Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Variations on a 500 million year old theme

AKA 31 Days - Days 18, 19 & 20

Years ago I painted this little painting called "How the Light Becomes You."  It is a scene of the bay side of Duxbury beach with the Standish Monument across the bay at sunset. When I first went on Facebook in 2008, I posted a few paintings to start.  This one was bought immediately by a woman who had grown up in Duxbury and lived in North Dakota, and thus began an interesting turn of events...
"How the Light Becomes You" 8x10 pastel on board

Over the years I have drawn so many horseshoe crabs I can draw them with my eyes closed.  When I sign a book I always include a little h-crab sketch.
This is my stamp.  I use it on all of my art prints, my email signature, and my return address stamp. 

My hat from Lonza


My Nelson Telson sticker



I often include limulus on my holiday eggs (handmade chicken egg ornaments I've been making every year since 1985).



One of my all time favorite pieces of art is this one below.  I made it with rice paper, string and little clothespins.  The backing is rice paper tinted with ink on transparent plastic so you can see the light through it. It won a few big awards, too.

"Timelines" 26x38 mixed media

Every year I hold an exhibit to showcase my students' work.  And every year we have a silent auction to benefit a cause.  All of the kids made horseshoe crab paintings to donate.  This year we raised $550 for ERDG (Ecological Research & Development Group) www.horseshoecrab.org.  I donated this painting:
"Stop Over" 9x12 pastel

Before I get on with days 18, 19 & 20, allow me to explain how the universe is working here.  The woman who bought the painting is married to Dr. Lars Helgeson, a professor of science at UND. When I did a Kickstarter campaign to get Nelson Telson - The Story of a True Blue Blood off the ground, Leslie, Lars' wife, the woman who bought that painting, was a big backer of my project.  She had read the book at an early stage and gave me some great input, years before I finally published it.  The Helgesons got their rewards of books and such; Lars read the book, and we're off and running making the Teaching Nelson Telson Curriculum.  Meantime we have applied for an NIH grant and have brought all sorts of great horseshoe crab people - Limulus Lovers - onboard.  How cool is that?

THE LAST 3 DAYS
I purposely did not refer to the older painting while I was doing this. But it is a variation on that theme.  I used some molts I had hanging around for models.
There's actually a lot more dark teal green in the water, but here it is:  "How the Light #2" 9x7 pastel.








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