Making From What’s Left

I’ve been thinking a lot about how art changes when life falls apart and you’re left rebuilding from the ground up. I used to create because I wanted to make something impressive or beautiful. Now I make things because I need to.

When everything familiar breaks down, people, plans, stability, the work becomes the one honest thing left. It’s how I track time, how I stay present. Every painting feels like proof that I’m still here, still trying.

I’ve realized you don’t need to wait until you feel ready or healed to create. You can build from the wreckage. You can use what’s left, scraps of wood, old paint, fragments of ideas, and let that be the foundation for something new. That’s what my process has become, turning what’s broken into something solid, something alive.

If there’s any advice in this, it’s that you don’t need to be in a good place to start. You just need to start. Creation isn’t about perfection, it’s about momentum.