Educated 017

Educated 017

Prior to the 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fires, I had several items stored in a friends garage. Among the items was an oak library teacher’s desk with an inclined lift-top compartment and tongue and groove panels that surrounded the base. It was stripped and ready for finishing and assembly. It is what I thought of first when fire completely consumed my friends house, work truck, garage and possessions. First I thought of my friend’s loss, then the desk.

Six months after the fire, I was painting a sign, something I do evenings and weekends for extra money. While mixing the paint, I reached for a scrap of plywood to “drizzle” (Jackson Pollack style) the colorful oil paint onto the surface of the scrap.

That’s when I realized something else was stored in my friend’s garage. There were about fifty scraps of plywood of various size with bright colors drizzled over their surfaces. My thinking was to eventually frame and display those colorful pieces. Just like I was eventually going to finish and assemble that oak desk . . . now ashes.

I determined when starting the next “drizzle” artwork that it would be displayed for folks to enjoy as soon as it was done. Inspired to become a member of an art league so-as to display the “drizzles” I regretted keeping the first fifty hidden.

I considered the loss of the fifty “drizzles” an insignificant loss compared to the desk, certainly insignificant compared to my friend’s loss. . . and the enormous loss experienced by many in the Bastrop area. I also considered the loss of the fifty a lesson learned, which is why these will be called “Educated. . . ” with the number in their sequence as they are finished.

36 x 48 Oil on Re-Purposed Plywood Framed in Yellow Pine $400
Shipping Negotiable.