Watercolor 2003-4. Patience, good temperament, civility, humility, love describes my grandmother's life--born in the late 1800s, she faced more difficulties in life than I have ever faced. This painting represents longing to return to her.
This oil painting was , for me, an explosion of a new freedom I found after finally getting a home nearly 40 years ago, a room with a sink and a bed and a window. I hadn't painted for years, and never without extreme self-consciousness. But years of homelessness changed me and my appreciation of "art". That freedom eludes me these days, that 'ignorant' notion that I can do whatever comes to me. I'd love to get it back. Surely it's in us all. It may be better to paint to be satisfied than to paint to satisfy...
