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Two years ago when I attended an art educators convention in Chicago, I was not able to book a room in the main hotel. In fact up until two weeks before the convention I had not heard back from a service that was supposed to find me a room. An orthopedists convention had complicated matters when it chose to switch its convention from New Orleans to Chicago. My understanding was that there were 80,000 of them versus the almost 5,000 art educators. Anyway, I ended up at the downtown Hampton Inn. It was a five-minute ride from the main hotel.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Lucky for me, the hotel was close to a wide variety of eating establishments. So, I did have a chance to try a variety of places nearby without having to taxi anywhere. Since the main hotel was a distance away and the March weather was so cold, I spent a lot more time at the hotel in the evenings. That brings me to my colors for this painting. They are comprised of the variety of greens I noticed in the Hampton Inn’s lobby, breakfast area and computer room. I combined colors to make this piece.

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In May 2006 I traveled with some artists to see a show of Georgia O’Keefe’s work at the Mississippi Museum of Art. This show was a little different in that it included correspondence with conservator Caroline Keck. The show focused on their relationship and her impact on O’Keefe’s art.

Being a fan of O’Keefe’s work, I had to create a dot painting after the show. Borrowing a yellow-green color I spotted in one of her works, I painted an exaggerated abstraction of a flower. I kind of just went my own direction.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

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Another exhibit I visited at the Chicago Cultural Center,
while attending the art educators convention in Chicago, was “Los Carpinteros.” This show was by a collaborative group of Cuban artists that creates a wide variety of artworks including installation art. Several pieces in the show were rather whimsical, i.e., a porcelain couch with stove burners, porcelain stairs with stove burners, a large wooden hand with drawers, etc.

Anyway, for this painting I was inspired by the teal color of a table that contained a shallow pool for ice that would melt and re-freeze. When I rendered this painting with dots, I implied drawers with knobs – based on several sculptures containing drawers in the show. Before leaving the building I bought a catalog for each show I saw.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

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In April of ’06 I joined an online video aggregating community called
VideoSift. It quickly became one of my favorite places online. I have watched a vast number of videos since that time. Some of the more creative videos have had an impact on me creatively. Much has changed on the site in the last two years.

This painting, however, is influenced by the colors used on the original site. The two triangles are derived from the up and down voting triangles. This painting is the first one I created to remember a place online.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Just Three More to Go!

So here are three more paintings from this particular batch. I only have three more to go. Yesterday I corrected the names of the last two paintings. For some reason I had skipped “sa” in titling those pieces.

And coming right behind this group is another batch. Most of them have a first coat of paint. Soon I will add the second coat and after that the dots. Making art takes time.

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acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

va

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

wa

acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

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In March of ’06 I traveled to Chicago for the National Art Education Convention. I arrived a couple of days early in order to visit the art centers and museums. At the Chicago Cultural Center there was an exhibit called “Situation Comedy: Humor in Recent Art.” The show featured conceptual works, by a group of artists, which included paintings, pop art, videos, mixed media, sculptures, found objects and installations.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Obviously you’ve noticed the LOL symbol and the bright pop colors in this painting. I figured it summed up the personality of this show. It was a
fun show.

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Two years ago I went with my sister to a little comedy musical called “We’re Still Here, Me!” Le Chat Noir. The show revolved around a cast of characters portrayed by Ricky Graham who sang to music played by Jefferson Turner. All of the characters were residents from the Greater New Orleans Area. Each of them had a turn at commenting on Hurricane Katrina and the flood. We were in stitches. At the end of the show, Ricky Graham took the time to say goodbye to every single audience member.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

This piece was directly inspired by the production and the colors I saw that night. The red and black are from the interior of the theater. The pink and red come from the lighting used. Lastly, the fleur de lis was on the cover of the show’s program. This is only the second fleur de lis I’ve done among these paintings.

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Some of my paintings grow out of film experiences. This piece began with watching the movie “The Chumscrubber.” The title comes from a video game in which the hero carries its head in its hand as a weapon in a post-apocalyptic world. But the video game is not the focus of the painting.

In the film there is a scene where Ralph Fiennes descends into a swimming pool fully clothed. The scene struck a chord with me. In general the characters of the film were coping with stress in their own strange ways. Glenn Close’s silent scream fascinated me too.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

And so I go back to the imagery of this piece. The base colors for the background come from ones used in the promotional imagery for the film: green and burnt orange. On top of those colors I painted dots to imply agitated swimming pool water.