The Garden

I can finally answer Mark's request for more pictures of artworks in place in my garden. The rain has stopped. It is hellish hot, but I have the pictures...

Here is a closer look at the Allen Miles sculptures in my front garden. I think they work quite well with the house, which needed the tall pieces on either side of the front walkway. I have all that industrial anthracite coal and railroad ties as the background. The Miles sculptures incorporate old farm plow blades, steel reinforcements normally used in concrete and any interesting piece of discarded metal he can find. So they go well in such a landscape. In the case of my two sculptures, he has used a horseshoe as a base for a spike upon which one can skewer a treat for neighborhood animals (in this case, a piece of dried feed corn.)

Here is another of the two pieces. I love the sunburst shape of the plow and always try to incorporate some echo of it in any painting I place up front. With the possible exception of the new "Sweetie" painting. But later this summer I have another painting which does have lots of sunflowers.

I did find this old rocking chair in the alley (actually, I find a lot of stuff in the alley - like most artists, I am a scavenger.) I painted it phthalo blue and sculpted a face on the back, then gold-leafed it. It works well as an accent piece on the front porch and I can wait for the mail in perfect comfort.

Next we move into the back garden. The first thing you see is this 4 x 8 foot painting of a Native American family in a birchbark canoe. This is a depiction of a family which might have lived locally about 100 years ago, in period clothing. The Allen Miles sculptures I have here are made of an exhaust manifold from a motorcycle and blacksmith's tongs. This forms the body and beak of the heron. The reeds and cattails on the right are made of cedar and twisted metal and they have turned a lovely weathered gray and rust. I found the pieces of polished green-black granite in the alley - a remnant from one of my neighbor's home improvement projects.

The Mexican family you may have seen in last year's Lac de Vie site is situated currently in my back garden, along the fence, which bars an alley from view, but not from socializing. When I get a chance I will stain this fence dark brown, like I have already done on my deck.

On the deck I currently have this African man who has a woman on his mind. You can see her right in the middle of his forehead. The reason she is there is because I began another painting of a completely different subject, and then decided against it. As I was painting it out the only thing left was the woman's face and I decided to keep it. We sit here a lot in the summer with friends and neighbors, under a nice tent and striped cushions. It's quite the oasis.

That's the garden tour for now. Later things will change as it is always in evolution. Come over any time. Share a cool drink. Talk to your heart's content, deep into the night.