This was one of the first pieces I created in my little studio apartment in Dallas. I taught myself how to use palette knives and scraping tools and wanted to experiment by painting what I was seeing in my dreams. Sometimes, dreams can be more than pleasant, and sometimes not so much. I was getting in the habit of having thunderstorms playing in the background because the sound has always helped me fall asleep. We all have our demons, our “phantoms,” and our vices, and we possess the inner strength to conquer them with will power, which this piece is about.