Still painting

Most often, the anxiety aroused by the summons to a larger life is more than we can bear. James Hollis, “Creating a Life”, p. 49 I have started a new series of paintings with the working title “ The Disagreeables”. For a long time I have tried to override my own inclination towards agreeableness when…

A letter for Moran

«There is nothing more to tell. The house was empty. The company had cut off the light. They have offered to let me have it back. But I told them they could keep it.» —Samuel Beckett: Molloy

From representational drawing to invented worlds

My recent shift from drawing to painting has not only led to a shift in form, but also, as it turns out, a shift in content. When painting, my focus is no longer on the observed outer world, as it is when I am doing urban sketching, croquis or floral studies. When painting my focus…

Going deeper

FOURTH POST ON THOMAS MOORE’S CARE OF THE SOUL: Jung equates the unconscious with the soul, and so when we try to live fully consciously in an intellectually predictable world, protected from all mysteries and comfortable with conformity, we lose our everyday opportunities for the soulful life. The intellect wants to know; the soul likes…

WOMANHOOD: On how to balance art and the demands of daily life

To be honest – I feel I have almost been absorbed by Anne Truitt (1921–2004) this summer. It has been a uniquely positive experience. I have read her three journals with great interest and attention, and have already started to reread them. These texts speak to me personally, as if I was talking to a…