https://www.angelfire.com/art2/saveus/index.html
blueskygirl2000@hotmail.com
6"x 7"
mixed media
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During the evening of Thursday, September 20, 2001, I created this comet series. It was an attempt to do something happy during these sad times following the terrorist attack. My good friend Martin joined me, not to help me, more because he likes to watch me work. I guess you could say that both of us were looking for diversion.
Following a splendid comfort-food, made-by-Martin dinner of baked macaroni and cheese, Waldorf salad, and peach slices on vanilla ice cream we headed into my studio. Well, my studio is actually the living room in my house because it is the largest room.
The paintings started to happen. I drew hot wax across the rag papers mounted on an art board. Then I took dyes…midnight blue, black, and cyan…swirling on an overlay. While the papers where still wet I embedded them with large-grain kosher salt to achieve "bursts".
During drying time, Martin opened a bottle of Broken Wood Cricket Pitch. He just got it in from Australia. Ummm…maybe Australians shouldn't make wine. The flavor is okay, a little keg-barrel smoky, but it has zero body, just does a deadstop right in your mouth. We laughed a lot, so it was okay.
Now that the papers had dried I ironed out the wax into paper towels and set about infusing energy into the glowing shapes. I used glitter fingernail polish, chrome polish, watercolor, some pastels, and shadowy eye glow.
I showed the finished comet paintings to Martin. He loved them he said because he watched me create them. "I like to see they way you move, your expressions while you work." He insisted on buying them. I tried to give them to him, but he was adamant that I be paid for ______ (I'm not even going to say the word he used!) "I need erotic images like those on my bedroom walls." Martin is hilarious. "They are freaking comets I told him. They are for making wishes." "That's why they belong in my bedroom." he said. I told him that he was simply horny for a new loveman. He said that I could, maybe, possibly, probably am right.
[So, all of these pieces are sold. No inquiries please. And no, I will not be making prints.]
The inspiration for the comet series was brought on my a little science news item I saw about 1000s of visible comets appearing in summer sky. They would be easiest to view just before dawn. I'm a night person so I chose to stay up all night and catch them that way. At least that was my plan.
The first night it rained, so too much cloud cover. The next night I drove an hour north to get away from all of the mercury-vapor lights here in the burbs. I took a fold-up chaise lounge, a flashlight, a blanket, and a sketchbook. I wanted to spend the entire night making wishes for every single person I know.
Good idea, except…
Here, in Chicagoland, I go out in my backyard and lie on the ground and look up at the stars almost every night. The sky has a rosy tinge, and all 30 stars look magnificent.
Up there, away from the light, the sky is solid black with 9 million stars. It is amazing! It is also frightening.
I swear every demon in the entire Midwest took up residence in the gravel pit that night. I tried to stay very very still so maybe I would be invisible and they wouldn't notice me. I guess it worked because I am here to write this. So the paintings "may" evoke a little fear too when you view them. Sorry about that part.
But Martin's happy and I am too. We ended the evening sipping Irish coffees while watching the Presidential Address to Congress. (Did you notice how lumpy the Supremes looked? One or two seemed to be napping.)
I get afraid when a president mentions Homeland Security.
I hope the darkness of war doesn't swallow us up for the next five to ten years.
Peace & Wishes.
