8x10, oil on canvas, 2015

It is a scene that entices with a rhythmic and ritualistic backward and forward, side to side, languid motion. Imaginative hypnotism which embellishes every nuanced detail. A blossoming magnolia, a porch swing, a glass tumbler heavy with condensation, all beckoning, inviting, and peaceful, yet the ominous undertones seem to sway with a warning to the impending storm.

This “Swayin' in the South” series is as much about the cessation of the reverie, as it is about conjuring the elements which continue to appeal to the imagination. Setting the scene, inciting the senses, invoking the emotions in order to determine which ones to dismiss, and which to feel. It is a simultaneous honoring of reality while honestly acknowledging the fantasy. Only within this reflection, has truth become identifiable, the bitter and the sweet less entwined, and a vision into new rituals perceptible. It is possible you may even hear a woman singin' a song of grace, as she sits swingin' on her porch enjoying summer in the south, as the foreboding is swayin' into the distance.