Dermatological Wonder At 6 Fathoms

9×12 in. mixed media.  Let me start by saying thank you to everyone, I have hit a milestone I never imagined I would get to…1000 followers!!!!!! … I reached that early today, it is very humbling and at the same time extremely uplifting . THANK YOU ALL

The long winded titled piece was done like some of my bubble tree series, without the trees. I had a preconceived idea about goosebumps…thus the title. It has a different feel than the others like it…but I can sense being in the water for sure. Not many have seen this piece so I will let you guys and gals tell me what you think.

What’s On Your Desk?

9×12 in. mixed media. The closest thing to a still life I have done since Shawnee Heights H.S. days and Mr. Miller. This is one of those pieces I do from time to time to recharge my creative juices, plus it keeps me productive. Fun to do the different shapes that adorn my desktop…note the pencil scribbles i put on the blotter, too much white had to do something. My current blotter is covered with ideas for names, web sites, spellings, simple sketches, and blots of color…maybe when i get ready to change it out i should frame it, might be interesting years from now.

Nude Bathing By Moonlight

9×12 in. mixed media. If it’s too cold to skinney dip, then one can only bask in the warm rays of the mountain highlands by the lake during a full moon. Most likely this would just be slightly better than skinney dipping, goosebumps would be maxed out either way. Title obviously came to me as a continuation to my last BUBBLE TREE piece. Didn’t use as much tissue paper in this and I pulled out a trick I learned many years ago to get the right shading…shoe polish! Prior to that the shading wasn’t right for the feel I wanted…want to say the first time I saw this used was by a fellow student at Ottawa University. Never used it too much, kinda messy and gets on everything…the liquid polish doesn’t work as well as the paste type…rub and remove till you like it, then acrylic sealer. Funny how old studio tricks come back to ya… with this piece I believe I have enough to start a new catagory…Bubble Trees

You Can Only Clean Fish Once

9×12 in. mixed media. Details on the lighter areas not showing very well, you will have to take my word on there is more to be seen. Used some of that 42 year old ink in getting my colors just right. Had a few on lookers thinking I was doing something with football laces or clocks…nice observation but can’t say I was on that path. Watercolor paper does such a nice job of taking my early layers before I start glazing over with finishes, inks, and acrylic. Not sure I have mentioned my process in naming pieces before…once I have completed a piece I spend some time with it and see what comes to mind…I have almost as much fun doing this as I do working on them. Not sure what my titles say about me as an artist but I do know it is enjoyable. 

It Is Too Cold To Skinney Dip

11×14 in mixed media. The 3rd and final wave is up and running at the Putnam County Library and this is one of the pieces. Not  sure how normal shows go but I was able to provide the public with 27 hand picked works over a 2 month period, 9 at a time. Feedback continues to be very favorable from visitors, which is greatly appreciated.  Thanks again to Stacie Johnson.

On to this current piece…nature and the elements, kind of played with a reflective type theme…water, deep and shallow and moonlight…are those snowflakes?…maybe…is that mountains?…possible .  The colors and texture have a brisk cool feel to them, and I really enjoyed changing the shades and hues as the trees came thru the piece. I might over-play the white outlining, but at this point I can’t see the work without it. I have used this style and technique on several pieces now, each one creates a different but pleasant mood for me while glazing at them…I hope it catches you in a similar fashion.

Discarded Sunset On Kansas

Mixed media 18×24 in. on canvas. Back in the day part of studying photography was you did your own developing and printing, very challenging and costly till you got what you wanted. In this piece I incorporated some  discarded B&W nature  shots into my painting, along with some discarded fabric from the textile lab. My kids call it the dirty underwear picture, but I never was that cutting edge back then.  A closer look and we  can see a typical Kansas Winter setting near some fence rows.  I also used a brite red cinnamon wrapper to add texture and color. This is a piece that has had no issue (my wife likes it)  finding a home in a main traffic area in my house over the years. Talk about slow, I started this in 1974 and completed it in 1988…a story for another time.

The Other Side

Mixed media 10×14 in. Variation of several ( Between, How Many Trees Make A Forest, The Stage Is Set.) of my other bubbleheaded tree works.  At some point I may revisit these and either on a much smaller or much larger scale try to expand upon this. I don’t believe those are the great pyramids so I have added mountains to the mix.

Flour And Water Doesn’t Make A Peter Max

A 19×24 in. extremely mixed media. Before I get back to my current stuff I thought I might at least show one more, my first mixed media circa 1972. It was during a time when I was trying many different approaches to art and I personally liked Peter Max and the Beatles. (who didn’t at that time) This was about the time I changed majors from architecture to art education. It was also the first time I discovered tissue paper and recycling less liked art, of my own of course. This work uses flour, tissue paper, ink, pen, sand, paper, elmer’s, varnish, and papermate flairs. For being 40 years old it looks brand new, shining just it did then…can ya guess where the recycled art was useful?

