In September 2007 I spent a month in Rancho de Taos, NM to focus on a series of works on paper later exhibited in Chicago with artist Baltazar Castillo. To make the paper more durable, it was treated with several layers of house paint yet I've discovered natural tears and ripples in these pieces, as comes with age.

Excerpt from journal: "When I got back to the house I got to work. I started cutting big sheets of 4’x3.5’ paper for the pieces I am doing with B. I finished 2 of them and tomorrow will finish the 3rd and ship them to B.  B’s idea is to snap his pieces together with mine—making an 8’ painting/drawing collaboration. It will be interesting to see my work connected to his especially with the distance, isolation, fear and loss I am feeling. I wish you could see these paintings, and me in the foothills of a mountain range. I painted another 4 pieces. They are really interesting—I have never painted the way I paint now. There’s no figure at all. There’s a lot of layers and texture. I am using a lot of black acrylic-latex based paint. Very glossy and gives the paintings a sheen but the way I apply it is rough and sketchy—much like a drawing."