Live Oak Street II

                                                   acrylic ink and paint on 8"x8" canvas

Live Oak Street

               acrylic ink and paint on 8"x8" canvas

reworked some mini pieces and a new one

sizes top to bottom: 2"x3",2"x3",4"x2",3"x2",3"x3",2"x2",3"x3" acrylic ink and paint on mini stretched canvases

mid day quickie

 

a quick one with my coffee. 2"x3" acrylic ink and paint on mini stretched canvas

Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes.

"....And sometimes I’m glad I built my mansion from crazy little stones.

But sometimes I feel so goddamned trapped by everything that I know.

And I wish it wasn’t so, cause the only thing that anyone should ever know

is that today’s a perfect day

to chase tornadoes.

Yeah, when the wild wind whips around your head you know,

that you have found a perfect day to chase tornadoes. "
from Jim White's "A Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes" off the album
"Wrong Eyed Jesus"

hanging size approximately 13"x5" acrylic ink and paint on mini canvases.

and yet more minis

I keep saying I'm going to finish and upload work from direct observation. Soon. I know. Famous last words.
top 2"x4", bottom row all 3"x4" all acrylic ink and paint on canvas

fertility piece

 

I did this as a sort of fertility piece a while back for a friend trying to conceive. It worked, or perhaps she just happened to have success at the same time she received it. (The kid turned out to be an awesome little artist btw.) I had taken it back for some touch up/repairs. (I used to use gold oil stick for metallic touches but it turns a muddy brown after a few years. I retouched with gold oil paint this time. And a little black here and there.) oil paint on 12" round wood panel

decorative miniature works

some of the tree paintings are becoming more ornate and stylized.top to bottom: ink on canvas board and wood frame 3.5"x4.5" total, ink on canvas board and wood frame 6"x8" total, last 2:black and white acrylic ink on 2" square mini stretched canvas

,

Trio

 

I gave this trio to my mom a little over two weeks ago for her bedside (with little easels), which now belongs to my sister. She's getting a little collection going of my past and present stuff. The middle piece is my sister's insane former feral maine coon, (my sister calls her Pukov aka Pookie , aka Spookie--my variation which I think she said is Bulgarian for "fluffy" --correct me if I got it wrong, Jan)  now pampered quirky highly playful princess who kept me & mom entertained. The green and blue canvases are about 3" square, the bronze colored one is 2" square. Acrylic and acrylic ink on miniature canvas.

Tribute to My Mother

My mom, Joan Hospod, passed away this Monday from cancer. Her symptoms and pain were so advanced, and accelerating so fast it was a challenge to keep on top of even pain management, let alone treatment. She passed about an hour before my sister and I arrived at Hospice. However, I do try to keep in mind she had constant visits from all three of her children (including myself), and she may have wanted the quiet alone time in order to let go peacefully.

Joan had a rough start in life. When she was eight, her own mother died. Her preteen and teen years were not stable for her, as her family all struggled in their own ways with this loss. (She did make peace and maintained an adult friendship with her immediate family later in life.) She found that stability and comfort later through the sisterhood in the Catholic convent that she served in throughout her late teens to early thirties. Through trade of her hard work (particularly teaching the lower income children of Chicago through the Order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament) she was able to earn a BA in Education from Loyola University.

After about twelve years Joan, though appreciative of the stability, order and education of her life in the convent, began to yearn for independence and also to start a family of her own. After much deliberation, she left on good terms. Through a childhood friend, she met and married Charles Hospod, an engineer at IBM. Soon after, she had three kids in a row: (one each subsequent year) John, myself, then Janice.

Though there were some external challenges to her steadfast commitment of homemaker, Joan took pleasure in being a mom and steady support to us kids. She also enjoyed her many pets, the lovely flowering and abundant tree lined neighborhood of Drexel Hill, reading, walking and occasional experimenting with art herself. She was quite talented. I remember her painting with oils when I was a little kid. When I was a teen and took Saturday and summer classes at Moore College of Art and Design, Mom also enrolled in separate life and basic drawing classes for adults, earning some considerable attention from the adult ed faculty. She even shared some tips that helped me breakthrough and loosen up with faster life drawing model poses, using Buddy the cat for a model.

When we grew up and out of the house, Mom stayed emotionally close and visited as much as possible. Joan took joy and pride from news about her granddaughter (my niece), Skye and her (soon to arrive) grandson. She took particular pleasure in visiting my sister in the DC area for extended vacations. They enjoyed many live comedy shows, operas, musicals, concerts, and restaurants together over this decade.

When she felt too ill to care for herself and her husband, my sister wholeheartedly opened her home to Mom, taking on the lion's share of the caregiving. There was also assistance and frequent visits from my brother and myself. Unfortunately, Mom barely settled in with Jan before we all realised she was too ill for treatment and needed the help of Hospice to make the final transition of her life.

We are heartbroken to have lost her.

Joan still exists in a period of time though we have moved beyond it. I like to think of her in her screened in breezy porch in late spring mornings, with her coffee, a good book, and some four footed furling of hers laying nearby. Maybe with one of us home to interupt and talk her ear off for awhile before going on with the day.

It was a comfort to work on Joan's urn. Oil paint marker on bronze. Classic Mom and all the critters she loved.

treescape/dreamscape

 

various highly stylized tree pics that are starting to turn into dreamscapes--top is about 6" round found scrap wood, the ones below 4"x6" canvas boards. All acrylic paint and ink. I'll fine tune and take separate proper photos/scans of these and the previous post's images next week.

rough and polished

A very rough sketch (out of several) of my mom while she rested. She shifted every other minute or so. I'm glad I got to visit her again, though I'm deeply saddened and stunned at how fast this has all been. I made her some tiny tree canvases for her to keep on her nightstand, which she enjoyed. I'll get my sister to scan  so I can upload and share here later..

I've just been mostly making those tree pics, more decorative than ever. I recognize I need to do something more intense and from direct observation for artistic reasons but my focus is limited. So I do these and try to accumulate enough for the holiday shopping vendors. It's grounding, centering and soothing anyway and maybe will lead to something in other dreamscape work.

 Various of acrylic inks on canvas. To get an idea of the size, the smallest square is 2"x2".

Acrylic ink on canvas 3"x3"