digital photo
Here is another photo from the backyard woods last weekend. The insect paths are grooved into the entire now-fallen tree, including up and around this gnarl. I thought it looked kinda cool. Groovy. Gnarly.
Category: art
november 21
digital photo
I took this photo during a backyard woods photo shoot last weekend. Lots of cool looking lichen on the fallen, rotting trees out there, especially when you get up close.
november 20
8.5×5.5″ acrylic, collage on paper
I scraped, brushed, and printed with acrylic. (I think my “printing” tool used to be the inside circular plastic piece from a Scotch tape dispenser.) And I collaged on top of that the words from a baggage claim ticket that my spouse gave me (thanks, Matt!).
november 19
5.5×8.5″ acrylic on paper
This is another piece that at one point seemed destined for the scrap pile. It consists of scraped, palette-knifed, brushed, and blockprinted acrylic. At the point when I was about ready to throw in the towel, I took some transparent quinacridone magenta and scraped it over the whole thing. When in doubt, grab the magenta; that seems to be my motto! And…I do like it better!
november 18
8×7.5″ acrylic on matboard
Another crazy process. This is probably not ready for prime time, but here it is anyway! This was done in many layers—mostly scraped acrylic, but some brushing and a little bit of block-printing, too.
I was trying to decide between the title “ghostly pillars” and “spirit pillars.” I went with the one that first came into my mind. But you know how when you say a word over and over and then you start to doubt if it’s really a word or is spelled the way you have it? That happened to me with “pillars”! So funny.
november 17
8×6″ acrylic, marker
I embraced my inner art child today and just had fun painting whatever came to mind. This is mostly brushed acrylic over a scraped transparent sienna background, with some little (mostly obscured now under the blue) circles made with marker and a stencil.
november 16
approx. 3×4″ origami paper, folded
I have been folding origami peace cranes for decades, off and on. This piece consists of three origami cranes. I “cheated” by stapling the three together for this design. Peace.
november 15
digital photo
I took lots of photos of these insect channels in a tree that fell during the big windstorms this past week. I’m not even sure this is my favorite, but I’ve picked it for today. You may see more of these in the days ahead! The designs look so cool, but they also tell the tale of why the tree didn’t survive upright.
november 14
6×6″ acrylic on paper (and digitally manipulated)
I painted (scraped and a little brushed) this heart with French flag colors, but I really want it to represent my feeling for all of the victims of terrorism, both state and non-state sponsored. The photo I took muted the white color, so I used the “fill” tool to brighten it and it spread it interestingly in the middle and the background, too—with some areas of the original light gray. I liked the effect, so kept it.
Peace.
november 13
digital photo
This is a photo I took at the Bakken Pipeline public comment hearing. The jars contain (on the left) oil and (on the right) Iowa soil. The speaker, Melanie Stall from Huxley, Iowa, made the point that oil doesn’t mix with agricultural soil. I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t doodle or draw during the hearing at all, just listened and kept track of the speakers. So I asked Melanie if I could take a photo of the jars and explained what I was doing. We positioned the jars on a (harder every minute) metal folding chair. I have a couple of detail views I considered using for the daily jane, but decided the two jars together told more of the story. And see my February daily jane about oil and water—although I wasn’t as explicit about the specific subject, the piece was inspired by the Bakken pipeline plans and filing my written objection with the Iowa Utilities Board in February.