This painting came without a plan.
Shapes appearing and dissolving, branches, color, movement… and then a hand holding a clock.
As I often do with paintings, I sat with it later to wonder what it wanted to tell me.
While painting, I am not trying to get anywhere.
Not measuring.
Not evaluating.
Just following what wants to emerge.
And in those moments, something else becomes available.
A lightness.
A quiet sense of being here.
Joy.
Not the kind that is loud or excited.
But something more subtle.
A gentle aliveness.
This connects deeply to something I’ve been living and exploring over the years together with my friend Debbie, the founder of Joy-Based Living. A way of orienting toward life not through pressure or achievement, but by noticing what genuinely feels alive and true.
Painting is one of the places where I can sense that most clearly, where I can follow it.
Trust it.
Let it lead.
When do you feel most connected to what is quietly alive in you?
original painting
mixed media on wood panel
12 × 12 × 0.75 in (30.5 × 30.5 × 2.2 cm)
ready to hang