The books I use in my paintings have been removed from the library’s collection (“deselected”) and are headed to the dumpster. I start with acrylic studies on paper to see the interplay of the subject and the books, rearranging and swapping out the books many times before coming to a final form. The paintings are of women whose facial expressions or body language imply anxiety and other difficult emotions. I position the figures not as traditional portraits, aware of the viewer, but in the style of Edward Hopper, as though we are looking in on them.