As an artist, I sometimes encounter these delicious flashes, an “a-ha!” revelation. For example, I remember the specific time when I was doing a drawing of a chair, and I realized that if I filled in the background surrounding it, charcoaled in all that space – what’s left is the chair, defined by its background. Wow. I fill in the space and I get the thing? It seems so simple, but the repercussions – where I focused was no longer so obvious. One needed the other.

Here I am now in this out-of-the way place with my lake and my dog (sometimes dogs): it’s the background. It’s quiet, it’s a haven. It’s the space.

It all is part of what defines my art.