A studio practice for someone making art is not unlike other professional practices, say, for instance, the medical or legal fields, wherein one set of factors is controlled (materials, space, surface, etc.) and another is unknown (the outcome), and so the terms are set for experimentation to take place within an historical framework. Painting is like alchemy, a subtle balancing of chemistry and light so that matter might be transformed into something universal. One learns the use of the material, paint, in much the same way that one learns a language. But the difference between being able to say something (to ask for food when you are hungry, for example) versus being able to express a thought or a feeling in poetry, is all a matter of time, skill, and perseverance.