slow down

I'm apt to overload and overachieve, it's a pattern of existence not so unfamiliar for many who grew up alongside me. At the same time, I find myself seeking to slow down, thinking about how to practice clearness and spaciousness in my mind and in my time. Thanksgiving is coming and I believe I am most thankful for my life's freedom to fill or not fill my time with "to do" and "I can."

As I make art, most recently, I find that I want to put less and less imagery, texture, media into the work... and if I do include those things, I don't want it to seem that way. Even in my drawings of real subjects, I want to pair down to silohuette and basic defining lines. I want my work to express what I desire in my life: openness, spaciousness, simplicity of breathing and sounds and colors. It isn't careless. There is an element of seriousness in my letting go and pairing down... a kind of hard work and attentiveness that allow release.

I've been going through a period of art making where I've felt like I'm in a stuffy room and suddenly, as I reach a point of completion in my work, it is as though I've just walked out into a crisp, clean Autumn day. It is as though I am breathing in twice as much with each breath and my breathing reaches far past my lungs to the ends of my body.