recently surprised when I met a seemingly advanced knitter who had never attempted to knit a sweater. She was just a surprised that a relative beginner like me would have already knit so many. I recently finished this dollie (above) and made up the clothes for her just by looking at pictures. I am not a great knitter by any means. I am simply a determined knitter.

I asked myself if I was applying that same sense of will to my artwork. I stood in front of at least 15 different types of non wheat flours with 3 gluten free cookbooks in my hands and dug my heels in and thought “I am going to do this!!” Am I applying that same emotion to the instructional CD for Painter that has been lying on my desk for a month? I want that same sense of determination in every area of my life, especially with my art. Leonardo da Vinci once said,

"Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern reslove. He who is fixed on a star does not change his mind."

I like the drive and fearlessness of that statement. I will prop my dollie in my window, eat a gluten free cookie and go for it!