In the last few months, I have received a few comments from friends and acquaintances about how white the decor in my apartment is and how little wall decorations I have up. Over the last 15 years of having my own places, with or without roommates, I have noticed that while I love American pioneer antique furniture (1790 - 1870, preferably in cherry or mahogany wood) and contemporary art, my interior design sense prefers lots of interior white space, be it white walls or curtains or just plain space.

In my current 224 sq. foot apartment, any space at all is a premium. Half of my belongings and furniture, including my treasured 1820 cherry pioneer carved bed, are in storage. I have worked hard the last four months to make my new cubbyhole of a place appear spacious while accommodating my stuff, esp. my books and corner cabinet. To this end, I have purposely chosen white curtains and cheerful accents, but I have no art up on the walls.

It is scandalous amongst artists to have bare walls, especially when one owns and has in storage as much artwork as I do. Dan Callis has already given me trouble three times now for my bare walls.

But. but.. but... My house is so small and more importantly I have realized that some of my favorite visual moments, the ones that have burnt the images to my brain, are the ones where I am inside, relaxed and looking out onto a visually saturated out of doors, be it looking through a window or a door.

I don't mentally record this visual stimulus when I am inside a visually compelling or overwhelming space nor when I am in an industrial or office space, only when I am in a home space where there is a great deal of white of which to contrast with the colors outside.

Thus, my reluctance to paint or over decorate my home space. Fine wood furniture in shades of brown and red or fabrics of red and gold make nice accents to the white, but the interior white makes the blues, golds and more muted colors outside shine even brighter.

Thus, I wait for the golden hour to record such external vividness whilst inside with my camera. My interior is acting as a blank canvas for the spectacle outside.