Shadow Self

I bought a pack of ten 8"x10" canvases and decided that I would fill them without an agenda; each painting would be intuitive work that would arise through my present inspiration of being in the midst of the making process. This is the first piece I created and I was surprised by some of the reoccurring imagery that has come through in my other work (cityscapes, water, scratching, and smoke) as well as the apocalyptic nature of the content. In hindsight, the destruction could represent the dissolution of certain parts of myself as I have begun to peal away at the external layers of my identity during this sabbatical year away from classroom teaching. My shadow self seems to be alive in this work and I'm interested in engaging with him as I move forward!