As The Caged Bird Sings Canvas

As every story has a past, present, and future, what may at first glimpse appear to be non-objective abstraction is in fact segmentations of energetic imagery interacting and breathing through the boundlessness of space and time. 

This painting is dedicated to my best friend and muse, Deanne Hastings, who tragically went missing in 2015 and has yet to be found. It is suspected that she was murdered but there has been no closure to date. Deanne once asked me to do a huge painting with a giant pair of wings. This is my tribute to her. 

Deanne always called me her "Wings" and is the reason I have them tattooed on my back. I just wish I could have there for her this last time when she really needed me most. I could sense the call was going to come, but it never did, and part of me knew why. I've always felt that I failed her by not being there that last time, though I wanted to be and would have been. I think one of the reasons I work so hard is because of Deanne. I always tried so hard to impress her and make her proud. The last time I saw her, she told me she was. I will forever do whatever I can to keep her spirit alive through my creations. She is now my "Wings" and my angel. I love you Deanne.

Deanne inspired a number of my my best and most personal paintings. I keep reminders of her in my studio, including the last postcard from a tribute exhibition I did for her in 2010 that portrays the very first painting she ever inspired, "Midnight Dancer (Take Me Away)." I also have her handprints from her last visit, which she placed on my "10 Year Floor Canvas," framed and always within view. I will never part with those. The remainder of the paintings she inspired were sent to her family for her children to one day have...happy and beautiful memories of their mother.  

Other paintings inspired by Deanne:

Fractured Realities And Dreams Brought To Light

Getting Back To Where I've Never Been (Coeurd'aleuer)

You Called Out For Me And So I Came To You (The Dreamer And The Night Terrors)

If I Could Steal Your Pain

On The Broken Road Between Reality And Truth

Chasing The Gate (Searching For Deanne)

Beneath The Wings Of Free Swan (Deanne's Song)