While we are postponing, life speeds by.
~ Seneca
Last week, we talked about clearing space—physical, mental, emotional—to give your creativity room to breathe. But once that space is open, here’s the question: will you show up to fill it? This is the quiet truth of the creative process. It’s not always lightning bolts and breakthroughs. Sometimes it’s just… being there. Sitting down. Picking up the pen or brush or thread or clay. And doing the work, even when it feels like nothing magical is happening.
🎨 Featured Artist: Paul Heaston
- This week’s spotlight is on – Paul Heaston – a Denver artist/dad. He picks his phone up mid-sketch with his non-drawing hand, and records the drawing process for a couple of seconds only to capture something interesting on video. Then combines he the clips into 1 video. See even more on his facebook and instagram!
🧠 Creative & Curious Links
- Antoine de Vinck would have been 101 today!
- Learn more about color, color theory, and more.
- The golden age of Japanese pencils.
- Portrait found under Miró’s painting.
- History is Short.
- Spring is here and it’s time to dust off those plein air easels and get painting! (Or come and get one.)
- If you do the above, here are 10 tips for dealing with the moving sun.
- A fragile 13th century manuscript fragment, hidden in plain sight as the binding of a 16th-century archival register, has been discovered in Cambridge and revealed to contain rare medieval stories of Merlin and King Arthur.
- Seth Rogen said, “A lot of people look at the movies and are amazed that so many bad movies get made. But when you work in Hollywood, you are amazed that any good movies are made.“
- Just for fun, Friday is “World Marbles Day“. You know, in case anyone has lost theirs.
Fun Fact: The color ultramarine blue, made from lapis lazuli, was once more valuable than gold in the Renaissance, which is why it was reserved for painting the robes of the Virgin Mary.
📍What’s Happening Around Town
Here are a few ways to get inspired outside the studio this week:
- Saturday there’s an Easter Egg Scramble at Santa Rita Park from 9:30-11 (ages 1-8).
- Also Saturday from 10-11:30 is an Easter Egg Hunt at Sunnyside Library.
- Durango Harley-Davidson’s Huge Easter Egg Hunt is Saturday from 10-11.
- Adults ROCK! There’s a monthly adult-focused gathering to socialize and explore new topics and interests. This month, stop by to discuss local hiking trails. Sunnyside Library on Tuesday from 5-6.
- Lots of events happening around Durango this month for Arbor Day.
- There are lots of live music events, open mics, live jam sessions, etc, scattered about the area throughout the week. There are too many to list here, so if you’re looking for such things, head over to WhatsHappeningDurango.com.
- There are classes/workshops/projects available at the 4 Corners Gem and Mineral Club, the Bayfield Library, Create Art and Tea, the Dancing Spirit Center for the Arts, the Durango Library, Durango Sustainable Goods, Let’s Letter Together, the MakerLab, Picasso & Vino, the Scrapbook Nook, Seed Studio, and the Durango Arts Center. There are a lot more things happening that I don’t include – so if you’re ever looking for something to do, start at WhatsHappeningDurango.com.
🖌️ Featured Art Supply:
- Whether you’re filling an Easter basket or just stocking up for after school art time, our kids and beginners section is packed with some great options. We aim to help provide supplies that spark creativity and make art feel like an adventure. Swing by today to see what catches your eye!
🖼️ Behind the Frame:
- As a designer, it’s fun to put together a frame design that really compliments the piece that’s being displayed and preserved. As a frame, it’s so incredibly satisfying to put together the design (that someone else might have created) and get to see it all come together. This was one of those times!
Steven Pressfield, in his recent book Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be, puts it bluntly: showing up matters more than genius. “My only goal is to put in three or four hours with my fingers punching the keys,” he writes. No pressure for brilliance. No grand expectations. Just presence. Just effort. And maybe that’s the most honest part of any creative journey: it’s built, moment by moment, in the quiet repetition of trying. Like Seneca said, wisdom and greatness come in small steps. So if you’ve made space—beautiful. Now show up. Because your art is waiting. And the world needs your art.
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew
💌 PS – It’s Spring Clean Art Supply Drive!
Got unused art supplies gathering dust? We’ll gladly take them off your hands and pass them along to nonprofits and organizations who can use them to spark creativity in someone else’s life.
Drop-off anytime this month at the store.