"What's Real and What's For Sale" oil and gold/silver leaf on black canvas 6'x2.5' 2004. I had just moved to Seattle and got a job at New Orleans (a blues bar). When I was hired the owner introduced me to Rach and exclaimed that Rach was from Brazil. Rach turned to me and said: "I'm from Chicago!" It was that moment we became friends. I was eager to make new friends since I was in a new city so I came up with the idea of getting the girls at work to pose for me for this painting. I asked them all to bring a piece of sentimental jewelry. This has always worked in enticing the people involved to automatically like my finished art by plucking at their emotional strings. It also helped me get to know them better so their eyes and face would speak to me. Usually after I am on a roll with super deep paintings that pluck at my own emotional strings, I find it therapeutic to place myself in my art. I made a wager that I could give them a boob job without the cost, so I decided an aerial view to show off the cleavage. In many ways this was a fun let loose painting to make new friends and to love myself kinda piece. It's also homage to the band STP who embraced my art and showed me love in my skills in art. This is also a statement about to get the boob job or not? Thus "What's Real and What's for Sale"