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This is one in a series of abstract mixed media vignettes. As I was completing them I stumbled upon a video of Elvis Presley’s performance of Unchained Melody (June 21, 1977). It was one of his last live performances and has become legendary. The performance came to mind often as I worked on the last few paintings in the series so I have titled each of them with a synonym for “unchained.” It also seems appropriate to do so because working in the way I did on these paintings unchained me from the habitual way I had been working.

For twenty years I sought to enter the state of “mushin” when I paint without fully understanding what I was seeking or having a name for it. Then I stumbled on the name and found resources that helped me understand it and enter it at will. Mushin is a Japanese term and Zen expression, also used in martial arts. It refers to the mental state, the mindset, I seek when painting. In that state I rely not on thought and judgment, but on my trained instinct or what I feel intuitively in a moment. In English, mushin means “no mind.” It is shorthand for the term “mushin no shin” which means “mind without mind.” In the state of mushin the mind is not empty, but is free of distractions such as planning, analysis, criticism, fear,...