 

Seeking Nemo

Mixed media 12×18 in.  Companion piece to ” 3 Jaw Clamp “, can’t remember which one was first but this one doesn’t use tissue paper or have a lot of surface texturing. I took some rough photos of this as it was being created, actually completed it in one day…thanks to inventive use of a space heater to dry the layers (I can be inpatient when my creative juices are flowing). Walked down to my lair after dinner and when I came back up at 3am…nobody awake to share my new treasure with…but I slept well dreaming of little Nemo.

Segmented Puddles

Mixed media 12×18 in.  The under pinning to this piece was layer after layer of markers and ink with repeated patterns, that start to take a life of their own. I really like how the acrylic is transparent enough to allow some of  the background work to morph thru. The final layers were controlled and precise in contrast to the background layers that were free flowing throughout.

BP Lied To Us

Very mixed media 9×12 in. This is a very confused piece, at times green (environmental) and at times just the opposite. The beach is green…used home made glue and for color would you believe color pencil shaving I have saved for months.  Now I couldn’t stay true and for the foreground I used marker, ink, and good old nasty solvent…I did have gloves on and preformed this experiment outside in fresh air.  Nice results but not sure I would do this again, messy, smelly, and my gloves weren’t in very good shape afterwards… kinda like working the beaches in the Gulf during the BP mess… Title seemed natural,at least for me.  The title and the piece poke fun at this mess, however I know it was anything but funny…so no offense, just art.

The Stage Is Set

Mixed media 9×12 in.  Something is ready to happen, but what? Where is this place or where in time is it? This is nature in a pure untainted state ready for the next step/phase/act/scene…but what? Almost a Seuss feel to it without a hint of …whatever is next !!!

Foldable Art: country side

Mixed media 6×7 ft. Who says you have to hang art on the wall… We had this around for longer than I care to remember, waiting for color.  Used spray paint, charcoal, pastel sticks, paint sticks, markers, and latex paint.  In my mind I started with woods and a lake then a waterfall, kind of has a oriental feel to it. Then  I used countryside to connect the two halves. … there is two sides to this divider I’ll share the other side at another time.

Hide N Seek

Mixed media 9×12 in.  My first in a series of octopus and ocean series, not as much factual as, colorful with a bit of whimsey. This was the piece I traded with a fellow artist at the ” Picasso Doesn’t Live Here art fair.”  The octopus has almost a pearly finished skin with multiple colors.  To contrast against it I used paint-sticks for the coral and the goofy fish (my version of a type of parrot fish).  Not sure if there is treasure around or not but we do have a shipwreck, anchor and oil.   Don’t ask about the magenta flow to the right it’s either a crack in the mantle or the remains of a missing tanker full of silly putty… or it might be just the right color to offset the octopus’s brite eyes. Regardless a very fun piece.

How Did We Get Here

Mixed media 12×18 in. The title say a lot about this piece. I started in a way different place than where I ended…but I am very happy to be there. Was going for fire/fall color thing, original triangles were larger and I didn’t have blue on the menu. Might be hard to see in this photo but piece has about 3-4 layers on top of each other to get to this point. I love how the whites get muted near the top and the change-up of curved lines near the bottom. The paper I used on this is a real brite marigold and about 100 lb. weight, which takes the acrylic well.

5 Shells By The Seashore

Mixed media 16×20 in. I had considered to divide this into 4 equal parts and then mount it with about 1/4 in. space between all parts with a dark background. However the outcry from my home grown support system convinced me to delay it for now.  This has a very nautical feel to which I find  very relaxing to look at. Technique wise I didn’t employee as many layers in this piece as I normally would, because it started working for me early on, and I couldn’t see the need. Subconsciously this comes from a long series of beach pictures/photos I took at Tybee Island.

Lunar Shallows

Mixed media 12×18. I have done 6 of these trees/water/leaves/reflection type pieces and still find things to do with them. I wanted a lot more of the reflective look on this one thus the moon and the squiggly lines. It made the waves/water more pronounced, I also used more green and brown shades. I have been toying with having some sort of abstract aquatic life near the surface…I promise it won’t be Nessie, but that would be a thought….

Autumn Shallows

Mixed media 12×18. The first time I did one of these reflective-fall-water-leave pieces I couldn’t get a photo without a great deal of glare on them. So I figured I would do the next piece similar but with the glare/white added as part of it.  I like the effect and the blues and leaves are more distinct vs. the first piece (What Waterbugs)…I still need to learn to take better photos of my work.  I had someone tell me they thought the white was abstract geese going south for the winter…verrryyy interrrestinnnggg!  (think laugh-in, the TV show)

Muddy Waters

Mixed media 12×18 Fall series.  I like the way the colors change on the trees and the background but without the puddles/reflective blue waters it was way too flat for my tastes. The outlining of the trees was a late addition that helped me give it a little more of a surreal look to work with my leaves. I liked the effect so much for some continuity I used on the brite blue waters.

Bath Night On Liberty Island

Mixed media 9×12. Had fun with this and did a little experimenting to boot. The spikes on liberty’s head were actually colored from the back side of the paper, as was the orange, and the sage outline on her body. The white was a thick layer of acrylic and gel medium, which I textured before it dried. Notice the Van Gogh type sky? I love that shape and those lines,  a lot of my earlier works were thick with it. Just remember even a statue gets a bath from time to time.