I am trying very intentionally to move on from both larger format acrylics and small watercolors. My goal over the coming months is to produce more, smaller acrylics.

This first one (9×12 on birch board), from a friend’s stunning photo of the night sky from beneath live oaks, took me an unacceptable amount of time futzing with the right sky color and capturing the varying amounts of light in the sky. Once I stopped working on the sky and starting filling in the stars and trees, I was done in under a few hours. I may return to this to try and even out the light distribution and wisps of nighttime “fog,” but I also may not.

Moving through and Moving on are themes from my several past years of learning to paint. I’ve learned the lesson so many times — stopping to dwell, to “over paint,” to seek perfection in a world where there is no such thing and truly no reason to pursue it — these are not valuable activities. My “best work” comes from the spontaneity, the “feeling” of the work. And my “best experience” as a painter comes ultimately from knowing when to move through and to move on.

No doubt this is a reflection of Life, and so I won’t dwell on it. Knowing when to just let the line play out (oh now I’m on a fishing metaphor!), knowing when to step back, knowing when to walk away (and, as the song goes, “know when to run!”) are all so important.

As humans, I think it is our natural tendency to stop and stare, to ponder “how can I fix this,” to stay on stage far far too long and then bend toward an awkward exit.

But there is so much more still to paint! So much more art still inside to come out!

And so, time to move on.