My painting for the Inspirations exhibit, Mermaid (7 x 5 in., oil on panel), draws directly from the late nineteenth-century American trompe l’oeil tradition and, more specifically, from an early encounter with John F. Peto’s Old Souvenirs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art during my college years. Seeing that work was a pivotal moment. It revealed not only the technical force of illusionistic representation and compositional ingenuity, but also the quiet poetic resonance that can arise when seemingly modest objects are elevated to the level of art.

What struck me most was that the painting did more than demonstrate skill. It invited a slower kind of looking—one in which memory, material, arrangement, and illusion worked together to produce an experience that was at once perceptual and reflective. That encounter helped clarify a path I have followed ever since, one grounded in structural rigor, perceptual awareness, and a deep respect for the viewer’s experience.

Mermaid is intended as a contemporary continuation of that American trompe l’oeil lineage: not an imitation of Peto’s imagery, but an acknowledgment of the enduring possibilities his work revealed to me. In that sense, the painting stands as both a personal tribute and an affirmation that this tradition remains vital, evolving, and very much alive.