In a way, nobody sees a flower, really,
it is so small, we haven't time—and to see takes time,
like to have a friend takes time."

- Georgia O'Keefe (Commenting on her successful flower painting)

I find that taking the time to see is the best part of my working in art. There are the new-found purples, pinks and blues of the formerly white clouds. There is the amazingly complex texture of the skin and shell of a snapping turtle, a creature which in the past was something to avoid hitting as it tried to cross the road in front of me. There are the gracefully curved horns, the bony haunches and the oddly rectangular pupils of the goat, an animal which formerly was just another farm animal.

These and a myriad of other treasures of nature have always been there but until I take the time to really see in order to capture their image in a painting or drawing, I miss their beauty and uniqueness which would make my life as an artist less rich.

And so, I take time to see what nature has to offer, and to investigate and savor all of this richness of color, texture and shape. Then I take time to create my vision of what I have seen. This means that I can’t crank out art like an assembly line. It’s a slow process. The painting or drawing that I produce becomes a journal of my time spent looking to see what is there. In painting a goat, the challenge is to capture not just the image of the goat but also a bit of its spirit, its goatishnes, and therein lies the challenge and reward of art for me.