Coffee & Dreams

I usually title my blog posts with a drink and a food I'm enjoying as I write this, but today I'm drinking Papua New Guinea roasted to full city plus without food!

I woke up this morning munching on dreams of the future. I spend a decent amount of time "daydreaming" as most people call it but I like to think of it more as, "planning my future." Have you ever seen someone's life and instantly thought, "Oh that would be cool to happen to me."... but really, if you broke it down, it's not really what you'd want? Let's say that's what I do most, I try and visually see if an idea is worth working towards. Instead of a Walter Mitty Style, where he daydreamed adventurous life but only turned around to work in the desk. I like to envision a target and start creating my tools to hit that target. (This is how I legitimize my habit lol)

I've got this day job where I serve beer to customers in a grocery store. Which sounds fun, and it can be, but corporate ruins all the fun. To not get into that rant and cut this story shorter, I don't really like it. I have to walk away from my own business and planning to do someone else's business and every day as I drive to work I have this internal conversation:

Oh man. This could be the day.

I could quit and turn around.

Devote all of my free time into my own business. Hustle and hustle and make it grow!

That would be a push and a leap into the darkness. I'd have to solely earn enough for bills.

Maybe that's the push I need! 

I bet I could do it! 

However, I never quit and I never turn around and go back. I envision this life where I'm hitting the grindstone every day every hour and I'm constantly working to build my business and become self sufficient and I can feel the energy and excitement and drive! It is completely intoxicating! The whole drive to work I'm drowning in this yearning for that daydream but yesterday I had a second thought. Not one I normally do. 

Why would I have to quit in order to do ALL of that now? 

I realized I'm comfortable with the rate of my growth or success. I was getting a steady paycheck that helped so I wasn't constantly working on myself. I got comfortable and stale. I regressed. THERE'S NOTHING STOPPING ME FROM HITTING THAT GRINDSTONE RIGHT THIS SECOND! I LITERALLY CAN WORK. THAT HARD. RIGHT. NOW! I don't need to quit or be fired from this stupid day job in order do exactly what I was daydreaming. And I've had these moments before, which should be expected, life is a constant struggle. So I had to remind myself that my fear of failing was creating an altered path to get to my destination. I saw a way to get to where I wanted but the steps were impractical. So I had to think of a different route. 

If you're dreaming for a future, break down that path as many ways as you possibly can as many times as you possibly need to. Most of the time, you'll have to tweak your path to get to your destination. "If it aint broke, don't fix it" ...NO! Constantly try and find a better more efficient way to accomplish your life. Don't get comfortable.  

French Press & An Avocado Sausage English Muffin

THOUGHTS

          It's been a week...a decent week at that too. I'm getting a good turn around for commissions to keep me busy and my day job has only forced me to bang my head against a wall one time! I've begun listening to an audiobook, "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson, which in two chapters made me realize there was a better way to look at almost all situations than the way I was going about it. Most of the stress and frustrations and worries were all coming from fucks I gave out to the wrong things. The weirdest part is being shown a better way to do something after you strongly believed your way was already the better way. But it's humbling as well. 

A friend of mine went off on a rant the other day about how he loathes this phrase, "Ah, it is what it is." Which cracked me up because firstly, I couldn't tell if he was giving his f's to something not important, or secondly, he was actually on to a good point. He continued to say that "Life is what you allow it to be," which I like. I feel you usually hear more commonly that life is what you MAKE of it, but as most people can attest to, you can't always MAKE something happen but you can dictate the way you're treated and the way you allow yourself to live. You have the option to choose your values and thus refocus where to give your fucks.  

ART NEWS

These are the thoughts on my brain while I bust out some pet portraits for people! Which I'll show below. I am also having a Valentine's Sale coming up Monday-Friday so stay tuned for that! Remember to feel free to contact and chat me up whether it's a commission or idea or thoughts. Have a great week everybody. 

French Press & Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Clif Bar

I'm elbows deep into several projects these days! Which is a great thing. One of the best things for a mind, mine at least, is to stay busy with projects. (I suppose I know plenty of people that don't enjoy being busy and spend most of their time not doing anything, but where's the fun in that?) Not only is it important to me to have projects on my list but to have an array of projects to not get burnt out with one. That being said, I was stoked to get an acrylic commission causing me to get the biggest canvas I've painted on and to switch it up from my normal watercolor paintings. To take it a bit further, the style is not my norm either, where I'm working on portraits with pop art inspiration! This whole commission is a big challenge that I am eagerly working on. So obviously, I'm filming my process from sketch to base layers to full paint to special detailed work at the end. I'll post that video once completed, which hopefully will be by next week. 

I'm working on two watercolor commissions as well as the acrylic. Which allows me to switch back to a comfort area when the pop art piece is driving me insane ha! But keep an eye on my instagram to see regular updates on those. Have you ever heard of a Marabou Stork? Creepy looking stork that eats flamingos alive...that's one commission. haha! The other watercolor is a client's house based in California. Beautiful house that i get to decorate with lounging cats! 

Then there's the old digital paintings I'm trying to bring back to life with wheat paste and some paint. I honestly have no clue what I'm going to do with these paintings but I was tired of seeing this pictures collect dust. I needed a refreshment. 

And let me not forget my poor miata's clutch went to shit so I'm also in the process of replacing that.

All in all, I'm happily busy but will be quite excited to check some of them off my list as I know I'll have more projects to replace them! 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Yunan Pour-Over & Hopefully Some Toast

           I got a chance to make coffee at home this morning and so I decided to do some writing along with that gift. I wandered downstairs this morning with a yawn on my lips and pop in my bones. Made it to the kitchen just in time for the Yawn-Stretch Combo to happen. Spotted a bag of Yunan coffee, which happens to be from China, and did a little jig to the grinder. Hips swaying to an imaginative song in my head. Eventually that imaginary song turned into Everything by Atmosphere. Song's jammin. Water's heating. Coffee's grinding. Head's bobbing. Feet tapping. Grinding finished. Water's done. Steam's rising. Coffee's dripping. Aromas' dancing. And the job is done. First sip is like a gift from the universe; warmth, love, energy, flavor, & happiness shared through a liquid. We don't deserve such things as beautiful as specialty coffee. Centuries of perfected agriculture on perfected locations to a single surface area of a coffee farm, added to the years of perfected roasting machines and software and roasting styles come together in magical harmony inside a mug.

          Silence rings out after the coffee is finished. It's a comforting song that sits on everything like a weighted blanket. It presents itself to my mind like a blank white board where I toss my thoughts and arrange them to spend a closer look. It, too, is a great gift. Quiet and slow mornings are oases in an otherwise hectic morning, traditionally. Both offer different things, the quiet & slow provides patience but can easily get boring; the hectic mornings offer fast pace and a sense of work purpose. There are no moments to sit back and ponder thoughts. There is only "take care of this" and "on to the next."  The key is the balance. 

Oh snap! My toast is done! See ya.