An Introduction

I can hear my mother talking to herself in her room, and every so often the glass of brandy w/ gingerale being set back on the table. No, I'm not going in, it's 11:30 at night and her time is her time, and mine is mine, as it should be. Don't worry, if I hear something code orange, I'll be there and not here.

Friend Lisa Gleim Jonas suggested I start this blog. In, let's see, 4 days, I leave for a week in Aruba. This is all about what I call the 'A Project' ....I will paint 'what I paint' in every country that starts with the letter A. I'll try to keep this explanation simple (I come from a family that, if you ask what time it is, we'll tell you how a watch is made). Painters paint what they love. We paint what we think about, and what we can best serve. We may even paint our personality, but I think that's more in style than subject matter.

So as much as I love Francis Bacon or Jeremy Lipking, what comes off my brush seems to always be about the beauty of everyday life. I think to me it's important to give attention to the those things that really can be overlooked yet it's what we most are thankful for, the 'little' moments that on canvas can come off as trite, but in reality they are what makes life life.I am the painter of the radically normal.

The A Project stems from this perspective. Despite our problems and differences, I think someone needs to put forth in our heads what ISN'T going wrong, what we all are doing day in day out simply because it's the right thing to do. We have a lot of that in common, and given artists get the role of both reflecting life and shaping it, this sliver is where I'm assigning myself.

So my point is to paint the beauty of everyday life globally. Considering the obvious scale issues, and an effort to be 'objective', (BTW mom is sleeping now), I choose as my goal to paint the beauty of everyday life throughout the world by going to every country that starts with the letter 'A'. There's about a dozen, so it's feasable, it's about as objective and straighforward as one could get, it's a nice potpourri of countries, and well that's all I needed in my head to decide sure, why not.

Thanks for letting me give you the plan here. A client gave to me a plaque that sits on my fireplace, it says " Only she who attempts the absurd can acheive the impossible". I look forward to keeping you posted.