self portrait 4 (detail), oil on canvas, (2004) This was painted during my last week of school. The interesting story to this was that it was executed in the cap and gown from a mirror, and I didn't get one dab of oil paint on the attire. I still have this piece, and never showed it publicly. Maybe I never will. I can remember a proffessor giving a lecture on the honor of being an 'artist'. And this painting to me, was an exercise in awareness of that honor. In how looking back almost 8 years, I am still underneath it all, that person on the otherside of the mirror and in the painting. There is a metaphysical act associated with creating art. It reveals. If your confident, lazy, distracted, amateur, commercial... etc. It shows. I love that aspect of art. And its honorable for anyone to put themselves out there over and over again. To live for themselves with intent and integrity. And leaving the nest of school with classmates, mentors, friends, a sense of security and making the attempt to be a 'proffessional' artist and getting lost between the path of all that entails, as well as the constant evolution of a modern day living experience, I can always look back at a painting like this and remember when things were simpler in all my righteous ideas and convictions. Even though I can, and would never want to go back, how things aren't as complex as I always thought they were. And if I can find the wisdom in that, and release the present day from the past... everything is okay. Enjoy comrades!self portrait 4, oil on canvas, (2004)