Two things made me happy..

In 1980, I was 9 years old. There was no better feeling than lacing up your roller-skates (mine were a white boot with bright orange wheels and an orange stopper on the toe) and heading down the street to practice your tricks and speed around the neighborhood for hours. Any patch of smooth concrete became our roller rink.

I am not sure exactly what year my roller skating career peaked, but I do remember that at the same time I was so happy roller skating, I was equally as happy flipping through my photo album of carefully curated stickers. Scratch N’ Sniff, googly eyes, puffy stickers and the coveted prism sticker filled the pages of my book. I even remember the invention of the “clear” sticker. There was a photomat in the parking lot up the street that was always stocked with a specific radio station sticker. This station used a die cut clear rainbow sticker with the radio station call letters. Much to the dismay of my parents, these stickers would never come off of a window and I feel pretty confident that if my parents would not have replaced their windows some years ago, that faded rainbow would still be on my window. It was such a beautiful sticker, I didn’t even care that I was not listening to that specific station. I would stick it anywhere.

Fast forward to 2024. I live in the same neighborhood where I grew up and my life is changing. I spend a lot of time helping my parents now, and my daughter is heading away to college soon. I spend a lot of time reminiscing about my childhood. While painting this piece, the idea to name it came from a desire to remember two things that really made me happy as a child. Stickers and roller-skates.

“Stickers. Roller Skates.” New art. Tap the image to learn more or to purchase.

A lot of times, people ask me about the process I use for naming my paintings. The colors I mixed in this piece are energetic and happy. The movement follows the lead of the palette and my personal reflections concur the memories. Stickers and roller-skates. Those two things made me so happy.

The painting naming process is simple. As you work, jot down any words in your painting journal. Keep that pencil handy.. I never just pull a name of a painting right out of the air. I always have that word association list and I play around with ideas from that list until the painting is named.

What made you happy when you were ten? I would love to know.