"Be Secret & Exult", 88x36x3" oil on canvas was reworked from my 2004 version. It is a painting inspired by a Ragain poem of the same title. This heavily impasto artwork took a lot of strength. I loaded my palette knife with thick oil paint varied in tone and hue and then used my entire body moving strokes to make pectoral muscles, strained gluts and calf muscles. The climber's nearly impossible finger and toe holds suspended over turbulent currents was the image of death defying strength. Hubris or courage, the painting confronts know and unknown dangers - our fear of death.
