running on empty

darkness is falling early now, the nights cool with the feel of dampness that means the heavy dew of fall is here

it always surprises me how the slightest nuance of change in nature can register and I know a shift has happened even before the results materialize

sometime its like that with my work... I can feel something in me has changed even though it hasn't manifested in the work just yet

but like Fall, I know its coming

this morning whilst doing my daily writing I felt restless, and when that feeling comes over me I know i'm in need of a clearing out of sorts though I had nothing in particular in mind

as I thought about that my eye fell on a piece of work I had just finished, some painting of the ice along the river, another re-visiting of that winter landscape

trouble was, there was just too much of the landscape in it, as if I was trying to cram every detail... guard-rail, river, icy windrows, trees, rocks - you name it, it was there

and I right away thought my drawings were what was in need of a purge

 in that moment something in my head clicked

I have been trying to simplify my drawings for a long time but have found it difficult to do that, losing my way time after time, but perhaps if I can think about it from the other way around, as a removal, that might make more sense to me

what I can erase... what can be taken away

how much can go before it's too empty?

and so I isolated, chopped, and trimmed

so much easier to decide what to remove than what not to include

the drawings I want need only enough to tell the story I want to share

and not be weighed down with what doesn't