Doing the Practice

I start with a blank square staring at me. I then feel in: What wants to appear? What wants to be expressed? What wants to be known? 

Most of the time I actually “see” something in my mind’s eye – a color, a shape, a pattern. That’s my starting point, trying to get it out from my mind’s eye and onto the page. 

Sometimes I don’t see or feel anything at all. Remembering that it’s a task and I don’t have a choice (self-imposed, of course!), I then close my eyes and grab a random pen and start doing something with it on the page. That is usually enough to “see” what wants to come next. 

When I first started making circles, I used pencil. I graduated to crayon then colored pencils then colored pens to oil pastels. Then I discovered Tom Bow watercolor pens. There’s so much you can do with watercolor pens! 

I’ve been committed to working with those pens ever since. It’s my self-imposed constraint (stay curious about what they’re capable of). That said, if I’m called to use another medium, that’s fine, too. 

I’m committed to keeping the task simple. I generally don’t spend more than 5-10 minutes on them.