GIVING FLOWERS POWER. A number of environmental hazards threaten the wide variety of trees and flowers surrounding my old farmhouse in rural Southern Illinois. In their defense my recent large-scale drawings are meant to be seductive, but also a bit menacing, because as recent events show, nature is beautiful, but it can also be deadly. Mighty Chrysanthemum Tree imagines a tree-sized handful of Chrysanthemums swaying ominously overhead. Flowers also played an important role historically in my small agricultural town of Cobden. It was once a flower-growing center. Fresh cut flowers travelled up to Chicago daily by train. Sadly, with overnight global commerce, flowers are no longer a viable crop for Cobden, but they still come up "volunteer" by the 100s in abandoned fields throughout town.
- Art form: 2-D
- Depth: n/a
- Medium: Pencil, colored pencil and acrylic on paper painted to look like graph paper
- Width: 38 inches
- Year created: 2017
- Height: 26.5 feet