Exalted Warrior (previously titled "Jean Jean") with previous version images shown above. I was not satisfied with the original "Jean Jean" which was titled after a friend commented that they loved the painting.
Exalted Warrior Is the name of a Yoga pose that helped me to undo some knots bound up in my shoulders. i used this practice to help me fear less. It is also about the "Warrior" spirit, in fact - a whole body of work of mind is titled including "Warrior." The canvas is cut diagonally which represents a twist in the torso. There is a dark and a light side of the composition. Underneath are competing forces of anger, stress and humiliation. The bright side is the final layer on top. I knew when to quit adding paint on this piece. It is not easy, especially when I am not satisfied with something. It is easy to fall in to trap of a little more paint will fix it. No. Sometimes less is more. It took some training to learn when to quit.
There is a small corner of each layer still visible in the final. This way i honor the path that i took to arrive here. The canvas is dissected approximately in half, visually and in terms of negative (dark indigo) and light (yellow and white) representing my struggle with fearlessness. The borders of the original paintings provide the backdrop for the transition to the present.
Photographed by Bob Stender, Tibidabo Studio, Santa Rosa, CA
