The above oil paintings were made at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California. This is the 3-month Lucas Artists Residency nestled in the beautiful wooded hills just outside of San José. My workspace was a small building constructed entirely out of glass, like a greenhouse. In retrospect it now seems strange to have attempted to do oil paintings on stretched linen so far from New York. To get all the tools and materials out to California for this extended live-work time was a logistical challenge. Additionally, I had to ship more than 2 dozen sizable works with materials back to New York. But the good that came out of it was the production of some interesting paintings. Most evident to me now is that this work was a significant step beyond the oils of the previous year.