After six months of Covid 19 and in the middle of both personal and professional crisis, I find myself at a crossroads. For almost five decades I have been focused on a singular goal of building a body of work. And like so many others questioning what will happen and how do I stay in the game to live-fight-thrive another day?

The difference I see now is, how do we reach to the other side? That is not just Covid, but every aspect of this practice and journey as an artist. Fear has always been part of the deal, “risk it all for art sake again and again; over and over…” And what about the painting? How do you reach to the other side of “shallow, weak and repetitive…” or past the “uninspired, unfulfilled, under-utilized and unrealized potential?”

Beside the financial pressures of sales and overhead, again where is the other side and how to reach for it? To be or not to be… that is still the question most on my mind. In an effort “to be,” maybe even “be normal,” I sometimes must force myself to paint, to create, to dream, until I awaken that happy place that gives me that indescribable feeling of freedom and hope.

 
Then it is easy! With this hope comes gratitude, and with that comes certainty. Though I am not free! Not free of the pressures of sales, the pressures of cash-flow and the incredibly debilitating fear of ruin that comes with it. But I paint because like always, I must!

This new body of work reflects this process which has shifted from the vision of first knowing what I was going to make and clearly seeing it before I do it, to a more consistent blind trust to go further than I have before without expectation or boundaries. It is like reaching to the other side of the unknown and not seeing nor expecting to see the end game. It is the unknown product and the unknown future that has driven this body of work, pushing every envelope in color, technique, composition, and content.

It is with great pleasure and gratitude that introduce this new volume to my body of work.