Mermaid 24" by 30" Acrylic on canvas. C 2007.
The Driftwood Series began in 2007 when I moved to Oquawka, IL on the Mississippi River. My wife and I gathered pieces of driftwood from the river banks. The images reminded me human forms trying to escape their wooden prisons. Close up studies of tree bark (as in Mermaid) became worlds of forms. I also collected images from the web and immediately started the Driftwood Series showing forms of driftwood on land and in the water.
The actual piece of driftwood on a sandy beach is shown on the right panel. Instead of sand I added a dark background for contrast. Immediately I saw a girl smelling flowers in the center and several other forms. I drew different forms as I painted in the grains of the tree trunk. One of the most striking forms is the Mermaid swimming behind two dauphins in the bottom center of the painting.