We had a lesson early on in our college art class — drawing the negative space. It took a minute to get going. It was hard not to focus on simply the subject. But once in the habit, viewing the space all around, I could see how it not only shaped the subject, but was actually a subject in and of itself, and not just a void.

This is one of the lessons that I continue to learn. Or rather try. I keep trying to learn. And not surprisingly in the studio, but mostly in the mirror. The subject is often a feeling. And, OH, what strong subjects those feelings can be! Real show stoppers!!! When I can take a moment, a breath, a real look at it, I can see it. All that is surrounding me. Bending me this way and that way. Altering. Pushing even. It is then I have a decision to make. (We have a decision to make.) Do we let our surroundings envelop us, all this negative space — (and wow, isn’t that obvious) — or do we take up the space? Filling it with all that we know of ourselves. Of each other. The things we know for sure. The difference between right and wrong. 

I was reminded yesterday, working on my new piece. He has a smile, a smirk even, and it’s hard to get it right. I make the smallest adjustments. And when it comes to life, when he comes to life, it is because I find it from within him. You can maybe force a laugh, but a smirk, that’s all from inside. 

It’s where I find peace. In the studio. It’s my space. But it’s more than that. It’s how I take up that space. Within all this becoming, I can quiet the din of destruction in the news, in the world, and just be. As much as it tries to press against me, us, I hold strong. We hold strong. Taking up the space, with kindness. With love. With truth. With basic human goodness. 

We must hold strong.