Traces of Time – Preparing for Exhibition at the Reboli Center

Traces of Time – Preparing for Exhibition at the Reboli Center

The piece I’m preparing to exhibit at the Reboli Center is titled “Traces of Time.”
While painting this work, I found myself quietly immersed in something beyond the forest itself--
I was painting the weight of presence,
the silent accumulation of years.

This watercolor painting, sized 12 x 16 inches, captures the dense heart of an old forest.
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Twisting roots, entangled vines, and diffused light filter through layered trees--
every detail holds a memory.
What may appear still is, in truth, alive with movement:
the slow motion of time,
the quiet persistence of life,
and the gentle imprint of what has passed.

I’m not painting to show something to the world.
I’m painting in order to live.

The central tree in this work doesn’t speak, but it tells everything.
Its roots hold not only the earth, but perhaps myself,
and all the people and moments that have moved through my life.

As I painted,
a realization came quietly over me:
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“I’m not painting to show something to the world.
I’m painting in order to live.”
There was a shift.
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No longer am I seeking admiration or validation.
Now, creating is my breath,
and painting has become a way to listen to myself,
to hold space for what I feel but cannot say.

I placed my signature quietly in the bottom left corner,
not as a declaration, but as a whisper--
something that belongs to the painting as gently as a fallen leaf belongs to the forest floor.
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I hope that when someone stands before this work,
they, too, can pause.
Feel time.
And perhaps sense how my time and theirs intersect for just a moment.