This morning I hung my new paintings at the Coho Café. There are 30 paintings, and all but two are abstracts. Sometimes people say things to the effect of “my six year old could do that” because an abstract painting doesn’t necessarily give them a representational form to hook onto. For me, I tend to see African colors and designs coming to the surface in a lot of my work. One of my new abstracts called “Smell No Taste” reminds me of a Liberian village near the airport. During WWII, American planes were landing there, and a fence was put up to secure the area. The neighboring villagers, who were subsistence farmers, would gather at the fence to smell the food, but could not taste it. The village became known as “Smell No Taste.” To me, it speaks of the time I lived there as a missionary kid, and how we had so much compared to the local residents. I didn’t see it at the time, but now it makes me sad. We put ourselves on a plane above them, and it embarrasses me now.

If you give me the opportunity, I could tell you stories about every one of my paintings. They are not just random brushstrokes. Many times, viewers tell me what they see in my work, and I love that.

This summer I will have a booth at the Grand Marais Arts Festival for the first time. I am excited about it. That will be what I work on next, I guess! I work best with a deadline anyway. Arts Festival starts July 8th. I hope to see you there!