Just in Time: Art, Life & Spirit with Debbie Miller
I’m a late-bloomer. I didn’t start my full-time mental health counseling career until I was 48 years old. And I didn’t start fine arts painting until I was 58 years old. I used to feel bad that I got such a “late” start. Truthfully, it made me feel like I was always running out of time. Like I’d never catch up.
But a mentor challenged me to reframe the whole situation. He asked, with a twinkle in his eye, if I would be willing to throw the word “late” out of my vocabulary (and the answer was NO, because I am really a fan of punctuality). But I did concede that he had a better spin on my situation when he asked me, “What if you are not “late” but “just in time”?
Hmmm…..What if I couldn’t possibly have gotten here any sooner?
What if every one of my days and life experiences were absolutely necessary ingredients to my artwork and way of being in the world today?
What if there will be enough time to do the things that are mine to do, so I can stop living in fear and scarcity?
Well now! Wouldn’t that be something?!
So this blog/newsletter is dedicated to my journey into embracing being Just in Time.
About Me
I’m a painter, licensed mental health counselor, creative depth coach, and spiritual director. I live in Orlando, Florida, with my husband and best friend, Brian, and our two mischievous kittens, Rex and Rosie.
Though I had always loved and collected art, knitted, cooked, and did expressive art projects, I never considered myself an artist because I didn't have any natural ability to draw or paint.
Growing up, my well-intentioned parents never encouraged me to do anything I wasn’t already good at – so that ruled out art, music and sports – all the disciplines where I might have learned the value of practice in developing skill. After elementary school, I never took another art class until I started taking workshops in mixed media and expressive art in my 50's. Even then, I still would never try to create something representational, because I lacked confidence that I could do it.
But, I wanted to learn. I had read Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards; and she asserted that art was a learned skill, not something that belonged to a talented few. With that premise in mind, I signed my husband Brian and I up for a weekend workshop taught by Lisa Daria Kennedy about painting abstract flowers. (I thought that I MIGHT be able paint something that looked vaguely like an abstract flower.)
Though I learned a lot about painting abstract flowers that weekend, the real takeaway was the value of a daily creative practice. Brian and I went home and started painting a small (6” x 6”) painting each day before going to our day jobs. That was in March 2016. And we are still going strong.
Now, I not only feel more confident as a creative, but I also love to share what I’ve learned with others through art classes in our online learning environment They Make Art University. And I’m passionate about encouraging other artists that no matter where they are on their creative journey, they are “just in time" to take the next step forward.
One of my acts of encouragement is my participation in The 100 Day Project. See my posts from February 2022 to find out more about the free, global, Instagram hashtag initiative and my project for 2022, #100daysofencouragement.
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