Since the summer of 1995, I've been working on paintings which I think of as imaginary portraits. I think of them that way because they pull directly from sources in my life, but the characters ultimately become fictional beings. Recently I've also begun to photograph my "characters" when I meet them, as well as people who have features I like to remember.

The paintings are simplified compared to previous work,
as if a cartoon persona sifted loose from those complex matrices, took root, began to flesh out and individualize. There's still something cartoonish about them but I hope that they are experienced as more specific and deep.

The scale of work has shifted up and the materials have changed back to slow-drying oil from water-based casein. It helps me stay in the piece longer, feeling my way through rather than thinking my way through, staying present to it in the moment.

My focus is on keeping an even balance between the emotional and formal realities of the process. That is how the paintings become fiction. Eventually a synthesis develops and I get a character that rings true in a space and language that seems direct and appropriate.

In the most recent pieces I'm searching for ancestors.