….is not easy. And that is what I am shooting for: An immersive state where time seems to stop as your sense of self becomes one with the activity of creating an image.

But there are a lot of things that need to be dealt with before setting out to do a painting, like… Packing up, and working out the travel logistics, and saying goodbyes, and then actually traveling, and making the connections, and dealing with new places and new accommodations, and where am I going to get wifi? And how will I get the rental car again? (Thanks Lisbon Info-desk lady!) and meeting new people, who speak different languages, the new customs of a place, recooperating from traveling, unpacking your stuff, which wasn’t packed as well as you thought, and those paintings are going to need some touch up now, and all the new sights and sounds, kind of overwhelming, and you are supposed to pick one spot to paint, and just immerse yourself, but you gotta get groceries, and make sure you don’t get lost on your way back, and I hope I killed all those mosquitos in the room so I can get some sleep tonight, so that tomorrow I will be ready….in the morning, to pick a spot, or study a few, as drawings, or maybe I should use watercolor, or give gouache another chance, or the casein paint I brought, and am I doing illustrations, or just art? Should I focus on light and color or the cranes nesting in the power line towers or the newly skinned cork trees? The gnarly olive trees or old stone well? Who is this for anyway? What am I trying to achieve?

Well, the trance state. That way of being present in a foreign place. My way of becoming intimate and a part of. That’s what I am trying to achieve. The results are not that important.

SNEAKY DRAWINGS

ACHIEVING THE TRANCE STATE....