The Back of the Flower Stand on Graduation Day

This painting originated from a sketch. There was a graduation ceremony next to the farmer's market and this Asian family was working hard to keep up with demands. The workers breathed a sigh of relief when they were able to go to the back of the stand and arrange the bouquets. This painting was done in oils and it's 10"x13" on stretched canvas.

Dill Gone to Seed

You can stop the dill from flowering, so that it will continue growing the spiky leaves that do so well with cucumber salad, fish dishes or soups. But the yellow bursts of their flowers are difficult to resist. Plus, the seeds are easy to save if you just let the plant run it's course. This one was tough to do so small. 4"x6" in oils, wet-on-wet.

Cucumber Salad
1 sliced cucumber
1/8th of a red onion, minced
2 dashes of fresh dill
1 1/2 cups brown rice vinegar

Mix the ingredients in a bowl or shake up in a jar. Keep refrigerated for a cool, summer salad.

Nasturtiums on tiny canvas'

Nasturtiums are a complex flower. These bright bursts of beauty are like a cross between a morning glory and a tiger lily. They grow in any kind of container, wrap around any object nearby and despite their weed behavior, they have a lot to offer.

My mother gave me seeds over a year ago and I finally had an extra container to plunk them into. As they grew, I learned that they are an effective deterant for aphids. Plant these beauties next to your nibbled on roses and those tiny green guys will be gone in no time. Although they are an effective pesticide, they are edible to us humans. Put the flowers in your salad to beautify your meal, they add a fairly intense but sweet flavor.

It is these things and the way that the plants exploded on one side of my container garden that has fascinated me. So, per the usual, I painted them in oils. All I have to paint on right now are these little 4"x6" canvas boards.

Corporate Ivy (Updated)

My newfound obsession has already been documented here. I'm finally putting my thoughts into images. I completed this sculpture for my Sustainability class. It combines my thoughts on English ivy with the concepts laid out in the books Affluenza and When the Rivers Run Dry. The basic concept is that corporations like Coca Cola, por ejemplo, are working overtime to manipulate communities of people for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they want to make money off of water supplies that should be free to the people, or sometimes they just want to sell a product. The global offenders that I've glued to these English ivy leaves have all taken part in trying to manipulate the public in some way. They do a disservice to society as a whole and set us back leaps and bounds through money-backed legislation and taking advantage of those who are ignorant to their methods. If you're reading this, I'm sure you know all this already.

The sculpture is made of red clay and is situated on a recycled piece of wood from an old cabinet. No live model was used. The ivy was pulled from the forest around my house. This little guy is about 8" tall, with a base of about 10". He inevitably will deteriorate with time, and I hope to update this post with the continuing status of his decay.

UPDATE: The Decay...

Ivy

I'm becoming a bit obsessed with the English Ivy that grows around my apartment. It's gnarly stuff, wrapping around trees and sucking the life out of them, creating a six-inch layer of foliage that blocks all other seedlings the chance at life. It's all over the country, but really taking a toll on Forest Park here in Oregon. I've been pulling the seedlings of the ivy when I see them, because the roots are only a few inches long and it's an easy way to try to help. The birds eat the purple fruit and then shit out the seeds to start a new crop. The ivy is all-consuming. Even humans have been unable to fight it back, because other people keep planting it as decor around their property. The ivy creates what are known as "ivy deserts," which I think is a pretty vivid description for the future temperate rainforest if nothing changes around here.

...so, with this all in mind, I've been learning about the attitude of consumerism throughout the United States. I've never been ignorant to the constant barrage of advertisements in our lives, insecurity machines, and constant bullying into spending money "for the economy." Nevertheless, when you really start taking the time to notice the system in its entirety, you realize that you've been battling against it every day of your life. And unfortunately, unlike ivy, you can't just uproot it in order to stop it's proliferation of your brain. Mother Theresa said that the United States is one of the poorest nations she had ever been to, because the people here lacked spirituality. If our spirits were like little plants, reaching towards a life force beyond our capacity to understand, then perhaps the ivy is getting a little too thick in this country.

Sustainability: "Leaves in a Pot"

I'm taking this class on Sustainability, which is a great class but happens to fall on the same days as the art classes I want to take.

Well, I finally got to spend my limited homework time painting anyway. "Leaves in a Pot" is painted on piece of wood off a broken cabinet. It's about 18"x18" and done in oils. The idea is mimicking nature's process of refertilizing the soil. When we copy nature, things usually work out for the best.

This was a quick painting done from life.

Two Angles of a Seed Pod

The title speaks for itself. The seed pod was in Pennsylvania, by Lake Lenape. They are both 4"x6" and done in oils on canvas board.

Painting on the Porch

I've been painting on my porch lately. The first one was Tomato-Basil and now I have this one. I suppose it would be called "Sunset wall". I painted it on a piece of wood that came from an old cabinet that we were throwing away. I think the size is 10"x15" and it's done in oils.

Tomato-Basil

The tomatoes are not red yet, but that purple basil sure is striking.

Oils 12"x12"