“Trickster” (left) and “Sacrificial,” while the latter was in-progress

A: It is fascinating to play around with scale. For starters, it helps demonstrate how my pastel techniques and my approach to the subject matter are evolving. I’ve noticed that I always see and depict more details the second time around.

Typically, I prefer the second pastel painting over the first one depicting the same subject. Man Ray famously said:

“There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it.”

I disagree with him. I am an optimist who believes that artists cannot help but improve over time. It’s one of the things that gets me into my studio: the idea that my creative process and my ways of using pastel are changing for the better. I like to think this represents some sort of creative progress. But still I sometimes have to wonder, is the idea of ‘progress’ just something artists tell ourselves in order to keep going?

Comments are welcome!