TONI MORRISON

18" x 24"

Mixed Media on Arches paper

I agree with both of these quotes from her: "If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it."

"You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down."

HIROSHIMA

11" x 8 1/2"

Pentel brush pen, Kuretake Fude brush and China white marker in hand:book sketchbook

SHADOW ON THE ROCK

by Daniel Berrigan, S.J.

At Hiroshima there’s a museum

and outside that museum there’s a rock,

and on that rock there’s a shadow.

That shadow is all that remains

of the human being who stood there on August 6, 1945

when the nuclear age began.

In the most real sense of the word,

that is the choice before us.

We shall either end war and the nuclear arms race now in this generation,

or we will become Shadows On the Rock.

CUCINA VERONA

11 1/2" x 8"

#2 pencil, Pentel brush pen and Kuretake Fude brush in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

While we were in Fort Bragg, California, we stopped and celebrated our anniversary in a little restaurant named Cucina Verona.

Our waiter was very nice. When he found out it was our 40th anniversary he said "That's quite an achievement, may I buy your desert?"

Alas, we were both too full from the delicious dinner. Maybe next time?

DREAM JOURNAL HEAVENLY BINGO

8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Uniball pen and watercolor in Strathmore mixed media sketchbook

In this dream I find myself back in a Brooklyn neighborhood that I used to live in. Walking around I notice it looks the same as always despite the fact that I've been reading about how much gentrification has altered the place. Now it's all rich people and trust fund hipsters. As I wonder what is going on I recognize an old friend walking toward me. How can it be that he hasn't changed a bit, hasn't even aged a day since I last saw him...what, 42 years ago? We hug and laugh, and I search his face and brace myself to see if he notices how much I have aged. But he says nothing and just keeps smiling.

"Man, you haven't aged a bit. You still look the same" I tell him. "Yeah," he says. "I died in 2005."

He can see that I'm too stunned to say anything and then he says "It's cool though, they have bingo there."

We started walking along looking at the old brownstones.

Then I woke up.