I lived in New Mexico for many years. One of the forms of hispanic art that I found most interesting were their iconic portraits of tMary and Jesus and Guadalupe. They were almost like the beautiful, glowing icons that came out of Russia for so long. So one day I was looking at the little pile of old wood I had collected from all over Madrid, Taos, Cerrillos and Tesuque, wondering what to do with it. I liked the idea of the warmth of the wooden support, and the depth of color the paint could attain.

A friend dropped by and asked me to paint a stylized portrait of her on one of the boards, with antiqueing and gold leaf around the edges. I did so, and it was wonderful. Unfortunately I don't have a shot of that one, but the rest of the ones I did in the series are all here. I had to prime the wood so the acids in it wouldn't yellow the paint eventually, and then I just used a layering technique to slowly apply the colors.

I start with an underdrawing in sienns (rusty brown), then work up from light and dark yellows to reds to blues. I was living in Tesuque (Tess-OO-kee), an art-rich neighborhood/town (where Shidoni Foundry is) just north of Santa Fe, when I made these. It was an extremely hard time in my life. Being able to paint these gave me a sense of relief and satisfaction in the midst of a long period of deep despair and raged, non-stop emotional turmoil. I like the feeling of connection between human and animal, and how they are contemplative in spirit. Not being inclined to any particular established religion, I chose to create archetypal and allegorical images that express how connected I believe we can and ought to be with our natural surroundings.