My new work is a catalog of inner experiences, visions of struggle, self portraits of initiation.  The images unveil a depth of meaning, an enigma, a divine invasion.

The enigma speaks in dreams, with the language of images.  Obscure and often severe, dream images unfold a depth of meaning as enigma.  It is a creative force with will and an imperative to become manifest.  This ruthless force compels life to become the vessel of its ferocity.

Gripped by intensity, the conscious mind would flee this terrible purpose.  Though rigorous, the struggle is also play, an erotic power, a seduction.  One is lured into submission, and an experience of the depth of being.

The symbols in my work, the snake, lion, fire and water, are metaphors for the predation of the other world.  The snake is a sensei.  She comes to entice an awareness of the primordial nature in ourselves.  She is seductive and persuasive.  Can you trust her?  She blindfolds and causes dependence on deeper faculties.  The lion is ultimate power.  Call it God, call it the higher self, it does not mind what you call it.  He allows no response beyond submission, but in the submission there is ecstasy.  The fire is the passion that consumes the flesh - the energy of the spirit over the body.  A baptism.  A renewal.  A burning away:  “The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments.  They burn them all away, but they're not punishing you, they're freeing your soul. If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away.  If you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.”
 Meister Eckhart  In the water – does she sleep?  In dreams we do not need to breathe underwater, we become one with unconsciousness, we release the body and trust.  There is a merging with the flow of nature, a letting go into experience that leads to bliss.

The struggle the paintings represent led me back into creating music, one of my first passions.  In my music I am celebrating the communion with this other world, experiencing the bliss that follows the struggle.  A lightness, a freedom, a joy, an acceptance of a personal truth; rapture and ecstasy in allowing being to be.