My identity as an artist has morphed over my lifetime.

In my preteen years, I was a ballerina.

Then my teacher told me that I “don’t have the body of a ballet dancer,” and so I became a “theatre person.” (Interestingly,  I never called myself an actress, but at least I identified with the place I spent most of my time: the theatre).

Fast forward several years, and I discovered InterPlay, during which I learned that I am a dancer and a storyteller and a singer!

However, the one art I’ve never fully embraced is visual art. I never called myself a visual artist. That’s for talented people like my brother, Dietrich Wegner.

This year I’m aiming to change that. Early on the in year I purchased an easel from my friend Randy. I even put a blank canvas up on it, and then stared at the canvas for 3 months, scared to make a mark.

One day I got so sick of staring at the blank canvas that I added a curvy brown mark using an oil pastel. (See the brown mark, above).

Another 3 months passed, and as I stared at the brown mark, I kept on seeing a womb and a baby being born. “But I don’t know how to draw a baby!!!” I complained to myself. “That’s what the internet is for,” my Inner-Resourceful-Woman told me. So I printed out a picture of a fetus and I glued it on.

But then the real artistic stalemate occurred. Now the picture looked like something!! Ack!!! I was so scared to touch it, lest I ruin it with horrible lack of skill.

Enter into the picture my muses:

Chris Zydel (who teaches a drop in class called Painting from the Wild Heart), and Leah Piken Kolidas (who runs a challenge called Art Every Day Month).

Last Monday I attended Chris’ class, and found myself finger painting up a storm, battling the Inner Critic as I went, and having a surprisingly great time.

Today — probably as a result of the freedom I experienced in Chris’ class — I suddenly felt the urge to make art. The color green felt compelling, so I went over to my painting and in less than 5 minutes I’d covered the remaining white space in luscious, life-giving green. Wow! That wasn’t as painful as I thought it might be!

I’m now registered for Art Every Day Month (will you join me?! It’s free and fun!), and I’m looking forward to seeing how this painting progresses as I add to it a bit every day. I’ll post pictures on my blog.

I notice as I type that I’m *not quite* ready to call myself a visual artist. But I’m at least playing with color, and that’s what counts!