The Method to Do Almost Everything

Mary Magdalene’s Kiss

When I draw the Magdalene, I don’t know exactly what she will look like. I start with a basic method of preparatory lines and shapes, and then add more final lines and shading. I’m not looking at a picture or caring if it’s realistic. I just draw what seems to want to come out.

It’s not an act of imagination, it’s an act of trust that something will emerge out of the process.

I no longer draw every day, as in 2024, but I miss it. It’s a habit that never left me and that nudges me back every day at a certain hour. I ignore it because I got scared of getting sick. It’s not rational, but I can only remember the sensation of exhaustion mixed with elation. I don’t want to end up again where it led me, the hospital.

But if I accept that I can start a drawing today, and finish it next week, then I could draw every day without fear.

I once made a mosaic mural made of many thousand little pieces. I had no idea how I would finish it. And then I decided I could complete one square foot per day.

And I finished it on time.

Every task we want or need to do can be divided into little pieces.

My third mosaic mural at PS57 in New York City. I don’t remember the measurements but it is approximately 6” x 17”. Much bigger than me.