Passion & Glory

When people walk an art show, they get the opportunity to see the finished product-the end result-the final step in a long process of creating. The actual act of creating still remains a mystery for most people, but when I look at a painting like this one above, I know the full story. I know whether this was a painting that flowed out of me like a stream I couldn't stop, or if it was a several week (or month or, even on rare occasion, a year) battle of sorts-me with the painting struggling to get out. I know how many layers of paint, how many times I wanted to stop, how much courage it took to paint the colors swirling inside. What I will say about this work, is that it was an intense journey...and I may have learned more after the painting than even during the act of creating. I always learn during the process, but lately it has been after the intuitive painting has emerged that I was able to see what I could not see before. So often I think a painting is about "this" and then, I see in hindsight that I had only scraped the surface. This is what keeps me coming back, keeps me returning to the paint, to the process, because there is so much we do not see yet. So much underneath the surface, waiting to break forth, so much yet for me to grasp.