The secondary name of this little painting, 'Broken hand exp. #2' is the best description of what this painting is really about. I painted this with a paintbrush shoved down the cast covering my broken right hand.

The story goes like this; One night my girlfriend* and I went out for some sushi near my house in San Francisco. I like to sit at a sushi bar, drink sake and beer, and talk to anyone around me who will listen. This night a young couple sat next to us. We all talked and laughed and I bought several rounds of drinks. We all became somewhat drunk. Evidently our friendly conversation turned sour at some point. This idiot thought I was hitting on his girl. (Hey, maybe I was ... who cares?), In an imbecilic fit of jealously, the guy stands up and throws a hot sake in my face! The very sake that I had just bought him! That was a real insult! Getting my own sake thrown back into my face! ... I remember looking around as all eyes were glued upon my dripping, steaming red face. So I did the mature thing, and slugged him hard in his face. He went over backwards onto the table directly behind us ... food and dishes and people went flying ... it was pandemonium! I was staring down at him with rheumy, swimming eyes ... ready to GO! However, thank God, he was not getting up.

My girl, Carrie* tugged at my shirt sleeve, “LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE BEFORE THE COPS COME!”, she screamed ... And we did ... I ran out without paying, jumped in my car and peeled away. (I sent the restaurant owner the money later, but I never set foot in there again!) It wasn't until the next morning that I realized my hand was trashed. It was a swollen purple catchers mitt! Carrie drove me to the hospital were I had several broken bones painfully set by use of a wire glove that looked like something out of the Spanish inquisition.

Then the cold fear set in ... Would I lose mobility in my hand? Was there nerve damage!? Would this effect my ability to draw and paint? The doctor did not dare to say ... I'm sure he was afraid that I would sue him if he gave me the wrong answer. "Wait and see", is all I got. So within a few days I began to shove pencils and paintbrushes in my cast to test my skills ... This is one example.

Did I lose any sensitivity due to this incident? ... of course I did!

Now I understand ... Life is a series of injury accidents which ultimately lead to your complete irreversible malfunction. ... Believe it!

* I dedicate this piece, and the two other 'broken hand experiments' , (see 'Yuk-Yuk' and 'Catch o' the day'), to my girlfriend at this time, Carrie Lesperence.