
I was so delighted to be greeted yesterday morning with the message below.
It fueled me with inspiration, so with permission, I'm sharing it with you.
It’s true that
“compliments don’t feed the cat” but I do always appreciate them.
“I came across your site through a link in Wikipedia when I was searching on Gregory Kondos.
I wanted to send you a message and thank you for your inspiring eye. I spent many many trips in the Wine Country, having grown up in San Francisco, and I had to tell you that your work really rekindles my memory of how I myself remember those experiences.
More than anything else, I feel that you really have infused the overwhelming sense of sheer impact of that region, and accentuated the subtleties of the entire experience in a way which makes me long for a life surrounded by that kind of visual inspiration. It's very rare for me to come across an artist with that sense of insight.
I remember the first time I saw an RC Gorman pastel sketch (after he had quit drinking)-- the colors were so vibrant that I thought he was out of his mind. Of course shortly later on I moved to Santa Fe (after having visited there many times as a kid) and was overwhelmed by the accuracy of his capturing of the sunsets of the southwest.
I was equally embarrassed for having missed really seeing it for myself in my younger years. But with wine country, the memories are laser-etching on my soul, and you've managed to bring this to the canvas. Truly exceptional.
You remind me of a small handful of artists who I've been privileged to know while they were standing on the brink of greatness.
I hope that for you as well, I think it would be quite fitting to realize a destiny of sorts which pays tribute to your patience and persistence in getting to know your subject matter so well. It really is a destiny based on love of life.
So I salute you, and send best wishes. I'll carry forth your work in my mind as inspiration (and should probably buy some rather quickly before its priced out of my reach-- compliments don't feed the cat, I always say).
I myself was a painter once, much early on, 1980-90, but the trials of life bowled my career into the sublimely routine corporate track. I'm going to get back to it, with 20 years or so more life experience under my belt, and who knows what will happen.”
CSW