During dinner conversation, I was telling a friend about the story behind one of my paintings. He found the story very interesting and wondered aloud whether I had ever written any of them down. I had not. On his suggestion I printed the stories on sheets with the writing tucked around a small picture of each painting. The sheets were enormously popular at the opening of my exhibition. Everyone who bought a painting wanted a copy of the accompanying story.
Over the years people have told me that the stories helped them see features of the painting that they had overlooked. I experienced the value of context when I was in Madrid visiting El Prado. I engaged a tour guide for a second tour because I saw so much more in the art when the guide explained the context of the works. He not only explained the social and political context behind the subject of the painting, he also enlightened me about the perspectives and evolving techniques of the artists. I try to do the same with my stories. Each story contains comments on my perspective of the subject, my emotional response to it, a little botany, and often some notes about technique.