Klimt's 'Golden Phase' was marked by positive critical reaction and success. Many of his paintings from this period used gold leaf; the prominent use of gold can first be traced back to Pallas Athene (1898) and Judith I (1901), although the works most popularly associated with this period are the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) and The Kiss (1907-1908). Klimt travelled little but trips to Venice and Ravenna, both famous for their beautiful mosaics, most likely inspired his gold technique and his Byzantine imagery. In 1904, he collaborated with other artists on the lavish Palais Stoclet, the home of a wealthy Belgian industrialist, which was one of the grandest monuments of the Art Nouveau age. Klimt's contributions to the dining room, including both Fulfillment and Expectation, were some of his finest decorative work, and as he publicly stated, "probably the ultimate stage of my development of ornament." Between 1907 and 1909, Klimt painted five canvases of society women wrapped in fur. His apparent love of costume is expressed in the many photographs of Flöge modeling clothing he designed.

Klimt's fame usually brought patrons to his door, and he could afford to be highly selective. His painting method was very deliberate and painstaking at times and he required lengthy sittings by his subjects.

Klimt wrote little about his vision or his methods. He wrote mostly postcards to Flöge and kept no diary. In a rare writing called "Commentary on a non-existent self-portrait", he states "I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women… There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night...Whoever wants to know something about me... ought to look carefully at my pictures."

 - Klimt Museum

This is especially true when I am interested in creating some more abstract and nonrepresentational images that may reference some particular visual material but only in a more distant and detached way; or may not have any specific reference to everyday world at all. There is a rhythm and pulse to a lot of music (for me certain kinds of jazz and classical music work best) that can be expressed in visual forms with dashes, lines, splashes of color and form that can bring about a visual experience that is similar to what I feel and respond to in music. By listening to music in this form, my imagination is able to envision similar patterns and beats that can register across the picture plane. Like music there is a background bass or beat that is the context for specific visual forms that pulsate and move across the canvas in a rush or in a more restrained movement. Some 20th century painters (Mondrian or Kandinsky for instance) were particularly moved by musical forms. Klee was another painter who tried to incorporate his musical experience in a visual form. He invoked a dramatic feeling in his paintings by using the rising and falling melodies in telling a musical story.

Sounds can be harsh or soft. They can come in a rush or require closer listening. There is always the contrast between the sound and the silence which is essential to music. It is present in visual images in the space that surrounds and forms the essential medium in  which particular forms rest and relate to each other. These images can come in an intense rush; or it can more softly emerge from the background space requiring the viewer to look more carefully The contrast between ground and form may be barely expressed so there is a sense the foreground and background are merged.
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There are many ways that inspiration comes to people who create objects of art and imagination. Music is only one experience that can bring out inventiveness and emotion. I feel fortunate that I have managed to develop an appreciation for listening and looking at the world in new ways as a result of creative endeavors in visual art and through my experience with making music as a self-taught piano-plunker. As a result I am rarely bored with my life when I can see the richness and beauty that is there to be cultivated every day. It is the basis for my interest in the Artists’ Co–op and in working with others who share an interest in things of beauty and imagination. In our Artistic Portland Co-op we have the complete range of art objects from jewelry and fiber arts to painting, photography and work with wood or metal objects. My painting is fundamental to my objectives in life - especially now that I am no longer working and can benefit from the discipline and vision that it brings to me each day that I invest some time and energy in the work.