Inspired by Queen Anne's Lace

This field is now an ugly apartment building on Troost and I'm pretty sore about it.

 Queen Anne's Lace is one of my favorite things on Planet Earth.  It's beautiful in the breeze, it feeds pollinators and caterpillars, and every part of it is edible (it's wild carrot, after all).  Every stage of its life cycle is appealing to me, even the dried seed heads.

Playing with a little macro lens I got right up in that inspiration.

Is it going to eat me?

Sketched a little.  Actually, probably a lot, but I painted over most of them.

This one got me excited.

another sketch that has been painted over

So I decided to lay the groundwork on the canvas...these images were pulled from my Instagram, and were taken in my makeshift basement painting studio, so they're not great but I like to show process shots.

There were several more layers of paint than this, but the point is that I put a lot of color in this then washed it out and added papers and whatnot.

This stranger lives inside the painting forever.

I scratched into the surface like I was doing to my ceramics at the time.

Last step before adding ink and paint.

Aliens? What is this?

Weird I'd reference O'Keefe...not vaginal at all.

In summation--I made a few more, but using this single type of design didn't bring me joy like the repeated use of orzos does--although this is quite a similar shape when you get down to it.  I'm glad I went through this exercise, as it got me to start drawing, which led to a lot of very good things, but for now I'm going to be keeping this idea on the back burner.  Summer 2019 I got a wild hair to buy hundreds of feet of canvas, so I think the spark was that I was trying to figure out how to use it and make bigger work in general.

See current works in progress on my Instagram.

Made It: Bring Treasure

Another round one, this time with rainbow ombre!

I accidentally made a planet on the first go around.

 I almost never sketch, but this one was tricking me for some reason.  Digital sketch for your pleasure...

Pretty detailed.

Visualizing the ombre stop and shape

Blues + red-oranges make me happy.

detail

Bring Treasure
36 inch diameter
vinyl, aluminum, paint

Title from "The Hands That Cling" by Esther M. Clark

McCartney

McCartney
salvaged wood, vinyl, paint, paper
23 x 37 inches

Another doubled-up background, this was the first "big" piece.  As with Hardy Stock, this one has been reworked, and actually turned upside down, and I'm glad I was brave enough to keep going.

I was listening to an interview with Paul McCartney when I was making it (the first time) and couldn't separate it from the finished product, hence the title. 

The Mother and Also the Queen

The Mother and Also the Queen
salvaged wood, paint, vinyl, tea bag papers
15 x 19 inches (diptych)

Diptychs are harder to hang, but I don't care.  I painted this and sanded it so many times, including the layers of paper and vinyl...

Living Here, Living There

Living Here, Living There
salvaged wood, vinyl, paint
12 x 30 inches

Oh, hello, monochrome!  I put so many pieces of vinyl on this my eyes almost crossed.

There's a metal push pin showing through from when the shelf was being leveled in its closet (I presume) and plenty of background peeking out because I painted and sanded the top after completing the vinyl layer.  This was a big turning point for me, allowing the vinyl to lay on top of itself and keeping it monochromatic.  

Big Smoke

Big Smoke
salvaged wood, paint, paper, vinyl
23 x 37 inches

This is two of the shelves put together.  This is one of the largest pieces I've done in any series, and next to some others' work, it's still pretty small.  

The paper (painted and sanded on the right section) is from Kansas Farmer magazine, 1975.

I'm still iffy on the title.  Maybe something like "Burning the Fields" or something.  I feel like I need to keep it in the farmy realm, but not so literal.

Hardy Stock

Hardy Stock
salvaged wood, vinyl, paint
33.5 x 11 inches

The background here is actually the first attempt.  I didn't like it, painted over it, and incorporated it into the much improved final version.  

Broad are thy Skies

Broad Are Thy Skies
salvaged wood, paint, vinyl
12 x 35 inches

More shelving from the apartment find.  I was reading a book of Kansas poems, and many of the titles in the series came from lines or phrases pulled from those old poems.  (The book was published in the 1920s.)

