33 Comments

When you decide that there is nothing to lose, then all that is left to do is start winning. Art can be the best engine to achieve this.

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Perfectly stated! Thanks so much!

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It's like light inside the black hole, isn't it? Perhaps there's no complete dark.

These works are stunning, Duane. I find them immensely inspirational; they give me the itch to write. I never knew just how much I loved a collage until I started viewing your work.

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"like light inside the black hole" - what visceral description! So good! yes, that's it! i can tell you how much that means to me that something I made make you want to create! That's the impetus of everything for me! Thanks again!

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My pleasure, Duane. Truly! 😊

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Well-said Duane. I like how you put this: "Underneath the disenchantment and the heartbreak, under the distrust and the anxiety, is a kind of liberation. A kind of discovery."

Such truth in this. I've found that this is something I am continually rediscovering and reminding myself of so that the point does not become a fixture. The moment the point of non-attachment becomes a fixture in the mind, it loses significance. Sort of hard to put into words. Each moment becomes its own rediscovery.

Great quote from Pema Chodron as well. Thanks for sharing

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Thanks Neil! I totally get what you're saying! It's like the moment you grasp the thing you're after, it stops being the thing you thought you needed. It's a changeling. A trickster.

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I feel the same as you do, Duane. I constantly sit between the fear of complete irrelevance and the fear of attention that starts to pressure my imagination in some way. But greater still is the fear of doing nothing, so onward we go, I suppose.

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Exactly! Doing nothing is never an option, there’s no way i could ever handle being that unoccupied.

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Créate because you are a creator. Art for the sake of art. Each creation stands on its own without needing meaning assigned.

Great thoughts, Duane!

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"Create because you are a creator." - Love that! I'd like to think that's the only meaning necessary. Thanks Rod!

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Thanks for this!

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Thanks for reading!!

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The freedom on the other side of loss--what a shift! What a place to find wholeness.

And what a truly creative space to inhabit. It shows in your work, Duane.

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“The freedom on the other side of loss” - That’s a wonderful way to put it! It’s a paradigmatic shift for sure, one that I think it’s taken me a long time to get to, and that I’m only tenuously making. But a profound even in it’s infancy.

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lovely way to wake today. thank you for the reminders

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Thanks so much! So glad it resonates!

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The best thing I could've read at 5 a m. This morning... 🙏

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Wow! Thank you! I really appreciate it!

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an escape from turning loose - I'm here for it.

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So glad you like it!

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That was my favorite, too! Love the palette--it reminds me of lichen, winter fungi, and Carolina clay.

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my favorite, as well

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Thanks so much! Something a bit different from the methods I normally use.

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Wonderful observation! I'm seeing abstract concepts, like different eras of time nudging one another and trying to be the best. And while none of them succeed in taking the crown, they all end up as necessary.

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Love that Martin! I tend to think about all of my work geologically. As layers of sediment compacted by time and pressure.

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I love it! There's a lot to unpack too, so I'm going to consider this when I look at more artworks.

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Looking forward to it!

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Don’t you love how each person sees something of themselves in a good piece of art?

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Indeed—so true!

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Much appreciated Martin!

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That is one of my absolute favorite things about making things and sharing them! I love hearing about what other people see in teh work and then seeing how it changes teh way I see the work too. It a kind of communal vision.

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Thanks Ann!! That's a great view! I've been doing a lot of experiments outside of my normal studio time with some different processes. Hoping to share more of it soon.

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