SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"The whole world is now watching Burma,
and its illegitimate and repressive regime
should know that the whole world is going
to hold it to account. The age of impunity
in neglecting and overriding human rights
is over."
— British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"If art is to nourish the roots of our culture,
society must set the artist free to follow his
vision wherever it takes him."
— John F. Kennedy

AUGUST 6, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"The flower is the poetry
of reproduction. It is an
example of the eternal
seductiveness of life."
— Jean Giraudoux

AUGUST 1, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

There are approximately 500,000
Buddhist Monks in the Burmese
region of Mandalay alone. Of all the
religions, Buddhism for the Burmese
makes the most sense for survival
purposes alone. Of all the countries
I have visited, the government of
Burma seemed the most controlling,
cruel, and disrespectful to its people.
Buddhism teaches compassion,
acceptance, and developing ones own
inner world — The path of least
resistance and avoidance of bloodshed.

JUNE 25, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

I thought of this quote when I decided
to work at my own wedding.

"Art demands persistent work,
work in spite of everything —
and continuous observation."
— Vincent Van Gogh

MAY 10, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

When I am in my work,
the experience is like a storm —
An internal, industrial factory
in which thousands of components
must be intuitively pieced together in order
to succeed in creating something unified —
Something from the soul.

When my work is done,
there is suddenly a calm, a quiet, a nothing.
I sit and I look at the creation.
I know when I have succeeded
by the simple gage of a tear in my eye.
The picture need not ever sell.
The tear need not ever fall.

APRIL 12, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

TIME ZERO
THE ART OF NEW ORLEANS MUSIC

a new project
created for and with the city of New Orleans
check it out:

www.TimeZeroArt.com

MARCH 19, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

      FATS DOMINO

I was asked to collaborate with Fats Domino
for a New Orleans charity project I’ve been
working on since Hurricane Katrina. The
session was to be in his gutted 9th Ward home.
I wanted him in front of a piano — that’s how
we know Fats. But there was no piano, just
an opportunity to make a simple portrait.
It was my only moment to work with the
legendary musician, so I asked myself
where does the music come from?
The radiant, musical smile on Fat’s face
left no doubt.

FEBRUARY 26, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"Since we live where
everything is music,
everything is dancing."
— Rumi

JANUARY 28, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"Real beauty is a ray which emanates
from the holy of holies of the spirit,
and illuminates the body, as life comes
from the depths of the earth and
gives color and scent to a flower."
— Kahlil Gibran

JANUARY 18, 2007 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

I don't believe in the "struggle."
I believe in knowing one's craft
so thoroughly that creation
becomes as fluid as breathing.
I must confess — there were times
when I was commissioned to do
a portrait, and I intentionally
made mistakes and acted as if I was
struggling to find the poetry so that
my sitter felt they were getting
their money’s worth.

DECEMBER 6, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

   TAMBOURA PRAYER

"The defining function of the artist
is to cherish consciousness."
— Pablo Picasso

NOVEMBER 21, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

The deepest love
The deepest sadness
I always knew it would be this way

NOVEMBER 11, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

   KEB MO

"Art must be an expression of love
or it is nothing."
— Marc Chagall

OCTOBER 31, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"The only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk,
mad to be saved, desirous of everything at
the same time, the ones who never yawn or
say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn,
burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles
exploding like spiders across the stars and
in the middle you see the blue centerlight
pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"
— Kerouac

OCTOBER 26, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

Forever in gratitude to those mentors
and beacons of light — the artists who
have paved the way, who help and
gently guide us through the days —
attesting to the awareness that beauty,
love and truth can always overpower
life's tragic losses and painful challenges.

OCTOBER 10, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

I am certain that if I were shipped off
to another continent, told to kill an enemy,
witnessed my friends being killed,
experienced constant fear of being killed,
was exposed to poisonous chemical warfare,
and returned home to a country that had
little compassion for what I had gone through —
Yes, I am certain I would also be living on the
streets and hooked on heroin or something
like it.

OCTOBER 3, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"The true work of art
is but a shadow
of the divine perfection."
— Michelangelo Buonarroti

SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

I sat on the beach staring at the sea
wondering what my next piece would be.
As I walked away, I looked back for one
last view and realized I had spent the day
sitting in a chair that was very beautiful —
Just looking at it made me feel happy.
The same thing happened to me when I
recently traveled to North Africa —
only the chair I was looking back upon
was my own life.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

I would rather live a thousand years
of joy, having only one work of art
to show for it, than exist in desperation
for one of those years and have
a thousand masterpieces to prove it.

AUGUST 24, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

Creativity is the spiritual
ascension into the heart of God.
All life is creative.

AUGUST 16, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

Forever in awe of
our beautiful world.
And there is so much of it
just waiting to be enjoyed.

AUGUST 7, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

Cuba, one of the most
isolated countries
on the planet,
has a history that can
be summed up
in two categories —
before the revolution
and after the revolution.
For the Cuban people, the death
of Castro is the only hope they
have for the possibility of beneficial
change.

AUGUST 1, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

These songs
these paintings
these poems —
we too, have been fighting a war.

JULY 27, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"If the things I really love —
water, the sun, love —
could be bought,
I'd have been ruined long ago."
— Picasso

JULY 17, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

Sometimes I will make the last picture
that will ever be made of an individual.
Life is a fleeting moment.
In time, we all must leave this place.
When we look at others with this
awareness, the whole world changes.

JULY 12, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

"Silence is a source of great strength."

— Lao Tzu

JULY 6, 2006 PIECE OF THE WEEK (PDF)

The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,
they're in each other all along.

— Rumi