Not so long ago, I had no idea what long handled brushes were for. Hadn’t given it a second thought, until I saw a thread on an artist’s forum discussing the attributes of long handled brushes, I thought I would give them a whirl, in spite of the fact that someone involved in the discussion, informed the others that he found them cumbersome, and he had, in fact, sawed the ends off of his. Still I was intrigued, as in most things, I decided to experiment for myself.

Somewhere during the painting process, when uncertainty starts to cloud my decision making process, and fear tries to make it’s home in me, I try to fend off those pesky little voices that whisper, ‘You started off well, hope you don’t mess this one up. You’ll never get it right. Why don’t you give up now? What ever gave you the idea you could paint, anyway!’

Negative self talk. Where on earth does that come from? I would rather spend my time harmoniously creating, instead of swimming upstream, fighting demons along the way. Yet I suppose overcoming these things, is part of what my path is.

Did I mention how I love my long handled brushes? It allows me to give up some of the control, that I think I possess. The more I let go, the creative flow takes on a life of it’s own, the better things work out. Sometimes experimenting with new tools is just the breath of fresh air that is needed to keep myself afloat.

It all comes down to trusting the process . . . believing and letting go. All easier said than done.