Blue Helmet

Blue Helmet
salvaged wood, tea bag papers, paint, vinyl
11.5 x 17 inches

I love tea.  Might as well use every part of my obsession in my work, right?  I glued nine tea bag papers to the salvaged wood before painting and sanding.  After I added the vinyl I sanded that, too.  You can see the edges of the papers making a squarish design, ghosting through the top material.

Crashing Wheat

Crashing Wheat
salvaged wood, paint, vinyl
11.5 x 17 inches

This is one of the first I made in this series.  The wood came from shelving pulled from an apartment complex on the Plaza that was being demolished.  I painted the background and sanded it before the paint had set, so it pilled up and showed the original paint underneath.  You can also see the layers of paint added by the original inhabitants of the building along the edge where it met the shelving support.  Another time-traveling collaboration!

Prairie Wind

Prairie Wind
salvaged wood, vinyl, paint, 1970s pattern paper
11 x 17 inches

Welcome to a series I worked on last year that I haven't shared here on the blog...or in real life too many places, either.  I went on a collecting frenzy of found wood and wanted to go abstract, like some of my larger clocks, but...not clocks.  Lately I've been thinking about this technique (hand cut vinyl, individually placed) and wanting to revisit it.  The most common advice I get from artists is to GO BIGGER.  It's scary, because you use up time and material and what if it doesn't sell?  (Likely.)  Well, you made art, you big baby, be grateful!

Mixed Media Quickie Number Fourteen

Coffee Break
painted found newspaper, book and magazine cutouts,
vinyl
approx. 10 x 13 inches

This one did come together quickly, but in all honestly its components took a while to make.  The building is from a Swiss Modern architecture book that was one of the first things I kept from the sheds at the farm.  The newspaper was painted over the course of weeks as I was making other works and just had it around as blotting paper.  I cut out the strawberry dessert over a year ago from a Reader's Digest scavenger hunt and kept it around.  This is how I work.

Mini Collage Number Forty-Five

Green Rio
salvaged art, vinyl, book page, paper, greeting card paper, matboard
4 x 5 inches

Is this it?  I might come across some other pre-cut 4 x 5s, because stuff just turns up around here.  I do have, however, a plethora of smaller pieces of paper which I will probably start on sometime.  I have no excuse not to be working.

Mini Collage Number Forty-One

Gravitea
ink, magazine cutouts, matboard
4 x 5 inches

Here comes my last five mini collages, folks.  I have run out of old pieces of 4 x 5 inch matboard pieces--I can't believe it!  I'm so glad that I was able to use up some old stuff and even incorporate it into some designs.  I would have had more if I'd not left them out in the rain for a few days, therefore causing a bit of mold to grow on some of the paper.  They were mostly protected in little clear envelopes, though.

Today I'm installing larger mixed media work at Parisi Cafe in Union Station, through the Now Showing program--!  Very excited!  Pictures to come.

P.S. I'm sorry the title to this one is a pun.

Mini Collage Number Thirty-Nine

All You Can Eat Buffet
metallic marker, magazine cut outs, matboard
4 x 5 inches

Mini Collage Number Thirty-Seven

Clues
painted paper, found paper, vinyl, metallic marker, matboard
4 x 5 inches

Mini Collage Number Twenty-Six

Take a Walk
painted paper, vinyl, punched and hand-cut paper
4 x 5 inches

Mini Collage Number Twenty-One

Johnny Appleseed
found papers, fabric paper, paint, vinyl, matboard
4 x 5 inches

Hey!!  Today I'm installing my new collages at One More Cup, a fabulous coffee shop in the Waldo neighborhood here in KCMO.  If you haven't already, check them out and see my new body of work debut in our fair city.  AND GET A MOCHA WHILE YOU'RE THERE--the best in town!

Mini Collage Number Eighteen

Laundry Pile
magazine bits and pieces
4 x 5 inches

Literally used stuff out of my trash can.  Took longer than you'd think.

Hey!  Instagram!