Honing In
Honing In, Cary Campbell Umhau, Alcohol ink and Posca pen
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Of course our days are as grounded as they ever were. And as transcendent. We flounder and float as we always did, going between the mundane and the sublime, the street level and the someday-fulfilled Kingdom views. Yet the balance feels off in this odd year, this liminal space between what we once thought was normal and “beyond the vaccine.” I’ve been finding comfort in really tangible, daily things. I’ve found that when my mind is wandering, my concentration is hard-won, and there is temptation to anxiety, something that demands my full attention is soothing. Experimenting with a new art form, alcohol ink and Posca pen, has been a balm. Seeing where the colors go, how they blend or don’t, what I can control and what I must accept… it’s a comfort to tend to only what’s on the paper. And then the finishing touches of pen applied to paint in tiny little strokes… well it’s an antidote to being too lofty, too “out there,” too abstract. It’s here and now, color and line, and in the time it takes to do the project, nothing else matters.
