Valerie Brennan interviews painter Ward Schumaker about his work and studio practice.

Schumaker remarks: "I like to work on a very defined, consistent group… then follow that with a group of things that veer wildly in different directions… Most important and most uncomfortable is that once a direction is decided upon, I have to be willing to drop it when that Other Thing takes over – intuition, divine guidance, whatever you call it – that thing that almost everyone I respect seeks: the moment when one feels he/she is not in control, that something separate or higher or deeper or more knowledged has taken over."