the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the two-thousandth and eleventh year

...and you, Dear Viewer, are perhaps wondering where all of my work is.

I will start by saying that twenty eleven has been a true testament to Rilke's admonition: "Live the questions." This year has taught me more about the challenging life of an artist than anything heretofore, and I am happy to say that I have made it (well...with two months to go).

The turn of the year brought a completely unexpected and unrequested move out of house and studio, while juggling graduate school applications and preparing to fill a very large wall space. That work, posted in February, went up, and came down, and then went to its new owners.  I spent the first six months of the year living in a space that afforded a small table to paint on, and many small watercolor abstracts resulted from this time. It was quite frustrating to tuck away my oils and large canvases; however, those six months will forever remind me of the importance of process and all that it entails.

Process doesn't just happen in the studio. Process is a constant, and perhaps the most potent and fertile periods of art-making happen when you are sitting in a diminished and foreign working environment. This thankfully short-lived space reminded me to cherish silence in my process. I recently gave a lecture at the University of Sioux Falls on this topic, and am developing it into a full essay to publish here.

Rejection from graduate school and another move, along with a Mac meltdown, proved to be temporarily crippling - but not paralyzing. Now reinvigorated and with ample space and time to create, I am. I am creating, creating, creating, and rarely let myself be distracted enough to photograph and upload my works.

That, however, is changing, along with all things in the universe. I will be posting work that has been completed in twenty eleven very soon, and after that work that is in progress now. Additionally, it is my intention to plump up this blog business into a steady flow of ideas about process, art-making, and teaching.

So, thank you, Dear Viewer, for your consideration, and please, stay tuned.