Here’s Something I Learned During COVID

Doing “a little bit everyday” can change your life for the better.

It’s changed mine and it’s given birth to something totally unexpected.

Let me back up a bit. Prior to COVID isolating, on February 25th to be exact, I started a goal to paint a little bit every day for 30 days.

I didn’t know what to paint so I started with something that felt easy. I saw this painting on Pinterest. It had simple lines and blocks of color. I thought I’d take a shot at recreating it for my home:

Instead I ended up painting my own version, using my favorite shade of eggplant purple and adding a full moon, animal totems of raven, coyote, and mouse, and Cathedral Rock on the center dress. Here’s the final result:

Moon Sisters, 30 x 24 acrylic on canvas, by Natalie Eve Marquis

I had so much fun painting this style that I designed and painted another, and then another.

Kachina Women series by Natalie Eve Marquis

When I first started my “a little bit everyday” goal, I was still working full time, most of it at Gateway Cottage Wellness Center in Sedona as an independent intuitive energy healer, reader and hypnotist. I’d come home from work at 6 or 6:30pm, feed Sienna and Charlie (my dog and cat) and then myself while watching a little TV. Many nights I was tired and wanted to veg, but come 8pm I’d drag my but off the couch and paint. Some nights I only painted for 20 minutes, other nights an hour or so.

I painted a little bit everyday, including Saturday and Sundays.

And the paintings began to add up.

My friend, Tenny, encouraged me to sell them. So I added an Art Shop to my website and offered the original paintings as well as more affordable art prints – and you know what?

A few days later I sold my first Art Print and a week later I sold my first Painting! If you didn’t catch it on Facebook, here’s me doing a happy dance (if the video doesn’t work, you can visit my Facebook Artist Page to see it):

All this because I began painting “a little bit everyday” and stuck with it, not just for 30 days but I’m still doing it 76 days later 🎨🎨🎨.

This is a summary of the timeline so far:

• February 25: Started my goal to paint a little bit everyday for 30 days.
• April 27 – Added a shop to my website of my original paintings as well as art prints.
• May 1 Sold my first art print, Mountain Lion Woman. (5/4 and 5/7 sold two more art prints).
• May 6 Paid for a Facebook boost of Butterfly Woman for $20.
• May 7 Sold my first painting, Butterfly Woman (Art prints available), to a wonderful lady in Salt Lake City, Utah.

To sum it up, “a little bit everyday” in just two and half months has resulted in 12 completed paintings, a painting and three art prints sold, and a budding new side venture as a fine artist!

Lessons learned?

1. Doing something “a little bit everyday” adds up. It may not feel like I’m doing much, when I paint one small section of a painting for twenty minutes or base coat a new canvas for fifteen minutes, but these small actions accumulate and add up over time. In fact, I’m discovering I can create a whole body of work just doing a little everyday.
2. Doing “a little bit everyday” creates momentum. Once I got going, the action of painting everyday created a motivation to keep painting. What they say is true “action precedes motivation”, at least for me anyway.
3. No other structure was needed, only the promise to myself to paint a little bit everyday. I didn’t make myself paint at a particular time of day or for a particular length of time. I told myself, you just have to paint for a little bit — every day. I did, and I am.
4. I found I was happier and more contented with my life overall, even during COVID! Painting a little bit here and there ended up creating pockets of joy throughout my day that greatly balanced out all the crazy stuff going on out there with COVID.
5. Doing “a little bit everyday” gave birth to a whole new endeavor and something I’m really proud of it.

How about you? What could you do “a little bit everyday” that could potentially change your life for the better?

Have a fabulous day!

PS: Curious about my art? You can explore:

Original canvas paintings for your home or office  

Wall Art Prints