Cosmic Lily

I did a series of flower pictures into which I added my characteristic geometric abstraction/astronomical patterns. This series was originally aimed at a gallery but I completely misjudged the needs of the gallery, which was in the affluent suburb of Potomac, Maryland and wanted mostly equestrian and landscape subjects. So I ended up selling these one by one at my usual science fiction conventions. This one is called "Cosmic Lily" and is a Daylily against my favorite spacey blue curved geometrics.

You never know, I may try this "composite" style of abstraction and flower again, but would it still be unsuitable for affluent suburbanites, 20 years later? Who knows. Unlike what is thought of as a "true" artist, I want to sell what I make and move it out of the studio, and if that means adjusting my style or subject matter, that's all right with me. The interesting part for me is solving a problem in an artwork, not "expressing myself." That makes me a commercial artist, even if I don't make much money doing art. Cosmic for cash.

"Cosmic Lily" is watercolor on Fabriano illustration board, 10" x 7", fall 1992.

Faerie Library

In Faerie-land, texts are inscribed on petals which the Faerie Folk can detach from flowers and then miraculously return and re-attach. They can also go to large flowers which serve as terminals from which they can gather information in the form of fragrance and nectar. When you see faeries or hummingbirds or insects delving into flowers, they are not just pollinating the plants but gathering information which they later share among other faerie creatures. A garden is a faerie university.

"Faerie Library" is ink and watercolor on illustration board, 10" x 7", November 1991.

Active Universe

Reading books on cosmology makes me want to use bright colored abstractions in spacescapes. Well, maybe not, but all that red from the redshifts has to go somewhere. This is inspired by galaxy clusters and gravitational lenses which squirt photons around major mass concentrations. Not to mention the dark matter, which you can't see in this picture at all!

I have been nibbling at Science once again through reading books, although I'm not doing any math, but perhaps I should start writing again on my other blog, ELECTRON BLUE 2, which has been in suspended animation since last year. Could you stand more writing from me, or is this quite enough?

This piece was done in both Photoshop AND Adobe Illustrator, which was responsible (through my action using it, of course) for the hard edged shapes of red and crimson and yellow.

"Active Universe" is Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, 7" x 10", March 29, 2011.

Sky Light Iris

People breed irises with unusual characteristics. One beautiful mutation appears on these irises, where the usual oval fuzzy "beard" has been replaced by a blue feathery curl, emerging from the center of the plant and opening up on the lower petals. In fact many of the varieties of German bearded iris could not survive and reproduce in an uncontrolled natural environment, since they cannot be pollinated by ordinary insects such as bees and butterflies because the flowers are too large and the creatures can't reach the pollen parts. People do the pollination, thus enhancing evolution. The variety with the feathery blue curls is called "Skyhooks."

"Sky Light Iris" is watercolor on illustration board, 10" x 7", fall 1992.

Casanel Vineyards

Casanel Vineyards, near Leesburg in Virginia wine country, has some of the friendliest wine people I've ever met. It's run by a family, mom and pop and two daughters. Sipping wine there is like being at home with people who are glad you came to visit. The wine is excellent, too. I spent some time standing at one end of the wine bar, with my sketchbook and pencils on the bar, drawing this while sippers milled about on a busy Saturday. I got to talk with the father of the family, who built the wine tasting room out of a historic farm building and has personally done most of the renovations on the rural site. It's still a new establishment, and the vines are young, but there are ambitious plans for landscaping and more building. Virginia's wine industry is the future.

Drawing is ink and colored pencil, with some Photoshop coloring, on sketchbook page, about 9" x 7". Click on the pic for a larger view.

The Harvard Man

You don't often see Harvard stuff on people around the Northern Virginia area. Most of the university livery is from in-state places like George Mason, James Madison, or Virginia Tech. But here is a fine bearer of the Crimson, sitting in Starbucks doing whatever on his computer, while his huge backpack occupies a whole chair. It looks like he is emerging from his backpack, but it is actually next to him. Long, long ago I was a graduate student in Greek and Latin at Harvard, but the experience was so miserable that I would never, ever wear anything crimson or Harvard-branded. This guy may have had a better time there.

Pitt technical pen on sketchbook page, about 5" x 5". Color added in Photoshop.

Winter Garden Hotel and Casino

It may seem as though I am not producing much new art product these days, but that isn't quite true. I am actually working on a major piece in digital format. It's a city panorama of my favorite city in my imaginary NoantriWorld, Surakosai. I have been putting this together for months, bit by bit, because I don't have enough time to work on it at length. I still have quite a lot to do on it, so I will continue working on it in my piecewise manner, while you yawn through my flower pictures from 20 years ago.

Nevertheless, I am providing you with a mini preview here. This is a few inches excerpted from the panorama. It depicts the "Winter Garden" hotel and casino, on the waterfront. This luxury urban resort features an enclosed garden including trees and landscaped playgrounds, on the roof of the building under a high-tech canopy. In front of the hotel is an outdoor quay-side park and a marina where fancy yachts are moored. Some Noantri live very well.

"Winter Garden" is Photoshop, only 2 1/2" x 1 1/2", 300 DPI, March 25, 2011.