I particularly enjoy the fields along the roadside as I travel back and forth to North Carolina in the spring before the crops are planted. There is such a beautiful mix of complementary colors. There is the purple carpeting of a weed called henbit juxtaposed against the bright yellow buttercups. Woven through these are vibrant patches of green spring grass. Up close to the road, lining the ditches, is vegetation still wearing the rusty reds and oranges of winter sleep. Such a simple landscape, but rich in coloring.
Revisiting another iconic Jasper Johns work with my soda bottle caps. It's not easy to try to recreate the depth and layering of his color in oils when I'm trying to do it alla prima.
These are from the live oak tree right beside my deck in NC. They are tiny versions of the acorn caps that one finds on oak trees in New York. When I was little, my mother used to tell me that the caps were separated from their acorn nuts by pixies who lived in the woods so they could wear them as hats on their pixie jaunts. (I'm sure we're not the only kids who were told such things.) I used to draw little faces on my fingers and pop an acorn cap on each...instant finger puppet show.
SOLD
I remember my younger brother having one of these as a kid. I loved to make it spin for him and he would just laugh and laugh. I found this one at my neighbor Dan's yard sale. It brought back so many memories, I just had to paint it.
