Digging In...Trusting the Process

Digging in, excavating down to the heart of the matter, revealing the layers underneath, allows me to  find respite from the issues and problems on the surface  of life, as I dig in.  Sometimes when I am doing art, creating an image story, I feel like I am digging into the depths of my soul.  I work creatively in many media, but nothing seems to go  as deep as when I work in encaustic.

The nature of this media is perfect for digging in.  Tactile, and dimensional, it calls to the fingertips and aches to be touched.  After painting  and fusing  several layers of encaustic paint, the thickness of the texture of the beeswax begins to coalesce into  mountains and valleys of colored forms.  By digging into the wax, the layer just under the surface is revealed.  Light reveals dark, darkness exposes light.  A little like the soul of therapy, there is an opportunity to uncover the facade that is pervasive and brings something and hidden and new to the light of day.

When I participate in this type of excavating, I fantasize that I am on a journey through time, going back to an ancient  land, old and mysterious,  like the walls of a fresco painting, doing into the ocean of memories of ancient patterns of expression.  Making simple marks, crosses, spirals, repeated patterns of triangles, I touch into a part of my being more in touch with my instincts more open to patterns, that when repeated and combined in new ways, is in sync with a long, lost lineage.

So digging implies a process of commitment to a process.  Taking the time to go as deep as possible with out fear of failure, just following the thread of thought and experience as it reveals itself through the process.  Trusting the process, and hence trusting life.  Trusting my life.