I don’t balance my personal life and my creative endeavors, because my creative endeavors are my personal life. I don’t take time off from being me in order to paint or make pottery. If anything, it’s the opposite. The squirt guns and Marco Polo that happen in the shallow end of the pool are a distraction from the life giving vents I find down deep.

That’s what creating art feels like to me.

The noise and demands of the world outside disappear and I lose track of time.

I never know what I might find down there on the bottom, or floating or swimming by. It might be something beautiful or scary or sad. Whatever it is, it’s ok. It’s something that’s inside me. I may not understand it yet, and that’s a good reason to have a nice long look.