I draw and paint in various old books. All the books are unique, and usually graffitied, foxed, water damaged, or otherwise unwanted. This combines my love of language and visual arts. Often the old paper, the smell, the touch and the literariness of description, knowledge, and poetry inspire what I paint, and also what I paint may evoke writing from me.

And thus each book is given new life. It is like a song to me, I read or merely imagine the page’s content - the intent of the original author, and or the publisher’s interpretation. I can add writing here, painting there. Previous words and images can peek through or may be covered with layer upon layer of paint. Each original page is inclusive to what I am painting. It folds, it opens, it makes crisp or crinkly noises; it contains a history below the surface of the new story I put upon it. Some day perhaps another creative person will chronicle more upon what I have put upon... The changing nature of the paper and print underneath the actual oil paint is part of the character of each book. The slow and quiet ephemeral quality of these books adds to their mystery and depth.

Book as object and art allows me to enhance what already exists. I think of painting as history, and thus each embellishment places history upon history. I allow for both playfulness and serious endeavor when using serendipity and precision in cutting, folding, manipulating, painting, and collaging.

Using oil paint, markers, tapes, magnets, graphite and torn up bits of my own work, I recreate the book into something resembling what it was,: then honor it’s history by titling it with reference to it’s origin. For example, “ReCollection” is a book whose previous content was reproductions from the Whitehead collection... 

I allow intuitive vision, the wisdom of poets and scholars, the immediacy of weather and light, and graced momentum to guide me. Always I aspire to have the resulting glow transform each page into dreamtime.