It has been a long few years since I last made a blog post, and since I am in the process of a studio renewal, I thought this blog deserved a renewal as well.
Where have I been? Well, I have been up to quite a few things, including moving across the country from Philadelphia to Indiana, restoring my studio practice in a completely different direction, returning to my roots, you might say, and repairing my relationship with art. One thing I have learned is that you need time and space to make a practice, and I have had neither for the last 6 years. Its a hard thing to come to terms with - giving up something you once loved, in order to pursue a steady job, mental sanity, and health insurance...and it take a long time to reimagine a struggling practice with a new agenda, new purpose, and renewed vitality.
But sometimes drastic change is necessary for the greater good, and though my move to Indiana was initially a big, grubby bandaid that had to be ripped off, I have come to enjoy the silence, and have reveled in the TIME. Time without deadlines, without overhead management, without words like now, or soon, or late, or someday. Each day I can just be and do, and choose my path for the day. Some days it has been working on my house, or exploring my new town, but most days it has been drawing.
Developing a new ritual has become an important part of my transition, and a welcome renewal of my love of drawing. In graduate school I was told that, when lost, go back to where you started - go to the beginning. I had always wanted to be an illustrator, and subsequently abandoned that desire in my third year of undergrad. There were too many other paths to follow, how could I choose just one. But now, there is distance from where I began, and I can look back on my meandering pathways and reassess where I am today. I am right here, in a small town in Indiana, quietly drawing, and working toward a new whole.
