Neighbor

Illustration Friday Theme = Neighbor.

Back in the late 90's, when bucktown was still very edgy, we had a bad neighbor...it made for a rough couple of years.

Be Kind To Animals...

I just biked down to City Hall to see the banners I designed for Chicago Animal Care & Controlfor Be Kind To Animals Week.It's always a wonder to me that a digital file that I never saw largerthan 10 inches on my screen can hang over my head, 8 feet tall. Everytime, I breathe a sigh of relief that it worked! I also donated bannerdesigns for Be Kind to Animals week back in 2005 they featured Alice. Not that you need to be reminded, but be kind to your 4 legged friends and if you are ready to add to your household please adopt ... there are hundreds of cats and dogs waiting for homes in Chicago today.As I left City Hall I saw this beautiful mosaic mural across the street at 120 N LaSalle. It is called "Flight of Daedalus and Icarus" by Roger Brown, It's27 feet highand 54 feet wide and of course all original. There are hidden gems likethis all over  Chicago. I count  myself lucky to have spotted this onetoday.

Artropolis

Last weekend I made the short trek downtown to visit Artropolis -the annual mega art event here in Chicago, stemming from the originalArt Chicago. I made the mistake of trying to see everything. As a result, I cannot recall what Isaw in the last hour, as it was just too much stimulus for the eyes, brainand soul to handle. But my first 2 hours were a treat. My favorite show was the Bridge Art Fair where the highlight wasseeing the works of Beverly Ashein person and then getting to meet her and having her tell me she knows my work!Wow. I have admired her paintings for years via the internet - a chancefind early on of the gazillion or so hours of surfing I've done. She was exhibiting with her gallery Strange Weeds. I discovered a few new favorites: the painter, Scott Redden with Dillon Gallery and from the the Intuit Show, the works of Franz Kernbeis from Galerie St. Etienne and Theresa Disney of Checkered House Gallery. I just don't do the gallery thing often enough, I am so inspired and happy when I do - this was a big reminder...note to self.

Working outside the box

Boyswork

My childhood best friend and her family (from my home town of Sparta, WI) recently came to stay for the weekend. The boys always paint in my studio when they come to visit...they told me I should do something different so I picked up this cut end of a cardboard box and started painting away making use of all 3 sides of the box...fun! That's Rocky their Chinchilla on the right, as they described him to me. Here are some of their fabulous paintings...one is still a work in progress to be finished at the next visit.

Before the lights went off...

Fortune

Illustration

Friday

Theme =

Fortune

Priming

It was a beautiful day in Chicago - I swept out the garage and primed boards to be cut for future paintings. I love it, our old garage on Oakley was leaky and falling apart, this is twice as big with a high ceiling and only a few years old. I'm still making peace with my new basement studio, perhaps I'll take refuge in the garage for part of the summer or at least work on some larger paintings out there. Just good to work in daylight and have fresh air circulating through...and Alice, happy as a clam, keeping watch over her kindgom in the backyard.

Green

Illustration Friday Theme = Green

I created this painting a few years back after a dream in which I was back home in Wisconsin (where I grew up) driving onbeautiful hilly country back roads, the sunlight was streaming throughthe trees making everything a golden green. It was perfect, until the road I was driving on went completely vertical on me...at which point, terrified, I woke up!