“ It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us ”
Seattle was extraordinary . The Emerald City . We landed a block off Elliot Bay in a 2400-squarefoot warehouse loaded with other artists doing their thing . We set up our silkscreen studio and began screen printing for high-end ad agencies and design studios . I built a reputation for doing fussy , detailed work , printing commercially by day to pay the rent , while moonlighting with my fine art limited edition serigraphs . After four years of working in the city , hobnobbing with hipster artists , and having a cool warehouse studio , the stress of printing for a meticulous group of art directors was running its course . We sold the business to another screenprinting company and moved on . Not enough illustrating .
We built another studio in our Seattle backyard and contacted my good friend Kolea Baker , a successful nationally known art rep . It was intimidating yet exhilarating to be the new colt in the stable , illustrating for big East Coast clients . While grateful for the opportunity , a couple of years later , I called it quits to
16 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE focus on my own paintings . It was a valuable experience . Too much illustrating .
I took on carpentry and electrical work while moonlight painting my “ Diva ” series , a collection of 24 portraits of magical women , painted under the influence of Modigliani . While painting these portraits , Lynda sculpted nine life-sized busts based on my drawings . We curated our own pop-up show in 1997 called “ Hats , Doos , and Tattoos ,” in Pioneer Square , downtown Seattle . It was an incredible exhibition , got local press and packed the house . We sold out most of the work . Best experience ever .
Four years later , my life hit a low . In 2001 my mother passed away . Eleven days later the World Trade Centers were attacked . Two weeks after that Lynda and I split up after 25 years . It was a horrible time . In early 2002 I moved back to Spokane to be near my dad who just lost his wife of 49 years . I rented a cool apartment in Peaceful Valley and began a new chapter , creating some of my favorite paintings over the four years living down by the river .
I went to New York with some friends and ended up landing a dreamy contract from an established publishing company in New Jersey — Noble Works . They commissioned me to create 12 images of women ’ s shoes based on the Zodiac . My good friend Lou , who lives in New York , set up the meeting . It was a wonderful and successful project .
I met Mary Gayle a second time at an art opening at the Jundt Museum in Spokane , Washington . The first time was two years earlier at a Spokane hospital when our two families met while my mother and Mary ’ s brother were sick with cancer . Six years after the museum reunion we were married .
A couple of years later , my life hit another low when Lynda ’ s son Chad , a boy I helped raise since he was seven , committed suicide at the age of 36 . It was a devastating blow and changed