Oil on Canvas. 2020
This is a portrait of my next door neighbor, Joe. At 83 years old, he lives at home alone and has lived in this home for 76 years since he was 7. My family moved next door to Joe in January of 2020, two months before the pandemic took hold of our lives.
During this time I have been employed with a company that has been deemed "essential" to the maintenance of the critical infrastructure. Forcing us to travel extensively from the east coast to west coast keeping us out on the road away from our families for weeks at a time.
Over the past few months I have been contemplating the affects of the corona virus on my personal life and well being. It was one night in mid August when I returned from Louisiana at 3am when I noticed the living room light on at Joe's house and saw him through a window inside reading a book. It was at that point that I realized that this pandemic has taken its toll on many, many lives in a wide variety of ways. Snapping a picture of him with my phone, my wife realized that it was an excellent image to reproduce as a painting and to submit it to the Arvada Center's "Art in the Time of Coronavirus".
The Corona Virus has created a very large demand for the company in which I am employed. Thus keeping me away from my family, my home and my studio practices. However, in this time I have been acquiring a large amount of workable material and when I have some proper time, I will unleash a world wind of creativity.