I was inspired to do something completely different. My style is usually Classical Realism. I wanted to do something that pushed me out of my comfort zone, so I tried using different styles in one painting. I also wanted to create something more conceptual that tells a story related to my current circumstance. The view in prison is dark and obscured at first, but as I do the therapeutic programming(the work), it becomes clearer as I cross the bridge into freedom! In reality, the sun never sets where I positioned it in the painting. I chose to place the sunset where San Quentin sits.
I used masking tape to create the impression of prison bars and decided to leave the pencil marks to both expose the process of making the painting, and allude to the work prisoners have to do to become free.
