From the Studio
June 2026
The last few months have marked an important transition in my creative life.
Although I've spent years making photographs, this season has been about fully committing myself to painting. Looking back, the change feels less like leaving one medium behind and more like allowing years of observation to find a different form of expression. I explore that journey more fully in From Witness to Maker, but each day in the studio continues to deepen my understanding of why that transition felt necessary.
One of the things I've learned this month is that paintings rarely become what I imagine when I first begin them. Most start with little more than a gesture, a color, a texture, or a mark. From there, the work develops through response rather than prediction. Some paintings move forward with surprising clarity. Others resist every decision I make. I've come to appreciate both experiences equally.
The studio has become a place where uncertainty is no longer something to overcome. Instead, it has become part of the process itself. Every layer changes the meaning of the layers beneath it, and every revision opens new possibilities. The more I paint, the more I realize that patience isn't simply waiting. It's remaining present long enough for the work to reveal something unexpected. That idea has become central to my practice and is something I explore further in The Importance of Process in Contemporary Art.
I've also been thinking a great deal about memory. We rarely remember experiences as complete images. What remains are fragments, textures, colors, atmosphere, and feeling. That realization continues to influence the way I approach abstraction. Rather than illustrating specific places or moments, I'm increasingly interested in creating paintings that feel experienced rather than observed. Much of that thinking eventually found its way into Atmosphere in Contemporary Painting, but in the studio it continues to evolve with every canvas.
Outside the studio, I've been completing the written foundation for this website. The essays have become more than explanations of the work. They've become another part of the practice itself. Writing has helped me understand ideas that were already present in the paintings but hadn't yet found language.
My hope is that these monthly studio reflections will become an ongoing record of that evolution. Rather than presenting only finished work, I want to document the questions, discoveries, and occasional uncertainties that shape the paintings along the way. Years from now, I hope these entries will provide an honest record of how the work developed over time.
For now, the focus remains simple.
Show up.
Pay attention.
Remain curious.
Trust the work.
Everything else grows from there.
Looking Ahead
July will be spent continuing several large-scale paintings currently in progress while exploring new relationships between texture, atmosphere, and scale. I'm looking forward to seeing where the work leads next.
Related Essays
The Importance of Process in Contemporary Art
Atmosphere in Contemporary Painting
Studio location: Austin, Texas