allegory in yellows

This painting has been with me for a long time now and last year it was placed on layaway by an old and dear friend of mine that I have known for more than twenty years now. The friend was in the process of building a new home in North Carolina, and this painting will be a focal point over their brand new fireplace. This friend staunchly supported me when I left my old life, and has never strayed from his support of me and love for me.

I got an email a couple of days ago to say that the house is finished and the painting is being called for, the final payment is on the way.... and I am delighted that this piece will live in my friend's gorgeous new home on a mountaintop. I will crate it for shipping and send it on its way with blessings for my friend and their new home, and hopefully they will send images of it in its new space.

I am really fortunate that my work always seems to find good homes, and eventually I seem to release everything I have painted to journey into the wider world. Now past the mid-point of my painting career, it is interesting to survey where I have been and where I am going. I have learned a lot over the years and am still exploring and growing in my mediums of choice, and recent events in the last several years have sharpened my sense of self and have honed my art.

Critics (I have a few) will always have an opinion, but I am fortunate to be at a place where I feel I have found my voice and message, and there is nothing more to do than to work. Hard. Whatever disagreements I may have had with my father over the course of his lifetime, he instilled a work-ethic in me that is powerful and true. I work hard for everything that comes my way. I see the same dogged determination in my oldest brother. Out of the nightmare that was my childhood, I will take that one legacy.

Over the course of a career, artists have favorite pieces that resonate and "work" in all the right ways. Allegory is one of those defining pieces. There are some reasons that I paint sunflowers, some crystalline and very personal childhood moments, that cause me to come back to the subject matter again and again. In all that has occurred in this lifetime of mine, sunflowers=goodness in some lobe of my brain. Allegory is one of the Princess Cruise Line prints, and maybe now I will take one of my artist proofs to be framed or box mounted to hang in the studio.

One last note today, speaking of artist proofs. I got a tremendous surprise in the mail from a wonderful artist friend of mine, Michelle DeMarco. She sent me one of her artist proofs of a very favorite painting as a studio-warming gift, and opening the package provided an amazing goosebump moment when I realized what she had done. Thank you Michelle, it is gorgeous. Please see her work here, and her blog here.