"Sultry Day" 1937Well, here is an image from an artist whose work was pivitol in bringing me into the fold of representational and poetic imagery. At the time, I was working through a process of creating paintings that were scuptural objects and intended as spirit traps. In Paul Landacre I found imagery that evoked a kind of mystical connection to the landscape of the Southern California of the 1930's and 40's and the powerful images created by his medium of black ink and wood block printing spoke richly of a grand landscape in spite of the intimate size of the actual image. I saw an extensive collection of his work in 1983, which was a very productive year for my own work. As I look back on my work through that period I can see that my work was to be deeply effected by what I discovered at that show. It took a couple years to assimilate this new language and my production in 1984 was at an ebb wile I strugled to reconcile what I was doing with my work, and what I now wanted from it. I found my new path in 1985 and my inspiration blossomed while I focused on perfecting a new craft, in the use of oil paints. Then in 1987, my 15 year hiatus began.
This beautiful scene shows Landacre's wife and cat in their Los Angeles home at a moment of blissful tranquility. In the background, the hills radiate with the heat of a summer afternoon. The only other artist I know of to capture this so beautifully, is the author John Steinbeck
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