Why the Blog?

Although this endeavor is partially about my professional  portfolio, its also more than that. I’ve discovered as an artist and human being I feel like I need a place to express some ideas and thoughts about what I do and why. Artistic growth is essential. We should strive to do more than simply what it takes to make a living. But that striving also means struggling, the learning of lessons, and the taking of risks.

For me personally, it has meant the extraction of the phrase “I can’t” from my vocabulary. It has meant that I have had to learn to fail and be okay with it. This is not something anybody bothers to teach you as a child or even in any kind of school I’ve ever been to. We are programmed to strive for success, but if you don’t understand that failure is very much on the road to your goal, then you cause yourself a great deal of misery and grief when failure inevitably comes your way.

Isn’t there something you’ve always wanted to do, but it sits untouched, buried underneath a pile of excuses as to why you can’t even get started? Isn’t there something  somewhere in your life that you gave up on because you never had the stamina to finish it once it got hard to work on? Haven’t you ever said to yourself, I’d like to do XYZ, but it’s just not what I do? This is the exact place I have been for a long time. Then one day, I decided I’d had enough.  Living by the motto “I can’t” became soul crushing.  Being too afraid to fail, thus not even having the courage to try, was suddenly no longer acceptable. I decided instead it would be better to think, “I’ll try this even though it kills me to do so.” I gnashed my teeth in between bitter tears and went to working on what I couldn’t seem to touch seriously. I forced myself to do it everyday, a tiny little bit everyday.

Things have changed. What I forced myself to do is now a habit and some interesting things are being produced. Some beautiful work at long last, a glimmer of something lovely here and there is starting to show itself.

This site will always be in progress I’m afraid. There will always be open places in the portfolio for something new. It’s going to seem messy, half finished, under construction. If you want to see something different, hop over to my portfolio by clicking the the logo on the top of the page. That’s my finished body of work. But if you want to see how new things come into being, stick around here. Shove some papers and paintbrushes out of your way and pull up a chair. I don’t mind sharing what it’s like to slog through disaster–so long as you go home and make room, make time for your own disorganized mess.

Now go forth boldly and get to work!