In some of us, the artist lies dormant for many years. Still, the fallow soil from which the artist's expression grows may become richer for being untilled. As with the floodplains of the Nile, each year deposits another layer of nutrient-rich earth. I'm up to my eyebrows in fertilizer.

Throughout my life, I have admired the classical painters--those who combined technical mastery with soul-deep expression. I spent a life making a family and a career. Now that the time has come for me to turn my hand to making art, I emulate those men and women whose work I have quietly studied for decades. The challenge for me, first, is to achieve a high degree of realism. Surprisingly, I also find a deep vein of personal meaning exposed in the pieces as I make them.

In the series titled "A Relationship Alphabet", my aim is to develop a technically proficient style in pastels which communicates a tactile sense of the textures of the objects, then, by the arrangement of the objects, to observe and report on their relationships. By isolating the subjects in their own shallow space and by keeping the compositions simple, I stress the dynamic between the parts and encourage meditation on the relationships.

When complete, the series will consist of 26 pieces, each with a one-word title beginning with a letter of the alphabet, its meaning suggested by my reading of the painting. My unconscious works as a guiding force in setting up these pieces, creating a mirror of my inner life in the selection and placement of objects. Through the hours-long process of drawing, I explore my own emotional landscape. This is a therapeutic process, a waking dream-analysis.

To fully experience a piece of art requires the viewer to take time--to meditate on the created image and to allow it to make a connection with the viewer's deeper self. In our willingness to be open, through the medium of bright, colored dust, you and I join in conversation.