1995 Was A Bad Year
I had returned from Germany where I thought I was going to live the rest of my life. It didn't work out. I came back to America and moved home, again, with my tail between my legs. I felt like such a failure.
My mother would not give me a moments peace and I ended up on a psychiatric unit in the hospital. I had no where to go. I felt hopeless.
This painting was done before the hospitalization. I had returned to my mother's house until I could find another place to live that I could afford.
I finally found one and used the little house on the property as my studio with clear instructions to my mother that when I was painting, I was not to be disturbed.
The painting shows how I was feeling inside. The barbed wire crown of thorns with the crucifix image was the first time I had incorporated something other than paper collage to a painting.