May 15, 2024 - When I was a young boy, my family would gather around the black and white TV set to watch, every spring, the re-airing of the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz. Each year it was a special event both as a really fun movie and as a happy family moment in time. During commercial breaks my parents would talk about which scenes had been changed or cut and how they’d remembered it differently. I remember listening to my parents’ reactions as I sat riveted to the screen. Their discussions during the commercial breaks kept the reality of making a film about fantasylands important to the process. I was learning, even then, of what it takes to realize a vision, to build a dream. This affected how and why I paint. I paid attention to subtle…