From the Kan-Ken Archive - U-HAUL!

Here's another promo post card from the Kan-Ken Studios archive circa 1993. The featured piece is called "U-Haul" and was based on a doodle I did one day at lunch. I was feeling particularly German Expressionist that day.

The card was an invite for a one-man show I had at the "On the Hill" Arts Center in Yorktown, Va. That was a good time indeed.

Here's a color of shot of the original work that resides in my friend FOUST's collection up in Richmond, Va. One of things I liked about this piece was the idea came to me in a subconscious way, so I wasn't attaching any overt meaning to it as I created it. Only later, after I had lived with the piece for a while did the message surface. It speaks to a deep sense of insecurity and anxiety about having a home, hence the lightening striking the house. The numbers along the left were part of the original scrap of paper I was doodling on; a count of boxes of books as I fulfilled my duty as a shipping clerk at Waldenbooks. I guess being surrounded by all those boxes brought back that feeling of moving, which we did a lot when I was growing up, something I never enjoyed.

OK HW

Image for January 15, 2012 - A Mysterious Visitor

We had an interesting visitor in our front yard this morning. It wasn't the first time we have seen a big, bird of prey hanging out in the yard. It seems we opened a free buffet for such predators when we hung up a bird feeder. Occasionally I'll find a  swirling collection of random feathers under the feeder and wonder what drama went down.

My wife once saw a hawk take down a young Blue Jay; ripped the unaware lad right off the bird feeder and then he became someone's lunch. Maybe we have our suspect. I've posted these images on the Virginia Society of Ornithology's Facebook page, so I'm hoping to get a positive identification, which I'll share on here when/if I find out.

I spent a long time study this beauty through binoculars. Nature sometimes gives us a rare gift of a momentary encounter with something wild and today I didn't waste it. 

OK HW