It is early Summer (2026);  after a break traveling in Europe (Vienna, Prague, Dresden) I decided to move on to a set of new paintings. Currently on the easel (below, left): a painting I had apparently begun work on several months ago and then dropped for some reason: a carnivalesque “crucifixion” with pills and gambling devices. Centre: a rather large painting based on a digital image from a few years ago (Woman with Tower of Babel and Fiery Pill).

The image on the right (above) is presumably a sort of Mary Magdalene; rather than her usual alabaster jar she seems to be clutching a hallucinatory reliquary with an evocation of the Crown of Thorns. A note about the sketch in the centre: this one is based on a set of ideas from a few years ago and has, admittedly, an aura of German Romanticism that is a bit out of keeping with my more recent themes. Nonetheless, all three images continue my exploration of existential angst and religious dysfunction (i.e. the inability of the organized religion of my youth to answer any of the fundamental questions humans ask of the cosmos).  One recent influence: readings on Early Christianity with a particular focus on Gnosticism (Karen L. King: What is Gnosticism?)

New Work: Recent Gallery

The gallery below includes sketches for paintings from the past few months. Some are finished, some are nearing completion (awaiting a final once-over). 

Images in the gallery above recent work include a return to familiar themes, including divination (specifically the Tarot), convalescence, disability, and transgression, all glimpsed through a miasma of religious dysfunction.  Some of these are paintings from several months ago that I decided to re-work (the figure on the right in the Nine of Pentacles, for example). 

Above left: one of many current digital sketches for future paintings. This is one of a set based on themes such as Europa and the Bull, or perhaps Ariadne and the Minotaur. Right: a studio view with Seven of Cups on the easel. 

I continue to reflect on the idea of Transgression, and specifically the seemingly archaic “sin” of Blasphemy. For example: in today’s world 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 are two digital sketches on the theme of Blasphemy/Transgression. Left: Two Girls Breaking the Ten Commandments in a Rose Garden; Right: Two Figures Blaspheming on Their Way to a Masquerade Ball. 

Above are two additional sketches.

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.)