Stay With the Process

It doesn't matter if the piece is a wee thing, or enormous and grand - Each time I start a new piece, I go through minutes, or sometimes hours, of staring at the combination of materials wondering what to do. And sometimes I get a glimpse of a future in the work, and sometimes the piece stares back, refusing to give up its secrets.

And somehow, with a swoosh of color, I begin, and the give and take is set in motion.

And with each and every thing I create, there comes a time of absolute futility and despair; that I have missed the cues, that the murk of wet pigment I have laid onto my painting will never resolve, and that the piece I am committed to with every ounce of my focus is a failure.

And yet somehow, if I find a way to stay with the process, it is possible that in the end a thing of beauty will be born....