This is the first drawing I ever made that prominently incorporates religious imagery.

For months I had been laboring over a landscape depiction of the view from our Silverlake-area apartment in Los Angeles: intent on depicting every house, tree, telephone pole and wire, and heating vent.

I had despaired of ever completing the piece - or even wanting to - when I visited Mexico City for two weeks. Upon my return, invigorated and energized by the culture, I seized this unfinished drawing and placed the Holy Family behind the hill, gazing down to (I hoped) watch over our troubled neighborhood.