I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that these last couple of weeks have been brutal on the heart, soul and mind. I’ve had trouble “getting it together” and focusing. The outside world certainly isn’t helping and it’s (always) hard to stay motivated. I am now just starting to recognize that when I start feeling like this, it’s time to unplug, run down the rabbit hole and get back to center.

Despite the noise in my head, I have been working on several pieces that still have a ways to go; I’m trying not to nag and berate myself about it BUT THAT IS SO HARD TO DO. And sometimes I don’t want to do the inner work to get where I need to be. And then I slip into old coping mechanisms and before I know it, it’s Wednesday again and I have to post a studio closeup. Speaking of that (deadlines), I’m also learning that art is a creative process and sometimes linear time and deadlines don’t make sense in that world. Creativity doesn’t care what day it is because it’s a feeling and everyone knows how fleeting feeling is. Add that I’m newly getting acquainted with my feelings after so many years of trying to ignore them, well, you can imagine it gets overwhelming sometimes.

So for today’s offering I post a little something from the time capsule section. I entered this piece (and another triptych) into a juried competition I saw being advertised in the back of Art In America magazine and was my first glorious experience of showing my work in SoHo, New York. Especially given that at the time I was starting to paint in a way I never had before and was leery of its outcome and reception.

Speaking of reception, I was able to attend the opening of this show in SoHo in person(!) - my first time ever in NYC, a place every artist dreams of with the additional euphoria of having my artwork hanging on a wall in SoHo. It was just an incredible experience that I certainly will never forget.

The triptych that was also in that show, perished in the flood, I’m afraid. I do have slides of it however! And I am looking into how to make slide film magically appear on the interwebs, so please stay tuned.

Title: Tricky Decision - Diptych
Year: 1998
Media: Acrylic Paint, Paper Collage & Canvas Board
Total Dimension: 5.5” x 15.5”