For me, painting is a way of loving the world

I try not to overthink it, less analysis, more doing

I have never fully understood money, or what the world calls success

But I have made paintings that brought me joy, and that has been enough to keep going

Living as an artist is not easy

It can be uncertain, sometimes painful

The external rewards are small

Most of what it gives is internal

I have always wanted it enough to continue, even when the path is unclear

From the outside, it may look like failure

But it can still be a meaningful life

A painting takes time

I move slowly, letting it unfold

I don’t try to control it too much

I let the brush and the canvas lead me somewhere I didn’t expect

Craft matters, but mostly as a way of sensing when something begins to feel alive

Each painting becomes its own small world

I went to art school and learned how to think as an artist

But I have always simply been a maker

I couldn’t help it

I loved color

And truthfully, I never really learned how to paint in a formal way

I kept improvising, following color the way one follows music

Color cannot be eaten or drunk

It can only be taken in with the eyes

Maybe that is part of its mystery

Sometimes I look at my work later and it feels unfamiliar

I’m not always sure if I like it

But I stay curious

It often feels like a balance between order and chaos

Progress in art is rarely clear

It grows slowly, almost quietly, through experience

Thinking alone never resolves a painting

Something only happens once you begin

For me, art is a way of participating in the world

A way of paying attention

A small connection

When I make something or when I encounter art, I come a little closer

To others, to the world, to being human

In that sense, making art feels like a quiet, generous act

N.T. March 2026, Los Angeles, California