Lesson Learned

When I start a painting, much of it is a whirl. My entire body is involved. Tools are strewn everywhere. Materials are used liberally. I become lost in the process. 

And then there is a significant point in this process (a fine line) where the personality of the subject becomes known to me. I must acknowledge this point and STOP (or I will blink and miss it). 

I have learned I need to step away, wash my brushes, go on a walk. Do anything I can to seriously downshift. When I return to the painting, I need to tread lightly. Less is much more here or else I will lose the painting altogether. 

What you see here is a painting in process from 2013. It never was completed because I took it too far. I STILL think about this painting and mourn that it couldn’t be. It did act as a wake up call to me, though, and signifies a time in my career where I finally listened and started to consistently put the act of downshifting into practice.