Lost in space in window

SOLD
Painted panel

8 x 13.5 inches

Ahhh. Lazy Sunday, painting in the studio for hours... Snacking, lost in thought.

"Lost in Space - and loving every moment".

That was a headline in the LA Times. I couldn't resist it.

window and wilderness

8 X 7 inches. Sewn painted papers

I am enjoying these little windows... literally made in the "little windows" of my days.

What fascinates me as an artist is the grid of geometric window panes against the curving lines of outside plants (?) organic world... Could this little paper quilt be about inside vs. outside? Control versus wildness? Me?

Black Friday Purse with money

Painted on panel encrusted with shredded currency

About 10 x 8inches

Thanksgiving Window

I finished sewing this while watching the Texas college football game last night. Much of my sewn work has come about because when the kids were little there wasn't time to do more than a "scrap" of a painting. These I stored in shoe boxes, one in my car, and others color coded in my studio. In the evening when I needed to be watching the kids or just near the family I could keep "working" by having my hands sew small pieces together to make larger works.

This window was a scrap painting made from looking at a Cuban window. I dream someday of living in the Caribbean and living with windows that have no screens, no glass, only wooden  shutters (to keep out the larger nocturnal flying insects). The lime green is my favorite tropical color. It is sewn papers, 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches.

Gratitude Dude

Missing my usual Thanksgiving centerpiece...my purple papie mache turkey, "gratitude Dude". So this year I substituted a paper bowl in the form of hands  holding a peace symbol. Inside the bowl is a collage of found text that expressed my intentions in the molding of the pulp. The essence of this holiday is to count our blessings and work toward a heart of service and linking of community. We filled it today with slips of paper listing what we felt thankful for. The bowl was brimming over...

May you have a blessed and rich Thanksgiving holiday.

Dressed Turkey Sign

More memorabilia of past Thanksgivings. I made  series of these cut outs that sat upright, wedged in grooved hunks of 2x4s. Sold all my "smoked turkeys"- who looked a little like a hippie birds grooving on the corner of Haight and Ashbury.

This is about 16 x 12 inches cut luan. $100 (cobwebs free)

I apologize for upsetting several viewers with yesterday's image. It is an uncomfortable fact of my life on a farm. Birds are sacrificed for our meals. Many, most who live far from the farms, would prefer not to recognize it and just keep believing that food comes from stores. I think our lack of connection to the source of our food is both perverse and down right dangerous.

I am not a vegetarian. But I do concern myself with the humane treatment of animals and the respectful  cultivation of our nutritional needs. I buy free-range meats from small growers who can vouch that their animals lived stress-free and rural lives. I wish I could afford organic certified and heirloom products all the time because I worry about what I feed my sons and how the environment is protected. 

There is no getting around the fact that hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of turkeys have been slaughtered for tomorrow's meal. Thanks should be given for the abundance, and for the farmers who have worked so hard, against elements of nature and vagaries of the market, to offer something on your table. Eat up!

Holiday Meal Prep

This painting is from 1991, when we ran a poultry farm. Yesterday I found a stash of old paintings under the barn steps. Each brought back memories. For nine years we raised and sold holiday turkeys. Now that the farm is no longer running, the paintings, some funny and others, such as this, more macabre, keep me connected with the source of our food. All across the country today people are preparing for the holiday meal. I have a pot of soup on the stove and, soon, an apple pie in the oven. Both boys are home. Almost constantly on top of each other.  It's a serene world in the kitchen... warm, bright, sweet smelling. Outside it is raining, almost freezing, and a palette of cool grays and dull oranges.