Hm...sounds a lot like life.

This photo above is not really a painting of mine.  It was a phase during the life of one painting that now looks absolutely nothing like this image.  But I had to document it because, during my baby's childhood - and yes, I do refer to my paintings as my kids - this particular moment, I thought, was especially captivating; trails of paint on the canvas, with the sun streaking across it's face.  I almost wanted to stop right here.  But I kept going: first, because I didn't have the courage, and second, because I knew there was a bigger story I wanted to tell.  

Here are the things I've learned from painting.

1.  If you don't lay a proper foundation, all the work you do has to be repeated.

2. It is impossible to duplicate.  You can get something close, but even the flies who kamakaze into your painting will tell you it's not the same.

3.  You start off with one thing, and it looks good, but you know you'll feel like a cop-out if you don't take it to where you know it needs to go.

4.  When you spend a lot of time on it, it shows.  When you don't, that shows, too.

5.  When you've thought a lot about it, it shows.  When you haven't, that shows, too.

6.  Color is everything.

7.  You have to be fearless in your exploration.

8.  You cannot judge either the process nor the finished product, because if you do, you won't want to continue.

9.  Having said that, you should still, always, retain standards, and raise them, constantly.

10.  If you allow yourself to get comfortable, you're going to feel like s***, and your stuff is going to look like s***. 

11.  You have to take chances in order to get anything good.

12.  You also have to know when to stop.

13.  Sometimes you labor and labor and it's genius; and sometimes, it takes one little squeeze from a tube, and it's genius.  Don't sweat the former, and don't diminish the latter, because the best pieces tend to be a combination of these two. 

14.  You have to clean your tools constantly, or you're not giving each new work it's clean, fresh chance.  

15.  Wear the proper attire.

16.  Make sure there's fresh air circulating.

17.  Heed your instincts, because they're all you've got.

18.  You tend not to have a desire when you don't have the material with which to express. 

19.  I wouldn't know, but it's probably a lot like birth: the idea is pleasurable, but it's painful until it's completely out. 

20.  You can always paint over.