After several months of exploring, experimenting, searching for something deeper than what I've been painting for the past 2 years, I am beginning to feel some success. Not to dismiss the work I've done, but I felt something missing. Painting pictures is not as rewarding as painting paintings.

In the past week, I saw the recent work of Henk Pander at Laura Russo Gallery in Portland. I also visited the Portland Japanese Garden to see the work of Toko Shinoda. Both helped me see what I had been looking for: symbols, narrative, magic and experience. It was like another chapter in "The Spell of the Sensuous."

This feels like I have rediscovered the path I was on 30 years ago when I was painting more surreal, more mental, more personal imagery than I have been doing lately. It feels more like home.

The foundation for this image was a series I did this past summer while hiking in Mt. Raineer National Park. We wandered off trail into an area the ranger called Happy Valley below Pyramid Peak. It had its own magic.