My mentors taught me, when it came to painting, to aim for intelligence with layers of crazy. A cocktail of childhood with a driver’s license, blasting a mix tape of Beethoven’s Fifth tempered with a strong work ethic. What they were teaching was not how to make paintings, but how to live a good life. I used to think art took place in a studio and eventually showed up in a gallery, or somthing like that. Now I know it is just how I bring my soul, my full self, and share it in what I do. I have come, through lived experience, to understand it is the only way to bring lasting change into this world.
Last night, you could have found me in the studio, hours after the kids where tucked in bed, scraping the paint away-layers of hard work-gone- just like that. Out of frustration. Out of failure. But falling in love with what was revealed. What happened when I just went in deep to the experience was Joy. You see, it’s not a quest for perfect. I don’t even care if you like it. I just want to know-can you feel alive and be astonished? Can you let it be wild?
