This came after a trip to the south of New Mexico. At my old
apartment I used to paint on the balcony and just as I was finishing
this one up, an earth-shaking, sky-falling, fingernail-biting storm
hit. So there I am, standing on the table with this four foot by
four foot painting, attempting to shield it with my body from buckets
of rain and hail amidst fierce lightening and thunder. I felt
like a starfish trying to protect a rock from the ocean. The
absurdity of it. The streets flooded and the power went out and
there I am, gritting my teeth through the entirety of it to protect
this painting. My artist uncle saw it a couple months later and
said, "It's not done." Turns out he was right. Six months
later I worked on it again and then it finally felt finished.
