I did this for a friend who’s a music director on Broadway. A conductor’s finger moving forward, one. There’s the dotted area of where the finger was. Forward one.

Visually it has motion in the air, a music note unfurling into the next, and Forward ONE written in a singing mouth. Can you guess the musical my friend was conducting at the time?

A big treat for me was, at my friend’s invitation, the opportunity to sit in the orchestra pit during a performance. I love this musical so this was thrilling. I sat next to the pianist with full view of her hands and keyboard. The drummer was nearby, on the other side of the pianist, behind a clear Plexi sound partition. The brass were way in the distance, on the other side, with my friend in the middle, conducting from a command central with buttons and screens and the score. The drummer gave me earplugs, which I put in. That same drummer is still my friend’s go to ace in 2025.

ONE

2006, painted with acrylics and mixed mediums on acetate. It’s roughly 4’x 5′.

It’s done on clear acetate. It’s a bit like cell animation, but in my case I painted on both sides. I love that about acetate. And unlike glass, which I had began painting on, it doesn’t break. This piece is framed, but another aspect of acetate that I love is thumbtacks on each corner is enough to hang them.