Spring Cleaning

May Evening. Oil on stretched canvas, 10x10. sold

It's time to clear out the corners of my life. Time to get in order things that should have been in order years ago, and to stop worrying about things I just can't ever get in order. It is long past time to rid myself of stuff I haven't used or seen or needed in years. Time to be brutal, as my mother would have said - and did say - with everything that doesn't matter. In other words, it's time to find the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Same with my painting, I think. With every canvas, I need to strive to make every stroke matter.
Whether the paint is thin or thick, whether I'm using one color or three or five mixed together, when I put that brush down, it should come down as content, as flesh or as bone. It can be play, it can be amusement, but it should not be frosting, decoration, needless filling in. This doesn't mean I am necessarily on a path of minimalism, just that I am on a path of conscious determination.