Cookies
In between teaching positions I am home, baking lots of cookies. Art reflects life, so I begin painting cookies, circular, colorful cookies. The circle is the purest geometric form. The Cookie Series can be viewed on many levels, from the mundane cookie to atomic and chemical particles, molecules, microbes, the constellations and the planets, to the One, who has no beginning and no end. These large canvases are about the process of painting, with their colorful drips and layering of paint. They develop into the Spring Flower Series, in which circles and drips become flowers, weather patterns, and sun.
In Let Justice Flow, justice flows down on waters composed of layers of circles of various colors and sizes. This painting is inspired by Amos 5:24. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Both of my daughters and my son-in-law and his sister are all lawyers. This painting took me seven years to complete.
Sun Bathing Boobies
The Sun Bathing Boobie Series grows from my desire to travel to the Galapagos Islands with my students. My research about the islands, and the blue footed boobie in particular, results in this series. The seascape is surreal, as in the Partnership Series. Azure is predominant, for the water becomes the setting here. The birds with their webbed feet are abstracted. These are day scenes with a delight in color, shape, and layering of hues, as playful as the boobies themselves.
The only night scene is Nocturnal Love Call, reminiscent of Joan Miro. This painting is the bridge to the Boobies on Parade Series, of night dances. These are dark and mysterious, yet the azure water is still luminous and clear. Both boobie series are built up with layers of glaze, which must dry in between applications. These are mating dances. The male who lifts his leg the highest is the most attractive to the female.
The Galapagos Islands are filled with mystery and a uniqueness of species, a place of the imagination. These sister series are part of the imaginative dream of being there.
