“Heaven and Earth”  was inspired by a dream I had about heaven when I was in my early teens. I dreamed I lived in a building where every person inhabited a white marble room. In my dream I had imagined what Heaven would be like…in my room I had nothing and I wanted nothing; I had no feeling of loneliness. I saw a city in which other souls were in rooms just like mine. When I saw photographs of the Potala Palace in Tibet, it reminded me of the dream. I worked on the portrait of the Potala for several years, never finding that it made sense with any series I was working on at the time.

    When I read the book of Revelation, it also struck a chord. In the Bible, Heaven was described in a way that made sense to me:

     Rev 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

    I completed the piece using images from the book of Revelation, such as the Tree of Life and the fountains of the Waters of Life.