LANDING

Jun 25, 2026

A woman in a loose white dress, accented with gold trim and flowing bell sleeves, sits on the landing of a stone staircase. Weight resting on her hip, she leans on one arm gazing out at the pastoral landscape. She lazily holds a book with her finger marking her page. As the spiral of stairs ascends, the fluted trunks of a trio of tall trees rise in the negative space of the arch. Like tall pillars, they pass behind the stairs, not lending support but suggesting strings to complete the bow of a harp. Caught in flight, a line of doves fly across and out. The simple, elegant stairs take on a weathered texture as the arch flattens. Light catches white marble, and suddenly cast in shadow the stone purples in hue then transitions into a platform complicated with dangling ropes, rusting metal grates, and a variety of boards, rails, and rebar. Like a bridge to nowhere, the stairs end somewhere between progress and decay with detached pieces floating out in the air beyond. — LANDING (2004), Acrylic on Panel - 30” x 24”

This piece was born of a digital image from PASSAGE TO SANCTUARY, a series of three limited edition prints produced by Mithril Publishing in 1994. Created entirely on the computer, the prints were an experiment in new media.

At the bottom of a winding staircase in a pastoral setting, a man with long blonde hair stands with hand over heart. As the stairs ascend and curve to the right, they intersect three tall trees. At the end of the arc, the clean white stone becomes rougher, falls in purple tinted shadow, and is complicated with dangling ropes, boards, rails, and rebar. — PASSAGE TO SANCTUARY: LANDING (1994), Digital

To maintain the integrity of the print run, the source files were destroyed after the images went to press, leaving no original art only fine reproductions of the images.

Unfortunately Mithril Publishing went out of business before the prints were fully distributed. Far less than the original print run of 555 ever made it to collectors.

Loosely rendered color studies in traditional media for LANDING. LEFT: The winding staircase set against pastoral background. RIGHT: The figure of the man standing with heart over chest has been added. A rough figure of a robed female stands in the pastoral background. — Traditional color studies for LANDING

I came back to the idea years later, producing a new painting of LANDING in traditional media. Most notably I changed the figure in the foreground, which can be seen here in detail.

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Additional images from LANDING

LEFT: Figure detail from LANDING featuring a woman in a loose white dress, accented with gold trim and flowing bell sleeves. She sits on the landing of a stone staircase. A blue pillow decorated with stars—accented in gold like the fringe and tassels—lays at her feet. The end of the stairs capped with a gold orb above a planter of vibrant lavender flowers. RIGHT: Background detail from LANDING featuring the end of the stairs as it transforms into a decaying platform set against pale blue skies and the leafy spears of treetops. Detached pieces float out in the air beyond—maybe materializing there or possibly just fading into the sky. — Details from LANDING

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