sometimes i come charging into the studio ready to give the painting what it needs. ready to wrap it up, check the box, put my time in to get the end result i’m after, and the painting says no. it’s asking for patience, and attention, and languid generosity. it’s asking me to listen. some of them are tough nuts. i have to be gentle, and present and patient, sometimes at the moment when that’s what i least want to do. and i have to believe it’s going to work out.

and i think of the people in my life, how sometimes i want to swoop in, give advice, wrap things up, move on. a hug, a resolution, a speedy recovery. we ask this of our loved ones, of ourselves, of our country. but it doesn’t work, it won’t ever work.

give yourself over to the conversation. listen. be open to wild, new, unprecedented possibilities for this wild, new, unprecedented moment. be ok with sitting with a conversation, learning, listening, being open to change, to asking what this moment needs instead of reaching for all our old tricks and tools to fix and finish. be ok with not finding a solution, or a resolution. build your courage, advocate, assist, fight. for the painting, for yourself, for everything in our world that is changing and growing and asking to be new.

but first, and always, listen.