Robot Fairy Tales

Tonight we installed my new Fairy Tales series at City Art! Opening Reception tomorrow, 6-9pm... :-) :-)

That's how it Started...

Maybe Robot Dads and Robot Moms, when they tell fables to their Robot Children, instead of beginning their stories with "Once Upon a Time," start backwards, and end their stories with "That's How it Started." We'll have to ask the robots...

Rainbow Caterpillar

If you look at this rainbow caterpillar through chroma-depth glasses, he will be 3-D! Last month, I loved seeing all the 3-D work at City Art Gallery, so I painted this piece with 3-D in mind. With chroma-depth glasses, warm reds and oranges come forward, and cool blues recede. The caterpillar's rainbow colors should recede with each of his segments. He's based on a couple of things--the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, and all the rainbow caterpillar toys out there. Sort of a happy-mushroom-toy-imaginary rabbits-3-D experience!

Rapunzel

The original story of Rapunzel tells of an evil witch locking a baby girl into a tower with no means of escape. Yikes! The girl grows up, and grows long hair which allows a prince to climb up. Until then, she spends her days with only the birds to keep her company. In my robot version, Rapunzel substitutes a flowing wig to try to look authentically human. I hope her story has a happy ending!

Spaceship Travel

Our Botswana safari earlier this year inspired me to include giraffes and elephants in my work. Here, they're on a fantastic journey in a space ship, traveling with their robot friend. From the start, I knew the giraffe would be too tall to fit fully inside the flying saucer, so he gets his own extension bubble. I'm trying to think of names for the animals. Suggestions?

Stepping onto the Cloud

The story of Jack and the Beanstalk continues, re-imagined with my DuckBoy Robot. He takes a tentative step onto the cloud, hopefully to find it can support his weight. If I continue his story, maybe next he'll approach the castle. Giants await!

T.T.B. -- MAD

My version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, focusing on the bears. They've just arrived home, found their house has been invaded by Goldilocks, and they're MAD. Well, the small bear is kind of more excited.

Donuts

Recently I did a series of donuts and snack foods. Now I'm planning to combine the snacks with San Francisco buildings. More to come!

T.T.L.P -- Shelter

I have become addicted to the game "Angry Birds." For this painting, I was tempted to add a bird slingshot, and color my Three Little Pigs green, but I resisted after all. I focused on the structures, which all look like they could withstand a bird attack. Not sure about a huffing puffing wolf.

Humpty

...More of a couplet than anything else, but now I know why Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall. I wanted to catch him in that moment just when everything goes terribly wrong.

All My Life I've been Good, but now...

I thought the lyrics from Avril Lavigne's song "What the Hell," would make a perfect title for this piece. Sometimes snippets of songs come back to me at random times. It's such a feel good song, despite the subject matter. Yay Avril!
:-) :-)

Jack

My version of Jack and the Beanstalk--there are more beanstalks and more castles in the clouds.

L.R.R.H. --Self Reliance

As part of my Robot Fairy Tales series, I imagined how the story of Little-Red-Riding-Hood might unfold if Little Red Riding Hood could take care of herself. She sets off into the woods with confidence.

While a handsome woodsman to the rescue might be nice, she shouldn't rely on that. Neither should the rest of us. What do you think?

Acrylic and epoxy on recycled wood 10"x10"