Although poetry and music have always been primarily engaged in the making of a painting, the current paintings are derived from the Tang poets interpreted by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-Hu. While the paint engages the surface, the paintings themselves are considered before they begin, although there is no specific narrative or composition, there has to be structure. I have to have a beginning and an end, once I find a particular like in a poem, the painting will take shape in my head and I start at the top of the canvas and finish at the bottom, what happens with the marks and textures within the space is something I think about before applying, it can take years to finish a painting and I work on at least six at a time. I recall Abstract Expressionist, Barnett Newman, once said: “Any art worthy of its name, should address life, man, nature, death and tragedy. If this is true, the Tang poets definitely provide that for me.”