HOPS AND BUTTERFLIES
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
FALL 2014

     We love hops---and not just for the important role they serve in producing excellent beer.  The hops vine is amazing growing machine.  With the barest effort from us, they miraculously grow to cover almost everything in their path to the sun.  Their stems interlock and intertwine, giving itself the strength to grow ever higher, even without external support.  We have to regularly help our pickup truck escape its clutches or it soon would be overgrown and impossible to free (well, I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s almost the truth).  In late summer we enjoy watching the small butterflies examine its many flowers looking for something good.  The hops flowers are amazing in themselves.  They are like delicate green paper Japanese lanterns that change to a rich copper color in the fall.  For this painting I again felt the influence of The Book of Kells and the Celtic Revival entrelac of designer Archibald Knox.  The butterflies owe a special thanks to a Makah drum painted by Crystal Ray Chartraw whose sound I particularly love.  I made the frame out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.  I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame.

DIMENSIONS:          LENGTH:  23 inches
                                  HEIGHT:  12 ¼ inches

                                                               PRICE $350