Goodbye Houston

"Goodbye Houston" 2007. Mixed Media. 14" W x 15" H x 2" deep.

This is one of my rare pieces that began with absolutely nothing in mind except experimentation. I began by fastening a circuit board to plywood with acrylic spackling compound and laid down some texturing. Over the next several weeks, I painted more or less random colors and scratched through the layers of paint.

At one point I'd pretty much given up on the piece -- the colors were horrible and I could see no direction at all -- nothing spoke to me.

Then....I found the wooden box that fit around the circuit board, more or less perfectly. I began to see the box as a spaceship and began assembling pieces to that end. The face..the vacuum tubes...the 'nose' of the rocket....and then...suddenly I had a vision of the finished piece.

I painted over the background with a metallic blue...added textural acrylic paint as 'dots' (stars) and spattered red across the sky. I stamped 'RESIST" and "ORBIT" in acrylics. The ship found a few more accouterments in the metal filagree and #9 gaming piece...and began to fit together. Using Spider Writers, I drew the tongue of flame at the base of the ship. Lift off....had been achieved.

Then...out to The Shop....where I built a frame and assembled the piece.

Now...this is one of my favorite pieces. It is a farewell to the safety of planning....the boundries of always having a safety net and a celebration of simply blasting off into a new area of creation -- where impulse and creativity can take the artist..to some brave new place.