St. Jerome

I began this painting in 2008 among other work I was making at the time emerging with color from a more stringent darker palette. It began with a somewhat whimsical portrait of a bearded man holding a book, my alter ego, reminiscent of one of my favorite paintings, El Greco's "St. Jerome". I resumed to work on it in 2011 along other paintings I was making of the female form in relation to spaces both internal & external. And lo and behold the nude appeared alongside my St. Jerome. A relationship that made perfect sense.