Dead Fly 99 - Froggy Does the World a Favor

 

Dead Fly 99 - Froggy Does the World a Favor

pencil on paper 8" x 10"

     I had hoped to do one more Dead Fly Froggy Christmas card this year to add to the collection and send out to family and friends, but actually I was kind of depressed this year when Christmas rolled around. I really don't think anyone felt all that great. Let's face it Covid and other happenings in our country and the world have taken their toll on our good humor. However, on New Years Eve morning this image came to mind! Yes! Thank you, Froggy! Let's all hope for a change for the good in 2021. Hoppy New Year!

Dead Fly 98 The Last Supper

Dead Fly 98 The Last Supper

oil on canvas 8" x 10"

     Here is a Dead Fly painting I did in early 2020 before Covid hit. I wanted this to be themed for the Lenten/Easter season. I had an image in my mind of the last supper and figured that in a natural setting there probably would have been flies in the room. At first I was going to do the usual golden chalice for the wine but after thinking about it figured Jesus wouldn't have had a gold jewel encrusted chalice. Although he was special I doubt they had really fancy dinner ware. It seemed glass would be a better choice. I also like to think of this painting as "what Jesus saw." You can interpret this however you please.

 

Dead Fly 97 - REAL Dead Fly Solarium

Dead Fly 97 - REAL Dead Fly

Solarium

Mixed media

approximately 10" by 5"

     A few months into the Dead Fly project back in 2017 I had the good fortune of finding a mummified Dead Fly in my kitchen sink. It was completely intact, wings still attached, legs up*. Perfect! I carefully set it in a little glass dish with cellophane over it and set it in a safe place for future use. Over the next couple years, periodically I would examine it and toy in my mind with how it would be memorialized and preserved for posterity. Eventually, this object d'art came to mind. I have always enjoyed working with miniatures and found this project to be quite involved and a lot of fun. 

     I got the dome from Michaels (art and craft supplies). The rug is a carefully cut out and fringed piece of tapestry I got from JoAnn Fabrics. The doily is a piece of lace cut out of a ribbon. The vase is a small ivory bead with painted weeds for the flowers with a bit of moss for the leaves. I made the table using balsa wood for the top and bits of stems from the trumpet vine that grows on our porch for the legs. A tiny bead is the drawer handle. The vase is a wooden peg which I then marbleized, an old technique used by master painters. The leaves are ribbon and wire, cut, painted and shaped. The floor boards are balsa wood scored with a knitting needle and wood grained, another old master painting technique. The Japanese screen was tricky to make but eventually came together - cardboard, paint, duct tape and velum on which is a rather whimsical painting of a Dead Fly with cherry blossoms around it.

     *As I said the project was tricky and rather delicate especially at one point when in the course of carting this project and the fly back and forth to my studio I accidentally broke off one of the legs! But a magnifying glass to assist and a pin and a drop of Super Glue saved the day! 

 

Dead Fly 96 Apparel

Dead Fly 96 Apparel

Acrylic stamp on white cotton

All this stamping going on! Although I looked up how to do a silk screen, it really was beyond anything I could do, so as a way of creating some Dead Fly apparel, I stamped a white T shirt with a Dead Fly stamp from Dead Fly #94. Starving artist that I am, I hesitated to buy a brand-new T shirt for this project and instead went to our local thrift shop to look for a suitable one at a price I could afford. It's a one of a kind. I don't have any intention of doing a bunch of them and starting a Dead Fly clothing line at this time. But I'll let you know if I change my mind.

 

Dead Fly 95 - Dead Fly Swatters

Dead Fly 95 

Dead Fly Swatters

approximately 18" long - acrylic on plastic

Because an artist has to make money and until the series is complete and I have a show of all one hundred Dead Fly pieces, I decided to make up a bunch of Dead Fly Swatters for people who wanted to support this project and wish to have something to show for their support. They also work well to swat flies. It took me a while to find a place where I could get blank "promotional" swatters at a price I could afford. I found this at Windy City Novelties near Chicago. They even come individually wrapped in a cellophane bag which makes the sales look very professional. I was selling them at The Arts Underground (closed now forever on account of Covid) and will sell them if I ever get to do an arts festival again. I would sell them mail-order but haven't found a cheap way to package them yet. If I ever do have the BIG show, they will be available for sale there. I have lots! Each one is individually hand stamped (I used the stamp used to create Dead Fly #46) signed and numbered.

 

Dead Fly 94 - Red on Red on Red

Dead Fly 94

Red on Red on Red on Red

acrylic on canvas 18" x 24"

     This one took a long time. I liked the way Dead Fly 46 (Splotch in Red) came out so I wanted to see what a similar piece would look like but bigger! I had to cut vinyl pieces for printing and then of course glue them to blocks so I could use them on the canvas, There's no going back once the stamping begins so the piece is quite random. It is what it is! 

 

Dead Fly 93 - Froggy Goes Holiday Shopping

Dead Fly 93 - Froggy Goes Holiday Shopping

Pencil on Paper approximately 8' x 10"

The third, well, fourth actually if you include the Thanksgiving card (#41), in a series of Holiday cards I make for my family and a few close friends, here we have Froggy out doing her holiday shopping. This as well as the others are now available as greeting cards and proudly displayed at The Arts Underground* in Lewisburg, PA on a rotating card rack, an investment I made so as to get some money for the project till I have that big show and start selling off the individual pieces. To see the others in the card series go back to Dead Flies 41, 42, and 73.

The Arts Underground, the co-op of which I was a member, had to close down in April of 2020 due to Covid. We couldn't make rent and we couldn't be there. Fortunately, Steve Gibson bought the old Eagles Club building in Milton, PA. I now have a wonderful studio in the basement which allows me to do big paintings and use the rotating card rack at shows.