Of the Paintings

The Living Year

A blue horse-bird made of cloth floats just above a thin horizon line. Heavy clouds and slivers of blue sky provide the background. I first saw this shape in the form of a tarp at a construction site. It was draped over scaffolding and flapping in the wind. It looked like a living creature. This way of mis-seeing is fruitful and it is everywhere. A blue horse has haunted my subconscious for years. I usually portray him in a more straightforward way, but this ambiguous being also has staying power for me. As with all of my images, I have painted it over and over.

Green Kiss 

Like an uncanny version of a Little Golden Book, a double-headed figure emerges from a gold-flecked vertical stripe. A large wooden head stretches forward as a small face protrudes from her neck. These hover over a sparkling sea. A yellow tear-drop form intrudes or escapes upon a blue speckled background. The wooden woman in this painting is frozen in a moment of time. There is something, or someone, trapped in her throat. Her voice, her creation, is stifled but is intent on becoming manifest. As still as she is, she cannot escape the expression of the components in the world around her.