Trust the Process

I'm pleased to be in two shows this month. First, the Annual Juried Show at Olive Hyde Gallery in Fremont, which starts on October 23rd. Second, the Fremont Art Association is hosting a small showcase of my current series, The Absence of Sound. The showcase opens on October 25th and runs until November 8th.

I'm close to ending the second year in my studio and a cycle seems to be developing naturally. Without any real deliberate planning, each year has developed a body of work that is cohesive and can be shown together. A new series has been brewing in my notes and sketches lately and I feel excited for its potential. This series feels more deliberate than previously but, who knows how it will end up by the end of next year. I'm excited because it's very different from this last series of paintings but, it is definitely informed by all that I learned while working this last year.

In the classroom, I advise my students to write an essay and then when they are finished, take the last paragraph and move it to the beginning. Sometimes it works, because after working through the whole process of writing out their thoughts, the conclusion is much more clear than the first paragraph. Sometimes, we don't know where we are going or what we are trying to say until after it's all done. The process seems to be the same when painting a series. In the beginning it's not clear, the path is blurry, and I just feel the urge to move forward. However, it's scary to head straight into the unknown and sometimes I get lost. The most important thing to do is to keep pressing forward even when I have no clue what I'm doing. Some how, eventually, the view becomes clear.