Current work includes a focus on familiar themes: divination (specifically the Tarot), convalescence, and disability, all glimpsed through a miasma of religious dysfunction. Here are sketches for two tarot-themed paintings: left, the Seven of Cups; right, the Nine of Pentacles. The traditional Seven of Cups suggests a cloud of unknowing (fantasy, illusion) as evoked here by the contemplative mood and hospital setting with hints of rising smoke. The Nine of Pentacles is more hopeful, with a theme of fruitfulness and self-realization (as announced by the prophetic bird).

Future Directions. I have been working on a few sketches in a series I am currently thinking of as “Transgressions.” The image above (left), of the Two Girls in a Rose Garden Breaking the Ten Commandments fits into this; my current focus is on Blasphemy. Specifically, what would “count” as blasphemy? (I asked Chat-GPT for examples and the response seemed surprisingly tepid. “Saying something like ‘God Doesn’t Care About People.'” OK right . . . I think I can do better than that!)  Above right: a photo of my studio with a current painting on the easel. 

Summer 2024. I spent some time in May-June re-organizing my “gallery” pages, hence going over and taking a close look at paintings from the past few years. This one, for example, “Penitent Magdalene,”  a large (5 ft wide) oil painting from 2018.

After a bit of contemplation, though I felt good about the canvas over-all, I decided to re-work the face of the Magdalene figure (using some of the new creative tools I have acquired over the past couple of years). Work on this is currently in progress (detail at right). Similarly for 3 or 4 other paintings . . . see below.

I also decided, on a bit of a whim, to frame a painting from the early 70s: Self Portrait as Lapsed Sabbatarian (upper left). The hands-on work on the frame was therapeutic, and seeing the older painting with recent work (like Ball-Joint Doll Crucifix, lower left and right, from 2024) led to sketching and reflection. The theme of the painting is introspection and guilt, a subject which I continue to find inspirational (see Girls Breaking the Ten Commandments above). 

The Rainbow. This is another relatively large painting (h = 45 in.) from a few years earlier (2013) that I decided to re-work. Taking a closer look (after having the painting in a storage area of the studio for a few years) I was quite pleased with the painting over-all, but not entirely satisfied with the way I had handled the hair. Re-working this portion of the painting is currently in-progress. (Why is Jesus vomiting a rainbow?  Though I am not “locked in” to any particular interpretation, I would point out that I had been reading/thinking about experiences of “mystic revelation” induced by ayahuasca, DMT, and other such entheogens at the time. I recall one participant in an ayahuasca “trip” saying that in the initial phases she felt like she was vomiting light or rainbows.)