Originally published 092123

It is a serious drawback to me in writing, and still more in explaining myself, that I do not so easily think in words as otherwise. It often happens that after being hard at work, and having arrived at results that are perfectly clear and satisfactory to myself, when I try to express them in language I feel that I must begin by putting myself upon quite another intellectual plane. I have to translate my thoughts into a language that does not run very evenly with them. I therefore waste a vast deal of time in seeking for appropriate words and phrases, and am conscious, when required to speak on a sudden, of being often very obscure through mere verbal maladroitness, and not through want of clearness of perception. That is one of the small annoyances of my life.
— Jacques Hadamard / The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field

Fumbling with words is one way I try to work things out.

At some point, I click the scary button.

I don’t pretend to understand how you or anyone else processes information, but rereading (and revising) after publishing helps me imagine.

You know, because once it’s online, someone could read it.

That’s how it’s worked for me since I first uploaded my thoughts.

Scary then. Scary now. Life is full of scary (necessary) moments.

Early 1999

A reader emailed thanks and a helping hand:

It’s per se, not per say.

Life is also full of positive-sum exchanges.

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Context: I’ve wrestled with analog and digital reflections for most of my life. (And I’ve been pinned more times than I can count.)

A friend gave me Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Artist Within for my 33rd birthday. It brimmed with quotes (like Hadamard’s small annoyance) that sang to my soul. The book was (and is) a life preserver. (One of many.)

Featured Image: Moment of Clarity. That’s from a series of (mid to late teens) experiments I called Masterpixels. The process began with a 10-pixel-by-10-pixel sample from a low-resolution version of the Mona Lisa. The process is easy to grasp, but tricky to control.

This result began with the same 100 pixels:

A low-res Vermeer provided the 100 pixels that led here:

Something from (almost) nothing.

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