Those Paintings are Like Newborn Humans

Incomplete painting, at about week 5

Completed painting March 31, 2012. Pecan Tree Portal, Rio Frio, Texas

I was staring at the painting I've been working on for weeks and I remembered something from when my kids were newborns, something I learned slowly, and became better at understanding by the time I had my second newborn: you have to surrender to your baby. Totally. And when you do--all the answers you need are waiting and available to you. Whatever that baby needs, you can know. Some days you have to listen longer and quiet your own noise more completely, but some days it's like that baby and you are of one mind with a clean conduit of wordless information flowing in both directions.

It's like that with painting also. All the information is there. I listen, coax, create space in my mind to be able to recognize what is needed, and use it. I see the shapes in my dreams and in my waking hours and if I am still, and humble enough, it is all there, ready to access as I trust my instincts and do the work that's needed.

My daughter Ramona and I, Austin Independent School District art show. The watercolor in the background, top, is hers.

Ramona took this picture, a pomegranate flower.