I am a closet watercolor painter. Unfortunately my perfectionism has kept me from painting for several years and made me afraid to show my work in public for fear of criticism. I have thrown dozens of paintings away because they weren’t perfect. On other paintings in an effort to get it perfect I repainted so many times that the result was a gooey mess. But this time was different. This time I was painting the King of the Forest! With prodding and encouragement from two artist friends, Patsy Clairmont and Gail Hyatt, I decided to paint again. The little guy pictured above is of my Grandson Tyler Scheer. I did three things differently in this painting that I will apply to my life. I think this experience will help me live more fully and courageously in 2013. Maybe you too. 1. I let my self go. Rather than trying to copy every detail of a photo, I tried to capture the spirit of this sweet, mischievous boy. We often work so hard at getting every detail of our life perfect we miss the spirit of life. We forget to have fun. Even in the midst of the most arduous, important [...]