Buckets Full, 28" x 44", oil and acrylic on paper, 1985. Artist's collection.

I am making a conscious effort to speak about my work in strictly artistic terms but occasionally anecdotal information needs to surface. At the time these paintings were made I was 25 years old and a part-time bartender at the sometimes prestigious, always notorious, Cougar Club in Tampa, Florida. My reason for mentioning this here is that this painting and the previous Cape Cod were (on some level) directed in their execution by visually recounting the ingredients of cocktail recipes. This painting is to some degree based on the recipe for bourbon and ginger ale with a lime on the rocks. A "Cape Cod" is literally a cocktail made with vodka, cranberry juice, and a slice of lime on the rocks. Cape Cod is also a place in Massachusetts.

The word "buckets" in this composition, as well as the figure with its mouth open (at left) are references to the idea of a vessel. Liquid is served in a vessel which is consumed by a person who is also a vessel. A painting is a vessel of visual information which is consumed by a viewer who is a vessel for the acquirement of sensory information. I use the word "buckets" in this painting because I like the way it sounded--"vessels" sounded too literary.