My most successful paintings surprise me. While grounded in direct contact with nature, such as landscapes and people in action, it is when I experience a sudden lift beyond analysis and rationality that I am most excited about image making. Perhaps ninety percent of what I do as an artist consists of “plodding,” experimenting (often unsuccessfully) with the medium, or simply practicing skills in drawing, laying in color, and composition. Yet, upon occasion, and sometimes when I least expect it, visual poetry begins to materialize on a canvas and then I work as in a trance, reminding myself to stop before I ruin the image.