This year I have been undergoing what I can only describe as a crisis of faith, in terms of art. I am undergoing a period of change and one of the many questions I am asking myself is whether or not to move the studio back home. My girls are getting older, so bedtime is later in the summer as daylight clings longer. With the Fall, my wife returns to work and several nights a week rehearsing, which always reduces my studio time somewhat. I'll say it outright, I'm hard on myself. I expect a high level of output when it comes to painting, and I get discouraged when I cannot meet my expectations.

I spent a lot of time during this recent vacation reflecting on what is the best course of action for my art, my family and my soul. Again and again, I feel the pull toward building a studio at the house. I find myself wanting to be near, and drawing strength from my family. Perhaps it is partially because of the ongoing recession, but I feel at times that -much as I love it, the current studio is excessive. I always wanted my own warehouse studio, and now that I've had it for a few years I've realized that it is more important to own my studio than to rent it. I don't want to move again. I don't want to be subject to the whims of anyone else's finances.

We spent Thursday night in Atlanta, and walking down Peachtree with the girls I rededicated myself to getting representation there. Logistically, it is the clear choice. Professionally, it offers a market, a chance to expand into other regions with the strength of a gallery behind me (a great many of them have sister galleries in other cities), and an enticing place for secondary roots in the form of live/work or a satellite studio.

Despite ongoing accolades from friends and acquaintances, my efforts to find representation have been unsuccessful. One of the challenges of working in isolation is that I don't get the benefit of artist friends popping in the studio to give feedback about new work, nor am I able to be out "in the scene" for the gallery walks and openings each month to make the vital connections which lead to conversations with or referrals to dealers, curators and galleries. The only solutions are frequent travel, which brings with it both financial as well as logistical obstacles, or the dreaded "cold call" mailing package.

That's my scenario in a nutshell. We're rooted here, so relocation is not an option.

Through it all I continue to paint. I keep showing up for work, and perhaps that is something.