“It’s something that is beyond my control,” says the prolific painter, poet, and punk-rocker Billy Childish. “It’s a psychological problem.” Childish is not concerned with meanings, he simply paints what he sees. And in “now protected, I step forth,” what he sees are landscapes. These paintings, old and new, are quiet tributes to the sanctity and sublimity of the natural world. In tahoma and 2 trees, Mount Tahoma’s snowcapped ridges appear hazy and almost fluid, something like the Northern Lights. In wolf walking, the lone creature wanders through a dreamlike forest, its firs a neon-green luminescence. One can see the influence of Van Gogh, who’s memoir laid the foundation for Childish’s artistic philosophy. As for his need to create art, well, Childish humbly supposes that it “doesn’t cause anyone else too much mischief.” —Nyla Gilstrap