CONEFLOWERS x 2

October Coneflowers, 16 x 12 inch signed print by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

October Coneflowers, 40 x 30 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

When I do an exhibition of my travel art I usually mention in the press release that "subjects range from the back roads of Europe to the artist's own Chicago back yard."  Here is one of those subjects I found in my back yard.  One October a few years ago I was struck by the graphic qualities of a browning, wilted coneflower plant drying out next to my garage.  I put a big piece of light-colored cardboard between the plant and the dark brown wall of the garage and made a 20 x 16 inch ink and watercolor painting of it, which I promptly sold to a collector in Evanston.  I liked the image so much that I photographed my painting and adapted the digital image to create the 16 x 12 inch open edition signed print shown above.  (The print shown isn't signed yet-- I sign them in pencil just above the copyright notice at the lower left.) 

Occasionally I find a subject so interesting I do more than one version of it, and this is such a case.  Using my first painting as a guide, I made a much bigger black-and-white ink drawing with a fat calligraphy pen on a 40 x 30 inch sheet of heavy watercolor board.  In doing so, I made a few subtle changes to the composition.  I think of it as an study in spidery linearity.