I’m in the middle stages of a new painting. From time to time I have to stop and take a photo of the work, otherwise it just becomes a series of shapes. If I stay focusing on just these tiny pieces, they become very hard to unsee, and I can lose the whole. 

I suppose the danger at large is in real life. It is so easy to grab hold of these tiny pieces. Latch on to one thing and then assume. These small pieces are often the ones with little hooks, maybe even sharp edges, so it’s simple, I’ll give you that.  And it’s ironic, these little things that make us so unsure, can give us such certainty. Like, she’s divorced, so she must be… or he’s a democrat, so he has to be… he’s old, she’s blonde, they don’t speak our language, he’s elite, she’s too young, he’s too fat, they’re the wrong religion, the wrong color, they’re just so… oh, the tiny pieces. 

If we want to be more, we have to see more. Step back. Stop naming and defining each piece, and instead see the person. When all the tiny pieces are placed together, they’re not so sharp after all. It takes a lot of shapes to make a puzzle. A lot of strokes to make a painting. So it is with people. 

“And if we did, see past it all…If you saw that I am not just my face, but all that I have faced…and if I did that for you…