This image came from a vivid dream of a rattlesnake. It was folded, not coiled, into four quarters and tied with four cords.

This week I have had a chance to reflect on how my love for mythology and my Buddhist training influence my process of making.

There are two kinds of journeys we all make. The first is the journey you can map. Your destination is clear, the map will show you the shortest way from here to there. The second is the journey where you go by instinct. Not even a compass will help you. (Nancy Willard, The Left-Handed Story)

There is a lot of talk about the confidence it takes to be a maker, but Christoph Niemann points out the necessity of insecurity.

It has been a long time since I have read Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness and his reference to fruitful monotony. I am thinking of it this morning, as my period of retreat with my paintings will soon come to an end.

Handwriting is returning to its ancient magic– now that keyboards are dominant, young people are fascinated with hand written forms.

Detail from Justice, Laurie Doctor

The herald, or announcer of the adventure...is often dark...or terrifying; ...yet if one could follow, the way would be opened through the walls of the day into the dark where the jewels glow. *

This painting is part of a series I am working on. There will be 22 paintings representing each of the Major Arcana of the Tarot. For those of you unfamiliar with the Tarot, arcana means secret. The archetypal images in a Tarot deck, for example– The Hermit– have no fixed meaning, but just as in a dream, have a particular message for you each time you choose this card. One discovers the meaning of the image in a similar way that you go about unraveling a dream. A good painting operates by the same process: you discover something new each time you see it.