Composed in Silk blends vivid portraits with short essays about stillness, grace, identity, and the long, slow work of becoming, taking readers on a reflective journey tracing the movement between silence and revelation. What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

Composed in Silk is the second book in a five-book series titled The Life’s Theater: Art and Essays from Behind the Curtain, and it is dedicated to my wife. Each portrait in the book is highly stylized and created in my own distinctive painting style, with one exception. The final portrait is rendered in a realistic style using classical technique.

The portraits are small seconds of my wife’s presence. They are heartbeats of her silence, quiet, stillness, grace, identity, and the long, slow work of becoming. Although the figures do not physically resemble her, each image carries her mood, her rhythm, and a frozen moment that is unmistakably hers. What mattered most to me was capturing not likeness, but essence, allowing stillness to speak as loudly as form.

Can you share a bit about your writing process and how you selected the artwork that accompanies each writing?

Throughout my creative life as an artist and painter, I have followed Leonardo da Vinci’s view of art, which I believe remains timeless and deeply relevant today. For him, art arises from careful observation guided by intellect. He believed that true art is not the result of skilled hands alone, but of a thoughtful mind capable of understanding the complexity of nature and translating that understanding into expression. Studying nature was essential, not to imitate it mechanically, but to reveal the intentions and insights of the artist’s mind.

My process begins long before a painting is completed. I observe, study, create thumbnails and rough sketches, and work toward developing a unique style. During this time, I also take notes, sometimes just a few sentences, sometimes a paragraph, capturing my observations and emotional responses. Over time, these notes become part of the painting itself. They live within the work for years, shaping its meaning and presence, until they eventually find their way into a two- or three-hundred-word essay that accompanies the artwork. In this way, image and language grow from the same moment of attention and reflection.

Do you think there is a particular mindset or environment that a reader should be in to fully appreciate your work?

Composed in Silk, and the entire series The Life’s Theater: Art and Essays from Behind the Curtain, are not meant for everyone. They are for readers who are emotionally open and spiritually attentive, who appreciate an image on canvas not only as a painting, but as an emotional moment worth entering. The work invites readers to explore both the artist’s inner state and the subject’s emotional presence at a particular moment in time.

I do not expect the book or the images to resonate with a large audience, and I accept that some readers may connect with certain pieces while others may not connect at all. The work was created for me, from my heart and my emotions, and Composed in Silk was dedicated to my wife.

What will the next book in that series be about, and when will it be published?

The next book in the series is The Life’s Theater, Book Four: The Places That Carried Us. It is dedicated to my brother and explores memory, places, and the landscapes that shape who we become. The tentative publication date is the first half of March 2026.

The full chronology of the series is as follows:

1. The Life’s Theater, Book One: Echoes That Suffocate, dedicated to my parents. Published and available on Amazon.
2. The Life’s Theater, Book Two: Composed in Silk, dedicated to my wife. Published and available on Amazon.
3. The Life’s Theater, Book Three: The Quiet Architecture of Love, dedicated to my sons. Just published and available on Amazon.
4. The Life’s Theater, Book Four: The Places That Carried Us, dedicated to my brother. Tentative publication date: first half of March 2026.
5. The Life’s Theater, Book Five: Geometry of Memory and Light. Dedication to be decided. Tentative publication date: summer 2026.
6. The Life’s Theater: Art and Essays from Behind the Curtain, the complete edition. Tentative publication date: late 2026 or sometime in 2027.

Together, the series forms a single, continuous meditation on memory, love, and the emotional spaces we inhabit over a lifetime.

Author Links: GoodReads | Website