when stillness sets in.
i paint about an expanse of nothingness and want to capture all that is here within our primitive grasp. i paint a vision of what i think might be the sun. certainty fails me: how can one paint what one is merely trying to reach? i do not know if i capture this because when i look at the sun i am blinded by white light shining and when i breathe the sun i am full of such brilliance that i cannot imagine existence of anything physical. i am barren and all is meaningless. when i know that i cannot in any human way reproduce this, i no longer try. i try only to look for the sun in another way. the light is only broken by my hand as i put it forth in a readable way, allowing graced momentum to become visible.

in cold april, snakes and princesses came to me in a vision: a new painting began.

then, in warm july, i finished a snake painting.

october , longer visions, colder blues.

december, yellow to warm the skies.

Painted Books. I draw and paint in various old books. All the books are unique, and usually graffitied, foxed, water damaged, or otherwise unwanted. Most of the found books are waiting to be discarded, but fortunately they are discovered by me, or friends of mine.

The work in and on books combines my love of the literary and visual arts. Often the old paper, the smell, the touch and the literariness of description and knowledge inspire what I paint, and also what I paint may evoke writing from me. I am working with the poetry of journeying through an unknown land with visions of realistic desert and illusionary fountains. 

And thus each book is given new life. It is like a song to me, I read or merely imagine the page's content - the intent of the original author, and or the publisher's interpretation. I can add some writing here, some painting there. A book can contain many many paintings, it is like a giant installation of paintings and words, a compilation of individual yet cohesive pages. Each original page is inclusive to what I am painting. It folds, it opens, it makes crisp or crinkly noises unlike wall paintings, it contains a history below the surface of the new story I put upon it. Some day perhaps another creative person will chronicle more upon what I have put upon.. The changing nature of the paper and print underneath the actual oil paint is part of the character of each book. The slow and quiet ephemeral quality of these books adds to their mystery and depth.