To be an artist is to be an explorer.

(Written to: "Ngamila" by Mumford & Sons)

I love exploring in art.

Exploring different methods to achieve texture on a piece, exploring color theory, and exploring what happens if you mix different types of paint together (I'll never forget gasping the first time I mixed oil and acrylic, haha).

If all of life is an experiment, then obviously all of art is experiment.

I would have never begun my "Breathe" or "Mirror" series if I didn't want to explore the the idea of a canvas.

Does it have to be canvas or linen or cotton? Could it be something else? Could it be glass? Could it be a backwards canvas? Could it be on a mirror to affect the viewer in a way which translates with the message I am painting? 

“How can I shift and change something that, up to now, has seemed to be an immovable assumption?”

What could change? What is assumed to be static, traditional and unmoving in art? And then look at those components and ask "how can they be moved?" How can I shift and change something that, up to now, has seemed to be an immovable assumption?

If you haven't already, I urge you both as a person and as an artist to explore. I can't tell you how many weird and seemingly bizarre things I've embarked upon over the years. Interpretative dance class as an adult? Check. Late-night astronomy courses in Manhattan? Of course I did. Ballet in Brooklyn? Yup. Starting a business? You know it. 

“How do you know what you like if you don’t try it all?”

How do you know what you like if you don't try it all?

So mix your paints in a way you've never seen. Begin a painting and if you don't like it, turn it upside-down and paint from there. In the words of Nick Offerman, "ruin some raw materials."

Explore.

“Life is only full of surprises if we venture outside of what we know.”

Yourself. Your world. Your art. And your life. 

Life is only full of surprises if we venture outside of what we know.

TRISHA WILES

(written several years prior to its 2022 publish date)