There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Is it always the way that when we find some liberty in our lives then Fear rears its hideous strength? A force that wants to keep us entrapped and cowering. The greatest projectionist, fear is. And Fear doesn’t hold back, it doesn’t hold any punches. It does not want any of us to go forward, to grow out of its grasp.
And that is the perfect response - to get out. To outmaneuver the volley, and not merely by a show of force or even a compulsory tête-à-tête.
Such a deft response to the fear of failure requires a solid foundation and the resolve to press onward.
It requires flexibility. And I am thankful to have found some versatility in my approach to painting - through further exploring those elements I most appreciate about art-making: deepening my affinity for natural lighting, developing tonality, building atmosphere with layers, and creating a presence in my works. I abided in the crucible of taking risks and making “mistakes” with my artwork. And I embraced the newfound malleability by investing in better tools and materials to help me push my technical and creative bounds.
And these motivations have only made supple and enriched my endeavor to generate the art I’m most moved and compelled to create. To build a body of work that examines the Majesty in the mundane.
This painting came from my musing of my first winter in McKinney, absorbing the beautifully grey and rainy patches of open land near our home. I used thin washes of paint with a severely limited palette to capture the cold and damp atmosphere enshrouding the dormant trees.
