24x30
oil painting
This painting depicts the stock market. It was also the first time I seriously sat down to sculpt. I didn’t know at the time that in a few years I would be entering the world of bronze and ice, stone and mud. I had been a full-blooded painter up until then feeling only the rush of paint through my veins. I wanted both the bull and bear to be in full motion doing what they do best at “market value”. The bear slashing his great claws down and the bull slicing his horns up to an unknown outcome. The risk of the stock market, separated by a river of numbers, the codes that give us a clue as to what the businesses are doing with our investments. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get live models to do this so with a very helpful suggestion from my great friend and mentor, Jack Richard, I sculpted them. I never questioned whether or not I could do it. And haven’t since. I can remember that kind of drive when I was really little. I was completely convinced that I could fly. When my mother told me that this wasn't possible, I got very frustrated. Then one night I had the dream. I dreamed that I was coming outside to fly. I ran as fast as I could, like I always did across the back yard and then out onto the open plains of the golf course... the wind lifted my arms up into the blue...but a new heaviness had entered the scene and I knew that this would end my magic powers, that the weight of doubt was just too much. It did. I haven't been able to fly since, but I learned a very important lesson. We all possess this magic ability to accomplish and create the unknown unseen impossible things in life. This painting gave me a boost of confidence. Allowing me to take a chance at something new. Coincidentally this is the way a lot of people view the market, and it makes me smile funny when I look at it now. Just to think that the stock market in an unconventional way brought me to where I am today.