The next stage in my life was New York and realism [5, 6, 10]. Mastering illuminated realism was a compulsion for me; all the artists I loved could do it with apparent ease. Molding bodies, environments and surfaces with light and breaking down those subjects to the curve of an ear lobe [7] or the detailing of a reflection on a varnished hardwood floor [9] — is time-demanding and it's manual labor! I would sit up close with my nose to the canvas and apply intimate touches of paint thinking, "I am doing a marvelous job" and then step back to find that I had disfigured the face. What should have looked like a smooth-skinned angel now resembled a side of beef from hell! To accomplish this cherished realistic finish increased the time I painted twenty-fold, with each painting taking months instead of weeks to complete.
To create illuminacity, it is important
to arrange all the lights and shadows in hierarchical gradations.
A highlight on the little finger is placed specifically
in relationship to the highlights on all the other fingers
and in relationship to all the highlights on the canvas
[4].
There was price to be paid for this new discipline;
because I was narrowly focused on details of form
and effects of light,
I sacrificed color.
Figuring I was still a young painter,
I decided to give myself a few years to work
at this difficult task
and I hoped I could integrate realism, light and
my love and need for color.