Silence of the Deep Layers

I painted this work in alternation with Out at Sea, the Light. Inspired by a few days spent at Le Bic, gazing at the majestic St. Lawrence River. Once back in my studio, I sought to feel within myself its vastness, its power, the majesty of its skies. It was too vast, and I wanted too much: too much to please, too quickly… The canvas did not respond. I set it aside for a while to immerse myself in Out at Sea, the Light. Above all, I needed to let go of my expectations. When I returned to it, it whispered to me and reminded me once again to seek nothing, to want nothing, to step back, to look at it, to breathe, to quiet my mind, and to calmly receive whatever my essence was willing to reveal to me. Silence is also an answer. Standing before this work, I still receive the silence that embraces me with open arms and asks nothing of me, just like the river that inspired it in the first place. I receive that silence here, in a slow alignment between the forces of nature and my gaze, in the great movements of the sky that traverse the canvas and seem to penetrate the earth.