Artistic contemplation...

I've noticed that a lot of the time I spend "doing art" isn't actually spent creating anything at all, but reflecting.

After I've put paint to a canvas, I may spend many more hours staring at it... contemplating color... considering arrangement... feeling the vibrations, as it were. I will rotate different art on my walls, touch the surfaces to see how my body and mind react, and drag new canvases into my bedroom for the night to see how I feel as they occupy my space.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how my art makes me feel, trying to see if I've captured an emotion or aroused any excitement by using a certain hue or thickening a particular line. I suppose art is visceral for me; part of the act of creating it is responding to it. This can make it difficult for me to be around my own art as it can seem that it's all competing for my attention at the same time...

This photo is from the December 2007 ice storm that pummeled Kansas, Oklahoma, and other states. I found beauty in its destructiveness.