12″x16″, Acrylic and Mixed Polymers on Wood, November 2008

This painting is based on a number of opium den illustrations, mostly from late 19th century newspapers, and “of course” inspired by love of opium. It’s very dark, and painted in acrylics with thick polymer glazes on top of that, which also made it a very difficult painting to photograph (this was done with a four second exposure). To be honest, I’m least happy with this painting of my recent work and am glad to be moving on to something new, although as its dried and the translucencies have evolved I’ve come to like it a lot more than I did initially.