Woman with Small Dog Watching 2005

"Art is another form of Prayer" as overheard quoted by Oprah Winfrey.

Woman with Small Dog Watching is a self portrait.  That's my head  sitting on top of a torso made from bits and pieces of the Reverend Dennis's home outside Vicksburg,  Mississippi.  The Reverend Dennis, a World War II Vet, covered the outside of his home with biblical writings painted in pink, yellow, red, and white.  The writings are both his own and quotes from the Bible.  There is no question that for the Reverend Dennis, his art was his form of prayer.http://www.detourart.com/rev-hd-dennis-renowned-mississippi-folk-artist-1916-2012/

Is art a form of prayer for me, like the Reverend Dennis?  Is it as true for me as it was for him?  I had to think long and hard about this simple statement.  But here's what I came to:  It's where the best of me lives, it's where I am most present, and it's where, when I'm there, I'm closest to the big things that matter most. So yes, I think art is prayer for me. This is what this painting is about: being made of what comes from witnessing the world while being guided by something I can't lay claim to.