In October 2017 there were devastating fires in Northern California. In fact, more than half the houses in my little town were burned to the ground. I was one of the lucky ones who were spared. On the night of the fire before we had to evacuate I was outside in the warm intense wind watching the moon. Two months later when I was able to return home I began working with fire, destroying and reconstructing paintings, and experimenting with new materials. One of the things I started to do was burn and rust steel in what was originally a series of pieces about the moon on the night of the fire. Over time I began to expand this exploration to planets. I had a museum exhibition which included an entire wall of these ‘planets.’