Commence

This week I saw the light at the end of the guesswork.

I completed the first two pieces from my new canvas series, and now I know how to finish all the rest.

Here’s a little preview.

The series will be called Commence.

I went back to see when this started, and I was shocked to see that it was way back in the spring of 2014 that I assembled the canvases, thinking I would do another series in my usual style.

I really enjoyed premixing big batches of paint and throwing it around on there.

But then it just wasn’t working for me.

I couldn’t find the energy, which is kind of like hitting a dead end in a maze; it means it’s time to backtrack until you discover a different route. I filed these away and worked on my Cultivate series.

Then I had all of these tape silhouettes of people leftover from Cultivate, and they were just sitting around (or sticking around – ha) my studio. And that’s how, over a year after creating the canvases, in late 2015, I suddenly felt inspired to pull all of them out again, put tape silhouettes on them in clusters, and then cover them with colorful cross hatching.

I have been uncertain at every part of this process: I planned exactly zero. And I find that the perfect reflection of what these pieces are trying to communicate.

A commencement is a beginning, but long ago the word commence only referred to the start of something sacred, something consecrated.

In many ways, this series is my love letter to intuition and inspiration, to whatever word you want to put on that thing that steps in when you get your ego to step out, when you stop knowing so much and listen.

And of course I am a big believer in listening and working from a creative place of not knowing, but I will also totally acknowledge that moments of closure like this, when I see all those wild guesses come together into a cohesive whole, well, they’re pretty sweet.

So this week, here’s to taking a moment to acknowledge the parts of your life where your guesswork has turned into a surprising and satisfying conclusion, whether that’s about a job choice, a home choice, a partner choice…or just something you chose to share with a new friend. Commence!