1998 was my first visit to Venice, city of the winged lion of St. Mark; I fell in love and vowed I'd go back. Ten years later I did, and this series, "Il Ritorno" is my documentation of those trips. Venice is a fascinating albeit drowning city: light and shadow, up and down, around the corners until you're hopelessly, delightfully lost in layer upon layer of colorful history, fragmenting and coming together again like your view through a kaleidoscope. Using Hans Hoffmann as my inspiration, I'm exploring his technique of "push and pull", enabling colors and shapes to create the illusion of space, depth and movement. Not entirely abstract here, I admit, but perhaps moving in that direction and of course, trying to remain true to my two-dimensional medium.