S.P. Bailey

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your interest in my art. A few things about me by way of introduction:

I'm a Utah boy. I'm from Davis County originally, and my family has called Cache County home for well over a decade now. I love the terrain, climate, and history of my home state. And I love playing outside Utah-style, particularly running trails, hiking, skiing, and paddle boarding.

I'm an arts lover. I love a wide range of music, letters, theatre, and art. My heroes include Bach, Shakespeare, Anthony Trollope, Emily Dickinson, Paul Klee, Robert Frost, T.S. Elliot, Alfred Hitchcock, Wallace Stegner, Raymond Chandler, Maynard Dixon, Hiroshi and Toshi Yoshida, Gustave Baumann, Cesar Franck, Flannery O'Connor, Stephen Sondheim, Elizabeth Bishop, Richard Wilbur, and P.G. Wodehouse. I particularly love works that capture the fleeting sweetness of ordinary life, so I read and re-read Thornton Wilder's Our Town.

I'm a family man. My wife, Annie, and I have four children. As Hannah Arendt said, "Every generation, western civilization is invaded by barbarians. We call them children." In other words, kids must be civilized, and the future depends on the parenting skills of folks like us. Sorry about that, future! Still, there is nowhere I would rather be than goofing around with my wife and kids at an amusement park, on a beach, or in the mountains.

I'm a trial attorney. I represent people and small businesses in civil cases. The opposing party is often a powerful corporation, insurance company, or government agency. I often work on a contingency basis, which means investing years of hard work and a small fortune in costs in cases with no guarantee of success. It can be gut-wrenching and exhausting, but it's also exhilarating and rewarding.

I'm a believer. I love A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, and Groundhog's Day. Each pulls its protagonist out of the stream of time to show him what it means to live a good life. To wit: Loving and serving and building up our families and communities. Prying open our hearts and wallets with Ebenezer Scrooge. Saying "I want to live again!" with George Bailey. Blessing each day, without ironic detachment, with Phil Connors.