Fixation

In the mass of the day, nothing remains neutral for long. Everything gravitates toward form. What scatters around me begs to be picked up, moved, connected, drawn back toward a denser center. The momentum began without waiting for me. A force keeps me there, rooted in the warmth of that same call. In the desire to continue. In a kind of quiet hunger that wants to swallow nothing. Only to hold onto the point that captures me. To stay close to what is still warm. Artist’s Note: The beaver presented itself as an obvious choice. Before the dam is built, there is a fully engaged focus, a constant return to the same point, a desire to seize what is available and begin to give it form. As I painted it, I recognized the place that creation holds in my attention. It continues its work while I do other things, drawing in ideas, images, and materials, then constantly bringing me back to what remains to be built. In *Héritage*, the beaver embodies the ancient ability to transform its environment, driven by a need that is hard to shake. *Fixation* speaks of a visceral intensity, a desire to build that holds its grip until the form finally exists in reality and begins to exert an influence on its surroundings.