Made It: Crooning Cottonwoods

This summer I had a piece in a show called Abstract Catalyst at the Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, Oregon.  

See that turquoise circle?  Read on to learn more about its birth.

For the background of this one, I applied paint both in a circular pattern (thanks to a lazy Susan) from the center out and then went over it with straight strokes.  All I knew is that I wanted something turquoise-y.

Beginning to lay down the orzos.

Finished product!
Crooning Cottonwoods
30 inch diameter
aluminum, paint, vinyl

detail

When I applied for this show, I titled it "Prairie Porthole," and that is what it showed under, but I regretted it.  I mean, the leafy-ness of the orzos did make me think of trees, obviously, and the color of the ocean, so I smushed them together.  But then I came across this stanza from the poem "Kansas" by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay:

  The wind would drive the glittering clouds,
  The cottonwoods would croon,
  And past the sheaves and through the leaves,
  Came whispers from the moon.

Pretty great, right?  A name change was required and I'm happy I did it.  It's a small thing but with abstract pieces titles can matter if you want to get a certain narrative started in the viewers' imagination.  I mentioned this in brief blurb in this post.

Also, the gallery used this piece on their promotional mailers, which I didn't find out about until it was returned to me (because it sadly was not purchased) and they included a postcard.

Made It: A Border of Memory

Another very big piece.  Complicatedly simple.

A Border of Memory40 inches tall x 66 inches wide

 This little piece was my inspiration.  This was one of the first non-clock orzo sketches I tried out three or four years ago.  It's about 8 x 8 inches.

scrap wood, paint, tea bag papers, vinyl

 The layers were all shades of black with a hint of crimson here and there.  I dragged a scrub brush through the wet paint to add texture.

All white vinyl.

 As I went along I decided to start adding in reflective silver orzos into the design.  Without a flash or other bright light source it's barely noticeable, but if you use a flash on your camera you get a whole new perspective.

Surprise!!

 Look at that glow!  Magical.

The ridges really show up in this picture.  If you buy it you can touch it all you want.

Booth shot

Title from the eponymous poem by Florence L. Snow.