Charcoal Sketch

T. Renner, "'The Birth of the Cool' Preliminary Sketch," 2007, charcoal on paper (detail).

Here's a detail from a charcoal sketch that I made while I was working out some thoughts that culminated in my "The Birth of the Cool" series of paintings.

I'm posting this detail because it reminds me so much of a dream -- nightmare, really -- that I had in the waning days of W.'s administration. I dreamed that the U.S. government had decided to attack its own cities in order to create a huge re-building program.