The Flower People

acrylic inks applied with brushes and dip pens on crinkled Masa paper, 10 X 11″

Do the flower people come out of their bud homes at night, when they’re sure we’re asleep, to dance and carry on in the moonlight?

What would they have to say, if we knew how to listen?  Would they answer all those questions about the birds and the bees and the caterpillars, like where do they come from and who eats who?

And would they tell us, that if we looked closely, we might notice them dancing in the middle of the day, and maybe even hear them speak some pretty things. . (.and others not so pretty)?

More hallucinations of a bent mind?  Or just another experiment for mixed media fun?  You decide.

The lesson was a new one titled “Mixed Media People”, which I titled first and then had to figure out how to share it with the group.  My intention was that we would allow the human form to emerge from our play with collage and paint.  I took an old colorful “start” from my pile, put tracing paper over it, and started sketching the outlines of the figures, who already seemed to be there in the colorful shapes.  Without editing I transferred the outlines to the painted surface and proceeded to define them with negative painting of shapes and outlining with a dip pen.

It’s probably safer to meet these flower people on the paper than in dreams, don’t you think?