Real World: Blind Metamorphosis: Battalion 1, Oil on Gallery Canvas, 36x48 inches

This eclectic image originally started out as a map of Paris; it somehow morphed into a cathedral of spirits, and came to include fish and an eagle--these unexpected additions embody the serendipitous activities that occur during travel. I added a bronze horse that sits upon my studio desk that I obtained from my father, a global traveller, in his apartment overseas after his death. I cherish this ancient-Greek-looking horse because it reminds me of the tiny horse sculpture that Alec's dad gifts to him in the “Black Stallion” movie. 

I felt that the eagle-like bird needed no feathers or wings; it resembled a snake-like creature that alters like one's surroundings do when abroad. There are city buildings, swirls of Klimt and thoughts of Chagall dreamscapes. The painting is inhabited by the energy of horses in medieval travel and battle. Words to describe the process: Flow. Surge. Drenched. I also used as visual pattern reference an old army-type jacket that had a vividly embroidered section that reminded me of Aztec art.