I don’t remember how old Allen and his friend were but old enough to surprise me that his friend seemed anxious about going for a walk in the woods.  I might have made the “kids-don’t get-enough-outdoor-time-these-days” comment to Mary Ann later that day but what stands out to me is something that’s snuck up and humbled me a little bit each time it’s happened.  It's the realization that, “Hey, wait a minute … are you telling me that what I like or hold dear isn’t your cup of tea too?”

The title of this painting, “Looking Out, Looking Through” is something I had felt during the Covid-19 pandemic when this painting was created.  My teacher at KCAI, Michael Walling, would say, “You don’t know what you like. You like what you know.”  This is so simple, yet, sometimes easy to miss that my unique view is based on where I am standing and it is also true for whoever I am looking at.