Unspoiled is one of a pair of paintings that I made in response to an ugly disaster. On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the rig and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations. For weeks volunteers worked tirelessly washing oil off of shore birds, saving as many as they could. This was the painting that showed the pristine beach before the spill and its companion showed the water and beach despoiled and littered with oil covered dead birds. At that time, only the second painting got into the show in the gallery, while this one stayed in the studio, biding its time, waiting for its turn to celebrate the beauty of nature unspoiled.