I write to understand what catches my attention and refuses to leave. These essays follow that curiosity through memory, ordinary life, and the occasional useful doubt. Some of those threads become paintings; others find their way into books. Here is where I trace the connections.
Summer in Lisbon was difficult. I was recovering from an accident, and much of my summer revolved around hospital visits, pain, and the slow work of getting better. But there were flowers. On the way to the hospital, beside the grocery s...
Summer in Cascais Summer of 2026 in Lisbon was ruined by my hand-accident and the recovery process. Read my story on that here. An Accidental Artist. But three weeks into the accident, I summoned courage to start small and complete two...
I landed back in Lisbon after a whirlwind tour of the US — a family reunion in Michigan, an art show in Chicago, and an AI conference in San Francisco. It was a week before my 55th birthday. We got home in Cascais, and within minutes of ...
Snake Charmer This painting has lived several births and death cycles. It started as something else entirely a meditation on a poem, on a man standing behind a counter in Cascais, on the philosophical patience of someone selling things...
Some paintings arrive fully formed. Mine accumulate — slowly, stubbornly, shaped by what I see, feel, and lose along the way. Gain is slower. It comes later, if at all. The final canvas is just the surface; beneath it lies an entire arc...
Chapter 1 It was an early fall morning in the Swiss Alps, and we found ourselves stranded in traffic at the entrance to Gotthard Pass. Uninfluenced by the breathtaking beauty of my surroundings, my mind attempted to navigate the uncer...
