The black and white paintings stem from a project I did several years ago during which I attended a different place of worship once a week for a year. The project gave me a broader perception of a variety of religions ranging from Catholicism to Buddhism to Scientology. Some of the small churches in little towns I visited have been synthesized into one of my primary icons, as have crosses. These paintings also reference landscapes engineered by the coal mining industry in the region where I grew up.