If artists and writers are honest however, we will tell you that often we have no idea what we are doing. Most of us rely on a combination of skills, experience and sheer determination to realize a painting or piece of writing. We experiment. We tinker. We “see what happens”. Photographer Sally Mann calls hers a “magpie aesthetic,” scavenging whatever happens to be around to capture with her camera.

Famed dancer and choreographer, Agnes de Mille once said, "The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark"

This "being in the dark" is a familiar—but not altogether ferocious—fiend in between the precious few moments of clarity. The dark, as I have discovered, can be a quiet refuge, as a womb, just biding time waiting for birth.