True abstract art does not come easily to me. Often I will take a real subject and abstract it in my own way to create something evocative but not truly representative. But fully abstract art, devoid of any recognizable subject, can be more of a struggle than anything else I try in the studio.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel for some art shows lately, and I’m always taking photos and sketches of the places I go. I find myself focusing on streets: city streets, small-town streets, seaside streets. They’re full of color and life, they can give joy or familiarity or the thrill of something unexplored.

It’s fun to decide what to sketch — some of my recent subjects have been the Rodin sculptures at the Stanford Cantor Arts Center, boats at the Coyote Point Marina, and a giant swarm of bees on the stucco of a neighbor’s house. I use a fine line pen, so no erasing, and I’m trying to make it a regular part of my practice.

There’s something obstinately unprofound about a chicken, and that makes them fun to paint. They’re slightly ridiculous in a way that’s not unserious, but which rewards a more playful, laissez-faire practice.

I find myself wrestling - somewhat literally - with watercolor, and - somewhat surprisingly for my usual amount of patience with difficult things - enjoying it. It’s a big change in medium for me. I’m used to acrylics, which are forgiving, bold, messy, and something that lets me paint and repaint and scrape back and tweak and change until I’m done.