Mark in front of Fourseasonscape.

The painting was done in 1992, in my apartment in Kansas City.  I've rolled it out every few years to look at it, but mostly it's been stored.  There are no cracks in the paint. 

I built the stretcher in 4 different sections from 2"x2" pieces - these were reinforced cross-wise and double-bracing across top and bottom sections for tautness.  I had to build it in 4 sections otherwise the stretcher sections wouldn't fit in my vehicle.

The stretcher was pre-assembled in my basement for quality assurance purposes.  Reassembly worked good.  I'd say the entire assembly of the stretcher pieces and the stretching/stapling of the canvas took less than an hour.  Pulling/stapling the canvas was a snap.  That middle 7 or 8 feet is essentially a "back and forth" thing; you don't have to worry about the sides until near the very end and even then it was easy.

I installed hooks in the back, along with high-strength wire, but there would have been no way for me to get the wire over the masonry screws in the bricks.  Lucky for me I had some long screws which had to sit out a bit on the back side of the stretcher frame.  This allowed me to mount the entire thing on the top of the wall and hang down.  Unless you picked it up and physically tried to take it off the wall (it weighs about 50 pounds) you'd have a hard time getting it to fall over.

There is a walking area clear across the first floor of the warehouse from my space, so you can easily see the painting from 100-odd feet away.

The painting did suffer a bit from the harsh southwest light of the evening coming overhead.  I visited the painting on Saturday morning and it looked a lot better, however a darker space and a spotlight would have been perfect.  That wouldn't have been possible at this show, but I don't mind.  I'm just very happy to finally exhibit this beautiful older painting even though I don't really paint like this anymore.

Epilogue: somehow I got this painting home in one piece.  I didn't think it would fit in my vehicle.  I secured it to the interior hooks and drove the back roads to avoid any police since it hung several feet out the back.  I had no problems.

Ann in front of Zoe In The Park and the smaller paintings.

I saw a lot of people go up to this painting.  It was only finished in the past couple of weeks.  I'd like to do a lot more figurative/abstract paintings like this over the next few months.  The image is a reinterpretation of a photograph of my daughter Zoe feeding the ducks last year in Ellis Park.

McCarthy Road

This looks really good in the light.  The color just swoops down and around.  It's been in our living room since I finished it a couple of years ago.  McCarthy Road is also a very-Cedar Rapids painting.  It's a short road connecting Memorial Drive with 12th St SE.  It also connects Van Vechten and Upper Van Vechten Parks together.  The area is woodsy and deer often cross the road.  The police also like to use it as a speed trap.

Here's The Forest Of The Long Skies, my 2X2XU submission.  These paintings were mounted in the New Bohemia part of Cedar Rapids, near the Cherry Building and along 3rd Street.

My 4 year old daughter Isabel named this painting.  As I was applying the final layers of urethane to the panel (it'll be in the outdoors for months) I dragged her outside and she blurted out such an exquisite name - something which would be a perfect Harold Budd song title.  Naturally I ran indoors and scribbled it down quickly.

Mark in front of the painting.

Across the street from the Cherry Building in Cedar Rapids.  Very industrial - and very unique!