Moving Foreword in slow motion

One year, four and a half months since life put the breaks on me hard time. 2020 changed everything. Slowing down may not have been in my plan, but like most of the extremes happening around us, it has focused me. Thankfully, making art is something I can do while also resting.

I found that I have no predictable speed when it comes to making work. A piece can be conceived, started and completed in a mater of hours, or I can slowly gather ideas over months, assembling them in my head, bit by bit until I’m ready to sit down and put it all together. When it’s done though… instantaneous, or long and planned out, the results are the same. When it’s done it just clicks. That last brush stroke, or key stroke, or tool mark makes the same sound as the last puzzle piece when you snap it into place.

When I work, I try to make a balance between what I want to work on, and what I feel drawn to work on. The moment when I sit down and say “Where to now?” is not always a straight foreword choice. Today, it made me think about how creating feels a little like riding horses. You practice, and you learn how to ride, but sometimes you just need to listen to the horse.