Let’s talk Doris Day. I already knew of Doris Day before hearing the lyrics of Stockard Channing’s performance of “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” in Grease. That may have been my father’s parents doing because what 12 year old knows of Doris Day in the 1980s. This weirdo.

So as I was first seeing Grease; hearing the words to this song, I kept thinking to myself “What’s wrong with Doris Day!? Why are they making fun of Doris Day?! And while we’re at it, why are they being so crappy to, and about, Sandy? She seems like a very nice...” and then I had an ah-ha moment and went “Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I get it.” That’s how I usually navigate in life. It takes me a while. I never seem to grasp the obvious right away and that has always made me feel stupid, secretly. At any rate, in college, I was really into listening to the songstresses of the 1940s and 1950s and Doris Day was one of my top ladies. I loved that songs back then were a full production which usually involved the singers being in movies, dancing and singing on beautiful sets while wearing colorful costumes. Every detail was accounted for.

This karaoke track already had the backing vocals of someone singing the main part during the round in the middle of the song. This bummed me out because I like the challenge of building different harmonies myself. Last week’s tune had no backing vocals added to the karaoke track so it was a lot of fun trying to reconstruct that tune and all the different vocal parts. Seriously though, I’m just grateful to live in a time where being able to record your own music with readily available karaoke tracks finally exists in present day. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this moment. At any rate, please enjoy my scratch track cover of Doris Day’s, “Everybody Loves A Lover”. Stay safe and please keep well.

Today’s art closeup centers around animals that can change colors because that has always fascinated me. The fact that some animals can do that is sort of magical really. I tried to convey the difference in seasons not only with the overall color palette, but also describing the “personality types” of the seasons by keeping the winter panel sparse and quiet and the summer panel busy and colorful. Please enjoy! I had a lot of fun doing this piece.

Title: Museum Series: Snowshoe Hare (Diptych)
Year: 2020
Media: Acrylic Paint, Paper Dioramas, Wood Panel
Total Dimension: (2) 4” x 4" Wood Panels 1/2” apart

I'm not sure if it’s because of all the ridiculousness that is our American politics currently, the world's general angsty vibe and energy or if it was just my own moodiness (probably all of it) but last week I really felt the need to be quiet and hide. As I've said before, I have to be in a different place entirely to sing and make noise and I could not get to that place to save my life last week.

It reminds me of when my mom would come into my room when I was little and I’d be drawing in my closet (sliding doors closed) completely silent, pretending I was invisible. I wouldn’t answer her or make a peep when she was calling my name standing right outside the closet door all the while seeing her feet from the light crack of the sliding door. I wasn’t trying to be naughty per se, I just didn’t want to be found. She’d walk through the house calling my name and I would only pop out when she’d get super panicked and terrified because she thought I had been abducted or something. Oh, she used to get so pissed. I'm sorry, Mom. I’m sure if you ask my sister, I did this to her too. Sorry, Cindy. I can’t explain it. I really can’t. It was nothing personal about or to anyone, I just liked not being found unless I wanted to be found. I absolutely LOVED being left alone and it hasn’t really changed in my adult life, I'm sad to say. At any rate, that’s what happened to last week’s Carolaoke Collection Song #15. I was hiding in my closet making dioramas, painting and exercising my right to remain completely silent.

But this week, I feel much better and I am ready to be loud again. This tune was introduced to me by my friend Mark Miskelly who I was doing Capitola Shows with a while back. When we would practice, we’d take a break and listen to different kinds of music to get motivated and this is a song that he brought to my attention and now has become one of my guilty pleasures to sing. My musical taste is all over the board and I don’t care what that says about me. So here is my scratch track version of Selena Gomez & The Scene’s “Love You Like A Love Song” for song #15. Please enjoy and thank you for stopping by!

Today is another peek into the past. I've been going through a lot of my old things again and discovered this artifact. I remember making this piece right after moving to the middle of Wisconsin in 1999 never considering how much I would miss living near The Lake. You might notice this tension with the lady being dragged across the state by an old exercise machine. It is amazing to me how just two different parts of the same state can be so dramatically different from each other. This is the case when comparing Dane County to Milwaukee County. Where I came from was flat and next to the ocean as far as I was concerned. Out here there are lots of bluffs and hills making it a more mountainous terrain and I tried to make that distinct difference visible with the horizon line throughout the triptych. On panel 3 on the right edge, you might also notice a little curve there; that's supposed to be the cross section of Lake Michigan's descent into its watery abyss. I also remember wanting to keep the piece minimal in color and collage pieces to add to the gloomy apprehension I had about such a drastic change.

It's so weird looking at and thinking about this 21 year old piece. I've definitely learned a few things since then. During this pandemic I sure am grateful to be living where there are not a lot of people. And the stars are gorgeous out here.

I do miss sushi though.

Title: Milwaukee To Madison (Triptych)
Year: 1999
Media: Acrylic Paint, Paper Collage, Canvas Board
Total Dimension: (3) 6 x 4" Canvas Board Panels 1/4" apart

Today’s studio closeup is of a new piece that is part of The Museum Series: The Beloved Beaver. I have a fascination with cutaways, cross sections, dissections (whatever you want to call them) allowing us to understand inner workings of worlds we cannot see. The intricate illustration of the beaver dam and beaver house in the center of this piece is a perfect example of this and I wanted to preserve all of its detail the artist originally intended. I remember Racine, WI’s Public Museum in the 1970’s had this tunnel you could go in which serpentined through the museum and inside there were cross sections of the hibernating animals of Wisconsin. The tunnel then morphed into what was buried inside all of the Native American Burial Mounds scattered throughout the city. You literally felt like you were underground but you were only on the first floor of the museum(!) And you only realized this when you'd come out of the exhibit blinded by the intense daylight of the lobby. Trippy! I think in the early 1990’s they got rid of that awesome exhibit which gutted me. I’m still not over it. I always keep a lookout for any old Racine Public Museum postcards or guidebooks, but I have not been successful thus far. Never know though!

The piece itself will house two dioramas and two National Geographic filmstrips which I have included closeups of here. One setback with working with old filmstrips is that some of them fade over the years to a sepia tone. I wish there was a magical real life photoshop tool to bring them back to life in the physical world. I have been experimenting with a translucent paper called “Opalux” and drawing inks but I’m still not there yet. Instead, I am currently using colored cellophane to try to bring more life to these old images.

Don’t be surprised if the next time you see this piece some of the inner painting changes here and there. There are still some things calling out to me to resolve; I just don’t know what the solutions are yet. It won’t change drastically, but there are certain things irking me when I step back and look. When I get like this, it’s best for me to look at, and work on, a different piece for a while which is what I intend to do. Please enjoy!

Title: The Museum Series: The Beloved Beaver
Year: 2020
Media: Acrylic Paint, Tempera Paint, Paper Dioramas, Filmstrips
Total Dimension: 11”x14”