June 23, 2020

To paint like a child

As adults who have learned about the world, we carry a version of it that’s influenced by our loves and fears, our likes and hates. These things make us who we are. They influence the decisions we make, the risks we take, and the stories we tell ourselves about the life we’ve led. They also influence the art we make, and how we make it.

It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child. – Pablo Picasso

Perhaps the pursuit of art is about unlearning what we know and what we’re afraid of. To put aside what people think we should or shouldn’t do and take the selfish time to discover who we were before we learned how to exist as adults in the world that may not be made for us.

Other observations
January 7, 2025

Every drawing is a raffle ticket

Until I’ve put an idea on a page, it’s nothing more than an idea – something that’s difficult to see, hold, and connect with.

December 31, 2024

A conversation with a pencil

If a pencil could talk, what would it say to you? Nothing, I suspect, if you don’t use it.

December 24, 2024

I believe in you

Are there any set of words that one human can say to another that have a more profound effect than these?

December 17, 2024

A siren’s song

Social media is a siren’s song – of scale, of connection, of ‘monetisation’, of a valuable way to spend time. Might there be a better way?

View all