Does Michael Jordan Paint? Motivation Monday

Does Michael Jordan Paint?

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. 
–Michael Jordan

I love this quote!

Michael Jordan admitting he failed and then assuring the rest of us mortals that success involves failure.

Learning to paint and painting so often involves failure.

Frustrating, disappointing, debilitating failure.

And then, out of the blue

you have a day where everything just flows off your brush.
You struggle, you study, you practice, you think it through
and nothing seems to work.
And then... it does.
I think Michael Jordan is teaching us all to press on.

That's how he became maybe the best basketball player of all time.

He got cut from his high school basketball team as a sophomore.  Most kids would have given up.  But not someone who truly believes in himself and his dream.

As painters, especially beginning painters

it is so important to realize this is a learning curve.

Yes talent is involved,

but so are skills

and skills take time

and practice.

So just because things didn't go well at the easel today,

doesn't mean you can't paint.

It means, if you love it,

you must keep going.

and since this is an art blog,

enjoy some art.

This is my granddaughter Karen.
 
This was part of a 30 paintings in 30 days I participated in in 2016.  I don't usually paint figures but really wanted to.
So that was the goal, to paint all of my grandchildren doing what they love during the challenge.  
I'd never painted figures before.
I'd tried drawing them with very limited success.
But the only way to do it is to do it.
And learn with every brush stroke.

 I painted this from a photo I took on maybe the hottest day of the summer that year.
But Ren loves baseball so on he played.
Naturally neither of those paintings are for sale.
Their parents have them.

Good Eatin
10" x 10" 
$95

This is more like what I normally do.
This was painted from a photo I took at Findlay Market
in Cincinnati, OH.
It is a permanent and a temporary farmers market in the heart of the city and it has been there for years.
I remember going there as a little girl.
Seeing all the cheeses and sausages hanging was amazing to me as a child.

Painter Nation,

keep at it,

keep painting,

don't give up.

Leave a comment on how you keep on keeping on,

or what it feels like when the stars align

and things go right.