Parched (mixed media on canvas)

The tan painting below is called Parched. I named it on a whim, I guess, because I submitted it to the faculty art show at my high school. Made in the heat of summer (2006), it includes oil and acrylic as well as polyurethane...and probably some dirt and grout. I did apply the heat gun to it a little bit and it was so hot out, the painting actually caught on fire a bit. Whoops.

The leaf in the bottom right corner fell on the canvas as it was drying in the back yard. I swear. I like that it stuck there. It speaks to the tenacity of nature and such. A painting like this made me realize that while I am addressing ideas of permanence and ... non-permanence (temporariness?). It is really the material itself that is in charge of getting this message across, NOT the composition. The new owners of the painting will be fortunate -- or unfortunate -- enough to see the painting change through the years, as other paintings have done.

The needs of the materials, as far as drying is concerned, limit the amount of time I can work on one canvas during a given session. So even my ability to paint is not permanent, despite old fantasies about painting around the clock. I could always set up several canvases the way I used to do jigsaw puzzles when I was little: set up three in a row, mix up the pieces, and put them all together at once.

"Parched" is headed for a private collection.