Decay Under a Bright Blue Sky / Homage to Fall

Decay under a bright blue sky / Homage to Fall
mixed-media on panel
2006
17" x 35"

This humble and poetic little piece is one of my favorite landscapes. It's part of a series I call The Perfect Fall.

I used a process similar to some of the dimensional aerial paintings where I draped panels with wood and paper. Here I draped vellum over wood panel and used pencil to make rubbings over the textured surface, which gave birth to the tree-like forms. Then I painted the sky with cerulean blue acrylic paint. The flatness of the blue paint offers a watery, sinking and sliding contrast to the spiked and desiccated wood forms below.

Found Landscapes

Found Landscape #3: Stone with rippling water
plywood, oil paint, stone, wax
2001
2' x 4'

Found Landscape #4: Sun and horizon line
plywood, oil paint, pencil, wax
2001
2' x 4'

These pieces are from the series Found Landscapes in which I chose plywood panels (from the hardware store) with woodgrain patterns suggestive of landscape features. I brought the features out by staining the panels with oil paint.

In the first piece, I collaged a smooth stone in the center of a concentric ripple pattern and then accentuated the pattern by staining with blue paint. In the second, I used yellow paint to stain over a 1/4 circle shape in the upper left corner. Then I outlined the shape and drew sun rays with pencil to suggest a child-like symbol for the sun.