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This piece starts with the film “Night Watch.” I loved that this film had its own version of a vampire story, including a different world. In particular, there is a certain unconscious state shown in the film that inspired me visually. In one particular scene, a boy falls backwards as his eyes leave orange trail paths. That is what led me to create this image.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

After painting a dark background, I simplified eye shapes and added trails of dots that followed both eyes. This painting documents my variation of dot sizes. Following this painting I began experimenting more with dark colored backgrounds.

Swarming Striped Circles

This one took forever for me to finish. There were areas that had me indecisive. Well, now it's done and I can move on to other work.


graphite on paper, 8.5" x 11"

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While I was in Chicago I saw the exhibit “Girodet: Romantic Rebel” at The Art institute of Chicago. The show featured the works of Anne-Louis Girodet de Rousssy-Trioson. Many of the large paintings in the show included reclined figures.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

When I created this painting I decided to make an abstraction of a reclined figure. I rendered my abstraction with colors used to promote the show. Imitating Girodet’s work I had a light source illuminating the figure.

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In the spring of 2006 I went to a special screening of Steven Soderbergh’s “Bubble.” Soderbergh was on hand to take questions after the movie. The film concerns two workers at a doll factory. One is a young man and the other is an older woman. Their friendship is changed when a young woman is hired. There is a murder.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Anyway, the older woman in this has a facial expression that is very similar to the ones on the dolls’ faces in the fiilm. There are two scenes in which a blue spotlight shines on the older woman’s face. That is the focus of my painting. I wanted to capture the feeling of the epiphany scene, if you will. I wasn't worried about attaining a likeness of the actress. I just wanted to communicate those two moments. Also, "Bubble" was a digital film.

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Almost five years ago when I attended an art educators convention in Chicago, I was not able to book a room in the main hotel. In fact up until two weeks before the convention I had not heard back from a service that was supposed to find me a room. An orthopedists convention had complicated matters when it chose to switch its convention from New Orleans to Chicago. My understanding was that there were 80,000 of them versus the almost 5,000 art educators. Anyway, I ended up at the downtown Hampton Inn. It was a five-minute ride from the main hotel.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Lucky for me, the hotel was close to a wide variety of eating establishments. So, I did have a chance to try a variety of places nearby without having to taxi anywhere. Since the main hotel was a distance away and the March weather was so cold, I spent a lot more time at the hotel in the evenings. That brings me to my colors for this painting. They are comprised of the variety of greens I noticed in the Hampton Inn’s lobby, breakfast area and computer room. I combined colors to make this piece.

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In May 2006 I traveled with some artists to see a show of Georgia O’Keefe’s work at the Mississippi Museum of Art. This show was a little different in that it included correspondence with conservator Caroline Keck. The show focused on their relationship and her impact on O’Keefe’s art.

Being a fan of O’Keefe’s work, I had to create a dot painting after the show. Borrowing a yellow-green color, I spotted in one of her works, I painted an exaggerated abstraction of a flower. I kind of just went my own direction.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

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Another exhibit I visited at the Chicago Cultural Center, while attending the art educators convention in Chicago, was “Los Carpinteros.” This show was by a collaborative group of Cuban artists that creates a wide variety of artworks including installation art. Several pieces in the show were rather whimsical, i.e., a porcelain couch with stove burners, porcelain stairs with stove burners, a large wooden hand with drawers, etc.

Anyway, for this painting I was inspired by the teal color of a table that contained a shallow pool for ice that would melt and re-freeze. When I rendered this painting with dots, I implied drawers with knobs – based on several sculptures containing drawers in the show. Before leaving the building I bought a catalog for each show I saw.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

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In April of ’06 I joined an online video aggregating community called
VideoSift. It quickly became one of my favorite places to hang out online. I have watched a vast number of videos since that time. Some of the more creative videos have had an impact on me creatively. Much has changed on the site in the last five years.

This painting, however, is influenced by the colors used on the original site. The two triangles are derived from the up and down voting triangles used on the site. This painting is the first one I created to remember a place online.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"