The January Paintings get their name from the general page-turn associated with the first calendar month. Janus is the Greek god of beginnings and transitions. The month of January has held several significant personal life markers over the past five years, with one to come in the next year, it seems. These are painted at life-size within a set of limits, including the palette, the scale, the spatial depth depicted (less than a foot), and the studio itself--an outhouse-like shed my landlord has allowed to become a half studio.
Among the subjects paintings: my father's jacket, a dog with cancer, things bought and sold, and a piece of my mom's jewelry. It was a brief phone call from her years ago--referenced in one of the works--that began the depiction of these everyday household glimpses.
