Progress from Flora Bowley Bloom True Boot Camp.....oil painting, inspiration

I am thoroughly enjoying my exploration of the Flora Bowley Bloom True Boot Camp and simultaneous reading of the War of Art by Steven Pressfield.  I think it is just the inspiration and encouragement that I needed to do some things that I knew I needed to do all along......even if only subconsciously.

I am finding as I read and experience these things that they are open to my own interpretation and therefore, sometimes, I think my own feelings deep inside bubble to the top and I find I am interjecting thoughts of my own as I interpret the words of others.  It is a very validating experience when you find your own thoughts sometimes slip effortlessly into the train of thought of the author.

Some major themes that I see developing from both sources (and from my own deep well of un-thought-out thoughts) are:
I need to paint for the sake of painting and NOT what I think others will like or want to buy.
I need to STOP comparing myself to others or doing things that I think I am expected to do.
I need to remember to have fun and experiment.

And with that in mind I decided to paint what I wanted to paint this week.  Not because I thought it would be a popular mainstream subject, or that I thought it would sell well at my next show, but

BECAUSE      I     WANTED     TO.

Hence the above octopus painting.  I fell in love with the photograph when my DIL, Heather, took it when we were visiting the Estuarium on Dauphin Island in July.  I instantly wanted to paint it.  So, this week I did.  Don't know if it will sell, but it makes me happy.