I thought of two possible posts I could write about today.

One is about a piece I heard on NPR about Mother Teresa's personal journal, in it she speaks about her long struggle with God's silence. I was going to relate it to my theory that if you want to feel close to God then you have to raise chickens in your back yard.

The second relates to the book I am reading, De Kooning, An American Master. It has me thinking about what an artists goals should be. You would think happiness would be one of the top pursuits, but I am not so sure about that. I am very happy with my life, but not settled into that happiness, something inside is willing to give it up in pursuit of...

When you take the time to be in dialog with other artists, especially those that you respect, you can start to see who you are as an artist by the similarities and differences. What has struck me lately is just how different I am among my piers. Its these differences that make my work, and theirs unique.

In the past several weeks I have had a number of stimulating conversations about art with several artists who I consider extremely talented. In talking about my own work I found myself in want of explanation, and at times actually felt the need to defend why I was so focused on certain aspects of my work. Some of the conversations were along these lines.

friend: These are much brighter paintings than you have done in the past.?.
Me: Yes, I just want to paint nice things.?.
f: What is this shape supposed to be?
m: Um... I think it is a submarine, maybe something else. Ummm...I don't think its supposed to be anything really. Its a neat shape that is next to a boat that is supposed to make you think its like a boat part or something like that, not really though. I am trying to paint things that are not things in particular but only elude to those things because I am not really interested in things at all only color and surface and the things are only tricks or devices to draw in the viewer to what I am really doing.
f: huh?
Me: Its a submarine.

I can't wait until Maisy is born. I can feel her kick around from time to time. We have a very clear ultrasound picture that shows her little face. My paintings are being influenced by Maisy already, toys and children's books are directing the imagery.

For some strange reason I have become interested in learning to walk a tight rope wire. It took me a good week to figure out how and where to put the wire up, as well as a few spills when I under estimated my weight. The wire is up and I have been mastering the line. It feels so good to be out on the wire, above the ground with little between. The next step is to take it further and higher, and then join the circus.