Peaches. On the beach. You know she has company because – well, all those give-away footprints in the sand.

Althought footprints can last awhile, even in sand, you know we are there with her. With Peaches.

And that feeling of “with” comes with my art making as well. I sit down to create and I am with the viewer. At first.

At first, I’m considering “Who’s this for? How do I make it work for that person/those people?”

And then I’m off. And the longer I work, the more it becomes me relating to me. Me more and more deeply immersed.

Philip Guston once wrote about this phenomenon. That when he began to paint, he could hear the voices of everyone he knew chiming in to comment. But the longer he painted, the quieter it became.

As I see it, that quietness is the kernel. It’s the center. The self that is in the art. The self that becomes imbedded in the work. Inseparable. Which then goes out to be shared with the intended viewer.

At it’s core, it’s love. Love put into the art. Love shared with the outside world.

Art can do that.