TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FIRE.

I could tell several "my personal relationship with fire" stories (I did start a forest fire once — not on purpose) but I don't think it would explain anything at all. Fire is one of the four traditional elements. It can cook your food, light your way, warm your toes, and burn down your house. I also doubt if I'm the only person in the Western world who wakes up now and then sweating about that burning-in-hell-for-all-eternity-while-demons-poke-at-you-with-pointy-sticks thing. Fire is too universal to make the particular relevant.

On the other hand, if there was a story, would it necessarily cause the painting? Perhaps it's vice versa. When I was working on Tea, I spent an afternoon painting the woman with her hair in flames who is framed in one of the background windows. I finished her, and then washed my brushes and went to a fancy dinner party. During the meal I accidentally leaned too close to a candle, and my hair (which is very long) went up in a flash of large flames and hellacious-smelling smoke, ruining dinner for everyone.

Of course the real answer is that sometimes you just look at your painting and realize that hey, maybe some fire ought to go over there.