Living in a small, rural town and going to your local watering hole for lunch is one of life’s greatest pleasures. You can’t tell me otherwise. Today’s lunch special is steak fingers, mashed potatoes and homemade white gravy. Come to Kansas and I promise you’ll eat well. […]
Goldenrod Blessings
Lovely goldenrod is a transition wildflower blooming late summer on the prairie but whose color I still enjoy in the pasture. I made a few solar-dyed silk scarves on the south porch with pasture goldenrod. On St. Brigid’s Day, I’ll place them outside for the saint to bless with good health and then affix the […]
Smoke, Plants and Art
I love to gather fresh prairie sage from the late summer prairie. It is small-leafed and silver and full of a season of sunrises, sunsets, and storms. It shares the land with me and also its stories. I burn the sage directly onto paintings so it might communicate with the art. […]
One of summer’s last tasks
One of the last things that happens at summer end is the pasture outside my studio gets cut and baled for hay. Some lucky cows this winter are going to enjoy all the rich nutrients that grew in the stalks of grass. Right on cue, a cold front is now passing over the studio dropping […]
Fossils and Old Bones
About 80 million years ago western Kansas was hell’s aquarium because of the ferocious marine life prowling its warm inland sea. You wouldn’t expect it, but some of the world’s most amazing sea life fossils are found in the grasslands of Kansas. I picked up this great 1952 textbook on invertebrate fossils at Keystone Gallery, […]
Hedge Apples
Went and collected my hedge apples today. They are the fruit of the Osage orange tree. You can’t eat hedge apples, and animals will leave them alone too, but I think they are mighty fine to look at. […]
September at Fossil Lake
Days of glorious tall grass and blue skies inspires me to take paintings outside to soak it all up. […]
Gumweed now fades in the pasture
Gumweed (grindelia) is one of the last plants to bloom on the summer Prairie and I think it’s because the land requires the full growing season to perfect the scent of sunshine. Gumweed is like holding a bit of the sun in your hand. It is a glorious distillation of wild greening things, wind, and […]
Snow Geese Joins the Hadley Foundation Collection
Thank you, Hadley Foundation for purchasing Arrival of the Snow Geese for your collection. And thank you also to the Hays Arts Council for inviting me to be a part of your summer show. This piece is about migrations, which are beginnings and endings. It has natural elements including earth pigment and rust. […]
