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Prosperity, encaustic, ink and gold leaf on panel, 20″ x 16″

I know it’s recession time, but the weird, lush summer we had here in Colorado left me feeling like we passed through a dreamlike period of prosperity. The painting above, inspired by a first harvest of gooseberries (from a prickly, nearly forgotten shrub we planted three years ago) is on display at the main library in Boulder, Colorado as part of the 2009 Open Studios show.

My downtown Boulder painting studio will be open to the public from noon to 6 on Saturday and Sunday October 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th. You’re warmly invited to stop by and say hello.

Open Studios 2009
October 3th, 4th, 10th and 11th
Noon to 6:00 pm
In the alley between Pine and Mapleton at 15th in Boulder, Colorado

New puppy!

More pics here.

“Space, and space again, is the infinite deity which surrounds us and in which we are ourselves contained.”

- Max Beckmann

Breathtaking, eh? More here.

Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise in Planetary Nebula NGC 6302

“What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour — fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes!”

Flow•er
noun Botany
The seed bearing part of a plant consisting of reproductive organs.

verb • figurative
To be in or reach an optimum stage of development. Develop fully and richly.

There’s a beautiful story about the evolution of flowers in today’s NYTimes.

The Drive Home, encaustic and ink on panel, 10′ x 8″

The painting above was inspired, in part, by salad burnet.

Burnet stem and leaves

Burnet is a cucumber scented salad herb. Like many herbs, it’s a vigorous grower but wilts quickly when picked. Its leaves are soft and flimsy and it has beautiful curving stems. Though I don’t often use serrated leaves in painting (too zig zaggy) I’m happy to make an exception for burnet leaves. They remind me of an animal’s hands, and when painted brown, they remind me of oak. Either way, they charm me. I hope you like them, too.

Strangely, the lines I get when I draw from the real offer more surprises than those that spring from my imagination alone. All my current work is inspired by plants. I don’t aim to copy them, but use them as a way to ground my hand.