Past/Present/Future
The moment when all the glass broke was one of the first images that came to mind though it took much longer to actually paint. I had to learn how to think in layers of composition to know what should come first in order for each element to show through. The glass shards had to have the barest color to make them show up over the image of the towers and dark sky. Painting this thin glaze with the reflection of fluffy clouds brought back the beautiful morning just before the planes hit. Only later did I realize what the painting did - the faint reflection of the immediate past comes from behind the viewer, the present moment of the shattering glass happens right in front of the viewer, which one sees through to the future of empty towers surrounded by darkness. The past, present and future - which the event so supremely defined - were all compressed in one image.