On Patience

The coming of January is always heavier than I am ready for. I find myself so motivated at the close of the previous year and full of fire and ideas, it makes me forget that January is slow to start. 

What I’m trying to learn is how to make use of down time rather than burning energy on restless stress. I try to focus on starting my days with tactile work. Things like stretching canvas, archiving finished paintings, keeping supplies organized etc. These types of task make me feel productive at the start of the day setting a good precedent for painting.

I find that work and life intersect so intimately. And as I focus on patience in my day to day, that same theme is spilling into my work as I develop new ideas and push new paintings into completion. 

The paintings that end up speaking to patience are the ones that are more understated and subtle. The hardest part of my process is knowing when to hold back. Or more importantly when to give a painting time and pause for me to figure out that holding back is what makes it complete. 

Thinking about: timelessness

Listening to: Big Picture Podcast

Working on: building slow, mindful layers