Mural Commission for a nature center

The concept for the mural was to portray 24 hours of the sky with certain cloud formations, a night sky with the Big Dipper, and a storm/tornado. Shown below is the far right portion of the mural before it was sealed.

I wanted to have high drama with color in an otherwise mostly blue and white palette so I chose to paint a tornado at sunset. The blue painter's tape is still in place here!

The entire mural is about 25 feet in length on the outer curved wall of a small planetarium. When visitors walk in, the view below is what they see first.
The tape has been removed and the entry into the domed room is visible - as well as a portion of the night sky. Due to the curve of the wall, it is not possible to see or photograph the entire mural. My camera was giving me focus fits perhaps due to the curved surface. I'll post more photos with better acuity soon!

The final shot shows cumulus, cirrus and stratus clouds as well as the icy mare's tails or fallstreaks. I added a sun dog at sunrise just because I happened see one driving over the the nature center very early one morning.

My design won a competition to execute this mural. A great honor - and a wonderful surprise!

Not Lavender or lavendar - but Equiangular

Toto 2
With your dangerous beauty you
are like unto a tornado,
touching down,
laying waste to trepidation...
I am drawn, into your world,
seeking an Oz of my own.

Let me trade silver
for your ruby set in gold.
I look for you in the yellow moon -
while the wind and City keep you,
I keep this to hold.

... for Peter, 2006 c. ply

Logarithmic Spirals, 24 x 24 - Acrylic on deep cradle panel

My fascination with storms and whirlwinds likely has much to do with growing up in "Tornado Alley," an area of the Midwest whose borders shift with ever changing weather patterns. Though I now live in the foothills of the Appalachians, I long for a big, big sky, full of mystery and the promise of a story borne on the wind in whispers and murmurs - and deafening roars.

The images I paint arise out of stories read and weather footage viewed, as well as memories, dreams and imagination. Sure, the Wizard of Oz is a fantasy, but as a child I fully expected the next tornado to carry me to a place where horses changed color and creepy monkeys carried off little dogs! (To this day I can't abide monkeys...)

The science of twisters fascinates my left brain as well. Tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes, galaxies, and the Chambered Nautilus are all examples of logarithmic spirals, which often appear in nature. Spira mirabilis, "the marvelous spiral" was first described by Descartes in the 1600's. Marvelous spirals, indeed...






The "Pop" art of the 60's, classic " hypnosis wheels", the boinging eyes of cartoon characters - each made much of spinning spirals.

Wow - Four equiangular spirals (hurracanes) seen from satellite orbit.

And my personal favorite spiral done by an artist?

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, 1970

And here - by way of Stu's comment, is a piece by another of my favorite conceptual artists: Richard Long.



Lots of circles, spiral and targets...