What triggers my inspiration to make art?
Everything I see and experience can be a trigger. It may be a conversation, spaces in a tree between the branches making a lovely shape, the color of a sunset, the sound of a bird, the russle of leaves; I never know what it will be. But every one of my paintings tells a story of some part of my life, otherwise it couldn't exist.
My paintings are finished when they tell me their title; and their title is what it's all about. By the time I'm done, whether it's two hours, two days or two weeks later, it could be about something quite different from the original reason I started the painting. It takes on a life of its own, and I let it. The paint is appearing through my hands, but is generated by the canvas appearing in front of me.
The photo above is of me several years ago at the Invitational in Dubai painting in Emmar's huge tent they had for us. This ended up being a dyptich, which is two canvases that sit side by side, the above is just the first, fairly early on. As the paintings remained in the U.A.E. I can't tell you the title, it's written on the back, and may give some viewer an inkling into my thoughts at the time. I suspect this one was about our localle, how the area felt to me. I know I was having trouble painting with other artists around at first, so part of that feeling is shown by the somewhat empty "circle", representing me.
