Liminal Time
Whole Artist Mastery
Work in Progress: Collaborating with Reality, oil on panel, 36” sq.
Living between “I need to know” and “I need to let it all go” is a lifelong practice. Yet for most of us, living in this liminal space can also be a lifelong challenge.
The human drive to define the immeasurable and concretize uncertainty, holds us back from wandering into “grey space” - liminal time that fertilizes our imagination and allows our inner alchemy to do it’s thing.
Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun who has devoted her life to teaching people how to make friends with liminality - how to be “Comfortable With Uncertainty” embrace “When Things Fall Apart” and “Welcoming the Unwelcome” - all titles of books Pema has written over the last two decades.
Pema was a recent guest on the Ezra Klein podcast - sponsored by the New York Times - and as I listened to their conversation it became apparent to me that her approach to life totally correlates with the process of making an abstract painting. I see the same connection in her book titles.
I believe that living in liminality is at the heart of making whole abstract paintings, which is a quintessential co-creation between the intangible unknown realm, and tangible concrete reality.
So… back to painting!
Wishing you a productive liminal time in your studio.
Listen to This Is Why I Find Pema Chödrön So Essential HERE
Check outbooks by Pema Chödrön HERE
