Darwin on Fire is the first painting that I did when I decided that I was an artist. Unconsciously, I had already decided to paint Portraits of Ideas. It took great effort, after I had spent months painting this beautiful picture, to then paint over it with words. At first it was heartbreaking and then it was done.

The title refers to two facts: 1) some would wish to burn Darwin's books or even the man and 2) even today some 150 years later, Darwin's words are more powerful and more relevant than when they were written; their clarity is white hot. This portrait of Darwin is divided into 20 pages; upon which are painted Darwin's words (from his many writings) which from a short autobiography. In Darwin's reasoned words: some find a roadmap for biological research; others blasphemy. Either way, Darwin and his ideas cannot be ignored; but must be discussed and pondered and debated. They remain profoundly relevant.

One follow on project that I have not done, is to photograph each of the 20 pages of this painting and bind them in a large book that could be either read or taken apart to form a large wall poster. Replicating my work in this or other ways are future projects.