Title: "November 5, 2008"
Acrylic & Paper Collage on Canvas
14 x 11 inches

After working about 4 days, more or less, on this small painting I began to wonder whether I had now started a painting, or finished one.

I had gone with a friend last week to see some impressionist paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. Since I had years ago painted landscapes exclusively, the urge to do a new landscape was very strong. That is how I started this piece.

But we are not in the 1890s, and I am not the same person, or painter, that I was 15 years ago. Art history and personal history cannot be set aside on a whim. So, after much work and considerable looking and thinking, this little painting emerged as you see it in the photo; continuing my "white painting" series that was started about 9 months ago. It seems to fit nicely into the route I'm on now, and ultimately there is a comfort in not retracing old steps. The landscape is under there somewhere, but an artwork can gain energy from going beyond what once seemed like a destination. This piece is finished, but it points the way to the ones not yet started.