1985-Electric Bill

In the 80’s, like many artists, I would paint day and night and of course, you burn through your creativity and you reach periods of being blocked. Many times, for me it was just getting stuck on some color or line that held me. I would then go out and take walks around town to just leave the studio. On my travels one day, I ran into a local iconic artist who was well known for being eccentric and a fixture in Santa Fe by the name of Tommy Mascione. Tommy was in his early 80s then and very frail, but always was outside painting street scenes.

We became close because we were both Italian and were both originally from Connecticut! One day, I was lamenting being stuck and he suggested that the best thing to do when stuck is to paint a self-portrait. So, when I got back home, I did just that and of course, it did free me up to move on with my work. Over the years I kept up the practice and they were always a fun project!

Blonde Bill-1988

This is one of my favorite pieces because I used a palette knife throughout the process. The rough and powerful colors really sang for me.

Old Bill-1990

When I painted this, I had no idea what this age was or felt like, but now, I fit right into the space; sans the beard!