A realist painting is about its subject, but every painting is an intensely personal conversation between painter and subject at a particular time and place. When this dialogue is extended to a viewer, it allows that person to participate in the experience of the artist. The painting becomes more than a superficial depiction, but a great connector, not only of viewers, artists, and subjects over ordinarily restricting cultural-spatial-temporal boundaries, but also of abstracts and realities, between things which are concrete and visible and things which are not readily apparent.