FULL-TIME ARTIST (2023) Oil on panel 55” x 36”

To start, just so we are clear, the title is fascetius. I’m not sure what it means to be a full-time artist, although I have not had other employment for some three years. This painting contemplates the particular balancing act of creative life with domestic life. The setting in bed creates an intimate place and symbolism references past relationships and hopes for the future. The subject of the painting is me with my dog, Golda. May 2022 – April 2023 was the first year working full-time on my art. It was a year of fear, stress, strength, and growth. The figure wears the classic black & white stripes reminiscent of Picasso’s famous shirt. In her left hand is a small, amorphous figure, the only entity in the painting that engages with direct eye contact with the viewer. The painting is adorned with hand-painted patterning from pieces of pottery from Ancient Greece to emphasize both my heritage & transition of generations within my family, having lost my father in 2021. As this symbolism is a key to the past, the animals are symbolic of the future. Depictions of dogs, sphynx, and the eye are all associated with protection.

Sueno (2022), a monotype I made in Mexico is a study for this painting (shown below).