This piece is the return I made from using the graphite/paint process that I used for the Burn series. I think Burn…might be finished. After living with the paintings for a while, they just seemed too decorative, and too much like I was painting around things rather than actually painting. I went back to just working through a canvas with color, and this image showed up in two days – first thing I painted of note in a newer, larger studio spaced I moved into from my tiny 10 x 10 foot closet. That was a great place to get started, but I’m no longer wondering if I am an artist. I am.

It’s worth mentioning that I had been sick all of September and most of October of 2021, and this painting marked the first time I had felt well enough to both think and paint at the same time afterwards. I think that’s why it’s a successful and meaningful work. It marks me knowing how to go forward after working myself in a corner with Burn, and appreciating being able to do the physical work of large scale painting.