Daytalking (from Completely in the Dark), Nightwalking (courtesy of ShinyRobot), and Stargazing (again, CITD).

Just You Wait and See

“Nothing” is always something. It’s just that sometimes you can’t see it.

“Small” says, “nothing is always nothing.”

“Big” says, “Just you wait and see.”

Expanding, going big. Or shrinking — and feeling small.

“Artists can be frustrating because they sift through a lot of ‘the nothing’ in search of The Something.”

This is where I’ve got to start, because I’ve struggled between those two states for most of my life. I try to create things even as I catch glimmers of what they might become beyond the blank paper, gessoed canvas, empty wall, computer screen with blinking cursor — through all the smoke, dust, and uncertainty. Artists can be frustrating because they sift through a lot of “the nothing” in search of The Something. That throws up a lot of smoke and dust and more uncertainty — and it isn’t a clean and easy process.

Which takes us back to the “small” and the “big”: fear (“uncertainty”) is small, courage (“sifting”) is large. The former drains you, burns like acid from inside, reducing you a cringing mess; the latter fills you to the top of your being, radiating out and wrapping its arms around the whole wide world.

So, here’s how I stumbled upon the artwork I created over 30 years ago, “The Something” that…