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Antecedent Photo for
Sidewalk Horses Brought to Water
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A number of people have asked me about process: how I make the art I do.
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There is only one consistent answer: presence. It's always the first step.
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I've found IF I can take a moment in my day to see what's around me – and note my sensory experience– that's the finest first step.
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In my case, I take photos of places and things that arrest my attention on multiple levels. This sidewalk patch above did just that. Of course, later in the day I was also pulled over by a motorcycle cop for lapsed registration, but that wasn't an arrest, just a fine.
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When I saw this bit of cement, I was walking on my street, thinking about grocery lists, demands on my time, and where I was going, when my awareness was caught by this condensed cacophony of subtle colors and well-placed textures. I went by it, then turned back to take this photo.
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This micro-world in this pavement was so gorgeous, with a suite of greys and taupe with rust, deep cracks, sky grey-blue, green, and fallen leaves, it required a better look.
And honestly, I feel this photo, if you really look at it, is visually satisfying enough to be called "art." The textures are rich, the painted line above a boundary. An "eye" in the middle says "water." Now I'm not so sure that's the word. It probably says something else. Tell me if you figure it out.
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Turns out, accuracy doesn't matter in art.
Also turns out, having a large sphere of gorgeous geographic areas to meander doesn't matter in art-making either. You can find beauty 50 feet from your house. I generally prefer a larger, more expansive world, but I'll make art wherever I am.
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I can almost feel the workers who made this gorgeous grungy rectangle happen over time: the utility workers, the town and zoning company, the patch-it master. The story of how this all happened to this chunk of cement: clearly a non-standard job.
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Maybe the history of road workers deserves the credit for initiating and stewarding the art below? They won't get personal credit, but I appreciate them nonetheless.
I've chosen this practice, using only a phone camera and markup tools to keep me paying attention to what's around me, to record my sense of wonder, and to create a visual language that can be shared with others. Fewer tools = traveling lighter.
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My phone photo library is full of these moments: something I saw, and something I made of it.
And this is not so different than what most of us have in our photo libraries. Mine just tend to include inner experiences and personal vision as I transform photos of place into complex weaving of meaning, marks, and concepts.
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While drawing on the photo later, a singular understanding emerges, along with references to other things that matter to me. In this case, the drawing brought into recollection a verbal expression I heard as a kid:
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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
I love expressions. And how they play in the spaces between place, words and images, light, nature and time. Weaving all these things together helps my left + right brain do a little dance.
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More on the "markup" drawing process another time and the dance of this kind of art.
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Sidewalk horses brought to water
markup on photo October 2026
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More Text & Images
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Anchors Away
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There was a time when women undergoing spiritual transformation could take a vow of stability of place, and hole up – practically – in a cell in a church for the rest of their lives. Here they served a spiritual advisory role in their community. The "stability" was provided by a small cell with three windows: one for servants to …
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Categories: Culture, History, Mommess, Research & Development, Search Research, Spirtuality, Uncategorized
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Over-Unders for the Sandwich Generation
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IE the gamble of choosing material renunciation as a middle-class, middle-generation American. Sitting here squarely in a middle class "sandwich generation," I've noticed a few things. Trying to build value, tend to the needs of two elderly parents, being mindful of other elder's needs too, and raising two kids to be functional members in a middle class+ community. Yeah, it's …
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Categories: Culture, Family, Mommess, Money, Uncategorized
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Some content on my site is political, some personal, much of it philosophical, and all of it meant to shine some light into the lives of my readers, because it was written to shine light into mine.
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POLITICAL ACTION AREA: It's best to connect with your local civic groups, and show up in the ways you can. Peaceful crowd sizes matter, as does your positive energy, community spirit, and adherence to non-violence.
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