The Space Before the Mark

There’s a brief pause before every true mark — that suspended second where the hand waits for the mind to let go. That’s the space I live for.

In that moment, everything feels possible. The world hasn’t yet decided what it wants to be. The charcoal hasn’t chosen its line. The chaos hasn’t found its rhythm. That in-between — before form, before decision — is where the real work happens.

Teaching reminds me of this every day. I watch students hesitate, hover, breathe — that sacred space of almost — and I remember that art isn’t about control. It’s about learning to live inside the pause, trusting that the next gesture will reveal something worth seeing.

“Developed through a collaborative process between the artist and AI (ChatGPT), then refined through personal editing and intuition.”