The most difficult part of the creative process has always been getting started. In what has become standard operating procedure, I plan, I prepare, I procrastinate. I move things around the studio. Then, thankfully, it’s time for lunch.
The nay-sayers in my head must also be dealt with. They continually question my methods. “Who will buy that?” they chide. When all else fails, they wonder if I even have what it takes to make art. The eventual creation of anything becomes a blessed relief.
Now a new mental obstacle has taken up residence. Having finally begun a painting, I find myself easily distracted and unable to focus for long. I begin and immediately want to end. It is a curious and unsettling state, as if my thought process has condensed like a Twitter tweet.
As a way of coping with this condition, I have fallen back on an old friend – gesture drawing. This brush-drawing method challenges me to say the most with the least. It is art-making pared down to its essential structure. What is begun is quickly finished. My concern is no longer “What do I say?” but “Have I said too much?”
