offering

Offering is a new series I’ve recently begun. The images here were originally inspired by my daily I Ching consultations. Each morning, after my formal Zen meditation practice, I ask the I Ching, What is my practice today? Unlike some of the other work I’ve done in dialogue with the I Ching—often inspired by the six-line structure of the hexagram or the cryptic poetry of the text—these paintings emerged from a different kind of visualization. Despite the richly varied responses I receive, what I kept seeing were bowls: sometimes empty, sometimes full; sometimes still, sometimes moving.

Eventually, I began to imagine a narrative, a story of life — emergence, plenitude, generosity, loss, shattering, and repair: my life, for sure; but maybe yours too.

I’m not used to painting objects, and I’m certainly not trained in rendering them. So this series asked something different of me: a slower, more deliberate attention. A practice of patience, resilience, persistence.