This series was an experiment in self-portraiture. As a recovering alcoholic and substance abuser I felt the need to deal with my past in a constructive manner. I was never comfortable with AA meetings, so I suppose I have used this group of paintings as my 4 th step (to make a searching and moral inventory of myself). This involved creating images of myself as I was in the gut-wrenching reality of my addictions, to more abstracted images as a metaphor for that time in my life.