Dream Image - Reading The Life and Time of Frederick Douglass helped inspire this piece. The scene in the book where he becomes a man made me cry, and this is the boy before. I had dreams of this image for weeks before I painted it.

I wanted to call this painting “Do Not Lead Where I Follow”, but gave that name way to “Dream Image” for length and the fact that it had been persisting in my dreams. I didn’t spend any time polishing the edges to the construction-paper-cut-out type of lines I lean towards, but lets the paint spread and clog where it would. I didn’t sand the gesso either, so the piece is extremely textured. It feels right that way.