“I love the way a list makes a big hodgepodge of things simmer down and behave.” - Blue Balliett, The Danger Box

It's time for some lists.

There is a hodgepodge in the studio, which spills down the stairs, down more stairs, into the garage and maybe further than that, I'm not sure. It started with admiring burl wood on hikes.  You know, those burly burls growing out of trees, weirdly misshapen and sometimes looking like faces?  It's hard to come by an untethered burl unless a tree comes down that happens to have a burl upon it.  And then there will be a mad melee of arm-wrestling to see who gets the burl.

Unless you stumble upon eight pallets of burls at a local lumber salvage place.  OH!  

So Malcolm and I brought home as much burl wood as the car would hold.  (How much wood could a subee hold if a subee could hold wood?).  Mind you, we have no experience whatsoever with wood, let alone burls.  But two 2D artists with a vision will try anything.

Then there was sanding and sawing and a Dremel and attachments and plumes of sawdust and a clue here and there.  Which led to a painting on burl wood (to the right, sold!  Thank you collector!). Wait, I can PAINT on burl wood?  Ooooooh.  Except most of the burls are, well, burly.  

Which leads to thinking in three dimensions.

If you've been following along with our hiking adventures, you might know we come across a lot of bones.  Which, when arranged as a fossil on a super sanded, glossy burl, can result in some amazing beauty (notan to the left).  And a need for paleo glue (on the way!) and more Dremel attachments.

Meanwhile, bones lead to thinking of horns, which leads to unicorns, which leads to KaBOBS (work in process above), which just might be the theme for my next series of paintings.

Wait - didn't I say I need a list?  Well, some sort of strategy, anyway.  Oy!